What then, it may be asked, are we to say about Abraham, the ancestor of our nation?

For what are the words of Scripture? 'Abraham had faith in God, and his faith was regarded by God as righteousness.'

Is this blessing, then, pronounced upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised as well? We say that-'Abraham's faith was regarded by God as righteousness.'

As well as father of the circumcised-to those who are not only circumcised, but who also follow our father Abraham in that faith which he had while still uncircumcised.

For the promise that he should inherit the world did not come to Abraham or his descendants through Law, but through the righteousness due to faith.

That is why all is made to depend upon faith, that all may be God's gift, and in order that the fulfillment of the promise may be made certain for all Abraham's descendants-not only for those who take their stand on the Law, but also for those who take their stand on the faith of Abraham. (He is the Father of us all;

As Scripture says-'I have made thee the Father of many nations.') And this they do in the sight of that God in whom Abraham had faith, and who gives life to the dead, and speaks of what does not yet exist as if it did.

With no ground for hope, Abraham, sustained by hope, put faith in God; in order that, in fulfillment of the words-'So many shall thy descendants be,' he might become 'the Father of many nations.'

Now these words-'it was regarded as righteousness'-were not written with reference to Abraham only;

Nor, because they are Abraham's descendants, are they all his Children; but-'It is Isaac's children who will be called thy descendants.'

This means that it is not the children born in the course of nature who are God's Children, but it is the children born in fulfillment of the Promise who are to be regarded as Abraham's descendants.

I ask, then, 'Has God rejected his People?' Heaven forbid! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.