Jesus told them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing what Abraham did. But now you're trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham would'nt have done that.

Therefore, the promise is based on faith, so that it may be a matter of grace and may be guaranteed for all of Abraham's descendants not only for those who were given the Law, but also for those who share the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

"My brothers, descendants of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, it is to us that the message of this salvation has been sent.

Now does this blessedness come to the circumcised alone, or also to the uncircumcised? For we say, "Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness."

and not all of Abraham's descendants are his true descendants. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that descendants will be named for you."

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelis? So am I. Are they among Abraham's descendants? So am I.

You see, then, that those who have faith are Abraham's real descendants.

And if you belong to the Messiah, then you are Abraham's descendants indeed, and heirs according to the promise.

For it is clear that he did not come to help angels. No, he came to help Abraham's descendants,

"One day, the beggar died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.

They replied to him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves to anybody. So how can you say, "You will be set free'?"

"I know that you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are trying to kill me because you've not received what I've told you.

Don't think you can say to yourselves, "We have father Abraham!' because I tell you that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones!

Produce fruit that is consistent with repentance! Don't begin to say to yourselves, "We have father Abraham!' because I tell you that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones!

They were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought at a high price from Hamor's descendants in Shechem.

"Now as the time approached for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people's population increased a great deal in Egypt.

And so the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." And so he was called God's friend.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you betrayed and rejected in the presence of Pilate, even though he had decided to let him go.

You are the descendants of the prophets and the heirs of the covenant that God made with your ancestors when he told Abraham, "Through your descendant all the families of the earth will be blessed.'

"The glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran. God told him, "Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land I'll show you.'

Later, God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. Later, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Then Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered the twelve patriarchs.

"I am the God of your ancestors the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses became terrified and didn't dare to look.

This is a record of the life of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers.

What, then, are we to say about Abraham, our human ancestor?

For if Abraham was justified by actions, he would have had something to boast about though not before God.

For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

He is also the ancestor of the circumcised those who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

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 produced by faith.

As it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations." Abraham acted in faith when he stood in the presence of God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don't yet exist.

So all the generations from Abraham to David totaled fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon totaled fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah there were fourteen generations.

So I ask, "God has not rejected his people, has he?" Of course not! I am an Israeli myself, a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin.

I tell all of you, many will come from east and west and will feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom from heaven.

In the same way, Abraham "believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Because the Scripture saw ahead of time that God would justify the gentiles by faith, it announced the gospel to Abraham beforehand when it said, "Through you all nations will be blessed."

Therefore, those who believe are blessed together with Abraham, the one who believed.

This happened in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the gentiles through the Messiah Jesus, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. It doesn't say "descendants," referring to many, but "your descendant," referring to one person, who is the Messiah.

For if the inheritance comes about through the Law, it no longer comes about through the promise. But it was through a promise that God so graciously gave it to Abraham.

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman.

"I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."