What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") - in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

Justified, works, boast, wages, trusts, ungodly, law, wrath, righteousness, promise, violation, faith, grace, guaranteed, believed: Which of these words strikes your fancy?

We are a people of lists. Is this a list which you might wish to ponder? How would you list these words? In the same order? A different order? Change the tense perhaps? Reverse the order? Each suggestion of a different list would change the meaning and purpose of these words.

As descendants of Abraham by faith we are the people who without works but by grace are justified by that same faith. Do we believe as Abraham believed, or do we think in terms of those things around us that we can touch and feel? The words in this list point us to the God of Abraham; who calls into existence the things that do not exist, who gives life to the dead that all who believe in the resurrection shall receive everlasting life.