Abraham is Paul's great example: he believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness, before he was circumcised. That makes him the father of all who believe, Jew or Gentile.
1 What shall we say then that Abraham our father , as pertaining to the flesh , hath found ?
2 For if Abraham were justified by works , he hath whereof to glory ; but not before God .
3 For what saith the scripture ? Abraham believed God , and it was counted unto him for righteousness .
4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace , but of debt .
5 But to him that worketh not , but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly , his faith is counted for righteousness .
6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man , unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works ,
7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven , and whose sins are covered .
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin .
9 Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also ? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness .
10 How was it then reckoned ? when he was in circumcision , or in uncircumcision ? Not in circumcision , but in uncircumcision .
11 And he received the sign of circumcision , a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised : that he might be the father of all them that believe , though they be not circumcised ; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also :
12 And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only , but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham , which he had being yet uncircumcised .
13 For the promise , that he should be the heir of the world , was not to Abraham , or to his seed , through the law , but through the righteousness of faith .
14 For if they which are of the law be heirs , faith is made void , and the promise made of none effect :
15 Because the law worketh wrath : for where no law is , there is no transgression .
16 Therefore it is of faith , that it might be by grace ; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed ; 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 ,
17 (As it is written , I have made thee a father of many nations ,) before him whom he believed , even God , who quickeneth the dead , and calleth those things which be not as though they were .
18 Who against hope believed in hope , that he might become the father of many nations , according to that which was spoken , So shall thy seed be .
19 And being not weak in faith , he considered not his own body now dead , when he was about an hundred years old , neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb :
20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief ; but was strong in faith , giving glory to God ;
21 And being fully persuaded that , what he had promised , he was able also to perform .
22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness .
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone , that it was imputed to him ;
24 But for us also , to whom it shall be imputed , if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead ;
25 Who was delivered for our offences , and was raised again for our justification .