The birth-roll of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

Thus all the generations from Abraham to David number fourteen, from David to the Babylonian captivity fourteen, and from the Babylonian captivity to Christ fourteen.

instead of presuming to say to yourselves, 'We have a father in Abraham.' I tell you, God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

Many, I tell you, will come from east and west and take their places beside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Realm of heaven,

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

As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, at the passage on the Bush, how God said to him, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?

as he promised our fathers, to have mercy on Abraham and his offspring for ever."

of the oath he swore to Abraham our father,

Now, produce fruits that answer to your repentance, instead of beginning to say to yourselves, 'We have a father in Abraham.' I tell you, God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nachor,

And this woman, a daughter of Abraham, bound by Satan for all these eighteen years, was she not to be freed from her bondage on the sabbath?"

There you will wail and gnash your teeth, to see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets inside the Realm of God and yourselves put outside.

Now it happened that the poor man died, and he was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man died too, and was buried.

And as he was being tortured in Hades he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus in his bosom;

so he called out, 'Father Abraham, take pity on me, send Lazarus to dip his fingertip in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in these flames.'

But Abraham said, 'Remember, my son, you got all the bliss when you were alive, just as Lazarus got the ills of life; he is in comfort now, and you are in anguish.

'They have got Moses and the prophets,' said Abraham, 'they can listen to them.'

'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone only goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'

And Jesus said of him, "To-day salvation has come to this house, since Zacchaeus here is a son of Abraham.

And that the dead are raised has been indicated by Moses in the passage on the Bush, when he calls the Lord 'God of Abraham and God of Isaac and God of Jacob.'

"We are Abraham's offspring," they retorted, "we have never been slaves to anybody. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be free'?"

I know you are Abraham's offspring! Yet you want to kill me, since my word makes no headway among you!

They answered him, "Abraham is our father." "If you are Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then do as Abraham did;

but now you want to kill me ??to kill a man who has told you the truth, the truth I have learned from God. Abraham did not do that.

The Jews said to him, "Now we are sure you are mad. Abraham is dead, and so are all the prophets; and you declare, 'If anyone holds to what I say, he will never taste death'!

Are you greater than our father Abraham? He is dead, and the prophets are dead. Who do you claim to be?"

Your father Abraham exulted that he was to see my Day: he did see it and he rejoiced."

Then said the Jews to him, "You are not fifty years old, and Abraham has seen you?"

"Truly, truly I tell you," said Jesus, "I have existed before Abraham was born."

The God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified Jesus his servant, whom you delivered up and repudiated before Pilate. Pilate had decided to release him,

Now you are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers when he said to Abraham, all families on earth shall be blessed in your offspring.

"Listen, brothers and fathers," said Stephen. "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before ever he stayed in Haran,

God also gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, whom he circumcised on the eighth day, Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

they were carried across to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

As the time approached for the promise God had made to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.' Moses was so terrified that he did not dare to look at the bush.

Brothers, sons of Abraham's race and all among you who reverence God, the message of this salvation has been sent to us.

But if so, what can we say about Abraham, our forefather by natural descent?

This, that if 'Abraham was justified on the score of what he did,' he has something to be proud of. But not to be proud of before God.

For what does scripture say? Abraham believed God and this was counted to him as righteousness.

Now is that description of bliss meant for the circumcised, or for the uncircumcised as well? Abraham's faith, I repeat, was counted to him as righteousness.

as well as a father of those circumcised persons who not only share circumcision but walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had as an uncircumcised man.

The promise made to Abraham and his offspring that he should inherit the world, did not reach him through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

That is why all turns upon faith; it is to make the promise a matter of favour, to make it secure for all the offspring, not simply for those who are adherents of the Law but also for those who share the faith of Abraham ??of Abraham who is the father of us all

For Abraham, when hope was gone, hoped on in faith, and thus became the father of many nations ??even as he was told, So numberless shall your offspring be.

they are not all children of Abraham because they are descended from Abraham. No, it is through Isaac that your offspring shall be reckoned ??8 meaning that instead of God's children being the children born to him by natural descent, it is the children of the Promise who are reckoned as his true offspring.

Then, I ask, has God repudiated his People? Never! Why, I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin!

Are they Hebrews? so am I. Israelites? so am I. Descended from Abraham? so am I.

Why, it is as with Abraham, he had faith in God and that was counted to him as righteousness.

Well then, you see that the real sons of Abraham are those who rely on faith.

Besides, Scripture anticipated God's justification of the Gentiles by faith when it announced the gospel beforehand to Abraham in these terms: All nations shall be blessed in thee.

So that those who rely on faith are blessed along with believing Abraham.

that the blessing of Abraham might reach the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promised Spirit.

Now the Promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it is not said, 'and to your offsprings' in the plural, but in the singular and to your offspring ??which is Christ.

If the Inheritance is due to law, it ceases to be due to promise. Now it was by a promise that God bestowed it on Abraham.

Now if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring; in virtue of the Promise, you are heirs.

Surely it is written in the Law that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-woman and one by the free-woman;

(For of course it is not angels that he succours, it is the offspring of Abraham.)

For in making a promise to Abraham God swore by himself (since he could swear by none greater),

Thus it was that Abraham by his stedfastness obtained what he had been promised.

For Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham on his return from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him ??2 who had a tenth part of everything assigned him by Abraham ??this Melchizedek is primarily a king of righteousness (that is the meaning of his name); then, besides that, king of Salem (which means, king of peace).

Now mark the dignity of this man. The patriarch Abraham paid him a tenth of the spoils.

Those sons of Levi who receive the priestly office are indeed ordered by law to tithe the people (that is, their brothers), although the latter are descended from Abraham;

but he who had no Levitical genealogy actually tithed Abraham and blessed the possessor of the promises!

In fact, we might almost say that even Levi the receiver of tithes paid tithes through Abraham;

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed his call to go forth to a place which he would receive as an inheritance; he went forth, although he did not know where he was to go.

It was by faith, when Abraham was put to the test, that he sacrificed Isaac, he was ready to sacrifice his only son, although he had received the promises

When our father Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar, was he not justified by what he did?

and the scripture was fulfilled: Abraham believed God, and this was counted to him as righteousness ??he was called God's friend.

Thus Sara obeyed Abraham by calling him 'lord'. And you are daughters of Sara if you do what is right and yield to no panic.