Theme: Sharing the faith of Abraham

Exegetical note
Paul here substantiates his key notion of justification by faith (i.e., trust in God's grace) by appealing to Abraham as one who was justified, not by virtue of his works of obedience to the law, but because God graciously "reckoned" righteousness to him. That Paul regards Abraham as a model is obvious in v. 16, in which the patriarch is called "the father of us all," precisely because the promise that rests on grace is guaranteed to everyone who shares his faith.

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