and quit thinking to yourselves, we claim Abraham as our forefather, because I tell you, God is able to make Abraham's children out of these stones.

I am Abraham's God, and Isaac's God and Jacob's God.' [So], He is not God to those who are [physically] dead, but [He is] God to those who are [still] alive."

But concerning those who are raised from the dead, have you never read in the book of Moses, in the incident about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying [Ex. 3:6], 'I am Abraham's God, and Isaac's God, and Jacob's God?'

Demonstrate by your lives that you have [really] repented, and quit saying to yourselves, 'We claim Abraham as our forefather,' because I tell you, God is able to make Abraham's children out of these stones.

"It happened in a similar way in the days of Lot [i.e., Abraham's nephew]. People were eating and drinking and buying and selling and planting and building.

But even Moses showed that dead people would be raised in the incident about the bush [Ex. 3:6], where he called the Lord, 'Abraham's God, and Isaac's God, and Jacob's God.'

They answered Him, "Our forefather was Abraham." Jesus replied to them, "If you were Abraham's descendants, you would do the [kinds of] deeds that Abraham did.

And God had spoken about this [beforehand] by saying that Abraham's descendants would live in a foreign country and that they would [eventually] be ill-treated as slaves for four hundred years.

"You brothers, descendants of Abraham's family and those of you who respect God very much, this message of salvation was intended for us.

Is this blessing experienced by the circumcised ones [i.e., the Jews only] or by the uncircumcised ones [i.e., the Gentiles] also? We are saying, "Abraham's faith was credited to him for righteousness."

For this reason, the promise [i.e., of being made right with God] comes through faith [in God], according to His unearned favor, so that it may be [given] with certainty to all of Abraham's descendants. The promise is given not only to those [who live] under the law [i.e., the Jews], but also to [all] those [who live] by faith, like Abraham. Abraham is the [spiritual] father of all of us [believers],

Abraham's faith did not become weak [even though] he was about one hundred years old and considered his body almost dead and Sarah's womb incapable of conceiving a child.

Neither are all [Jewish] people children [of God], [simply] because they are Abraham's descendants. But [Gen. 21:12 says], "It is through Isaac that you [i.e., Abraham] will have descendants."

This means that it is not the physical descendants [of Abraham] who are God's children, but it is the children [born] according to [God's] promise who are [Abraham's true] descendants.

Are they [i.e., Paul's opponents there in Corinth] Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

And if you belong to Christ, then you are [truly] Abraham's seed [i.e., his spiritual descendants] and thereby [you will] inherit what was promised to him [i.e., God's blessings].

For it is written in the law about Abraham's two sons [Gen. 16]; one [was] by his slave woman [Hagar] and the other by the free woman, [his wife, Sarah].

Now, brothers, you [Christians] are children of the promise [made to Abraham. See 3:29] just like Isaac, [Abraham's son] was.

for when Melchizedek met him, he was still in Abraham's body [i.e., Levi had not yet been born as a descendant of Abraham].