So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the requirements of the Law, his uncircumcision will be regarded as circumcision, won't it?

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

Now wages are regarded as due to the man who works, not as a favor, but as a debt;

While, as for the man who does not rely upon his obedience, but has faith in him who can pronounce the godless righteous, his faith is regarded by God as righteousness.

In precisely the same way David speaks of the blessing pronounced upon the man who is regarded by God as righteous apart from actions--

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.'

Not after, but before. And it was as a sign of this that he received the rite of circumcision-to attest the righteousness due to the faith of an uncircumcised man-in order that he might be the father of all who have faith in God even when uncircumcised, that they also may be regarded by God as righteous;

And not being weak in faith, he regarded not his own body now deadened, being about an hundred years old, nor the deadness of Sarah's womb:

And therefore his faith 'was regarded as righteousness.'

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

but also for us. Our faith will be regarded in the same way, if we believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

For even unto the time of the law was sin in the world: but sin was not regarded, as long as there was no law:

Now the law of Moses was introduced [into the world] in order to cause sin to increase [i.e., it defined many things to be wrong that were previously not regarded as sin]. But with the increase of sin, God's unearned favor increased all the more.

Did, then, a thing, which in itself was good, involve Death in my case? Heaven forbid! It was sin that involved Death; so that, by its use of what I regarded as good to bring about my Death, its true nature might appear; and in this way the Commandment showed how intensely sinful sin is.

Just as it is written and forever remains written,

“For Your sake we are put to death all day long;
We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.”

That is, it is not merely the children born through natural descent who were regarded as God's children, but it is the children born through the promise who were regarded as descendants.

As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I regarded inferior.

And why? Because they were pursuing a righteousness which should arise not from faith, but from what they regarded as merit. They stuck their foot against the stone which lay in their way;