1What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? 2For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. 3For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 4Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. 5But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. 6Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
8Blessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin.”
9Is this blessing then pronounced only on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10How then was it counted? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they might be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might also be accounted to them. 12He is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision.
13For the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he would be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect. 15For the law produces wrath; for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience.
16For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. 17As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were. 18Against hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.” 19Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God, 21and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. 22Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.” 23Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone, 24but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.
In Romans 1-8 Paul teaches two things. First, no one, whether Gentile (1:18-32) or Jew (2:1-3:8), will be justified—delivered from eternal condemnation in hell—by works of law, i.e., by how well he or she keeps the law commandments of one’s applicable law code. This is because this way of getting to heaven (the law system) requires perfect obedience, which none of us has, since all have sinned. (This is the point of 1:18-3:20.)
Paul’s second and main point is that the only way a sinner can be saved is by the grace system, rather than the law system: “You are not under law but under grace” (6:14). This way of grace is made possible only by the death of Jesus, whereby He turned God’s wrath away from us by taking it upon Himself, a process the Bible calls “ propitiation” (3:21-26). The benefits of His death are applied to any believing sinner by means of sincere belief in its saving power. Thus we are justified by grace through faith apart from how well we respond to the law code that applies to us (3:28), as confirmed by the testimony of both Abraham and David (4:1-25).
The practical result of knowing we are justified through faith in Jesus is assurance of salvation (5:1-11). This assurance is reinforced by knowing that Christ’s cross is much more powerful than even the most universally catastrophic sin (5:12-21). Far from giving us an excuse to keep on sinning, this saving grace of Jesus—especially the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit—empowers us to live a life of sanctified obedience (6:1-8:39), an obedience that springs from faith (1:5). Some instructions on this life of obedience are given in chapters 12-16. To silence any Jews who may object that God’s rejection of them is not fair, Romans 9-11 explains that regarding salvation, God chose the Jews not to guarantee their individual salvation but to serve His purpose of bringing the Savior of all peoples into the world. Jews and Gentiles alike are saved in the same way, i.e., through faith in the one Messiah.