 Good morning, everyone. Welcome to class. We'll begin and then I think more will join us. So, can one of you lead us in prayer, please? Susan, can you lead us in prayer, please? Sorry, ma'am, I'm outside. Okay, no worries. Anyone like to lead us in prayer? Sri Kumar, can you lead us in prayer, please? Yes, master. Okay, thank you. Welcome. Precious father, we thank you and praise you, Father God, for this wonderful morning which are given to us by God. As we are looking unto you, my father, we ask you, Lord, master, let your divine wisdom be released to us by God. Every word which is going to come out from the mouth of your servant, let it be from the throne room of God, Father. We pray with that, Father. Fill us with the spirit of wisdom and understanding so that, Father, we can be able to receive every word of Father God and we can be able to keep those words, guard those words in us, Father, so that we can be able to use these words in our life for God, those principles what she is going to teach us, those Lord, master, those things what we are going to know today, Father God. Learn from Lord. Let the ignorance be removed from us and let these words give us light to Father God. Thank you for covering each one of our hearts with your blood of God, master, and sealing those words for Lord, master, we can be able to hold on that word of God, master, and so that those words, Lord, master, produce harvest in us of Father God. We thank you and praise you. In Jesus' most holy and matchless name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Master. Thank you, Sree Kumar. Okay, so we'll begin. We just do a quick recap. You know, we're studying this beautiful book, the book of Romans Paul's Episode to the Church at Rome, and we know that this book is heavy in doctrine and teaching. The first few chapters Paul is establishing some doctrine about various things he's teaching about various things, and then in the later chapters he establishes about Christian living. So just quick review chapter one, you know, after Paul presents his salutation and his desire, expressing his desire to come to Rome. He starts off by saying that we all have sinned against God, and in the midst of this he establishes the existence of God, and he talks, and he mentions that the invisible attributes of God are revealed in creation. So none of us have excuse because God has revealed himself in creation. But he says, in spite of this, you know, people have, mankind has given themselves to very depraved minds. They're depraved in their minds. They've gone the wrong way, and, you know, God, you know, did not stop us. He just lets us go in our own way. That is chapter one, very briefly. So chapter two we saw that he's specifically writing to the Jewish people. He's telling them that Jews, we know that God gave you the laws, the circumcision, ritual as a covenant. Both these things are wonderful, but don't think that because you have the law and the circumcision, which is a sign of the covenant, you know, you can judge others and you can escape the judgment of God. So he says, though you have the law and though you have the circumcision, which is a sign of the covenant, you still stand condemned before God. And then he tells the Gentiles, when you don't have the law, you are not given the law, you don't have circumcision as a sign of the covenant, but God has put inside you a conscience, which is a law in itself because the conscience tells us what is right and what is wrong. And then if you put chapter one and chapter two together, you know, Paul is saying that every person has two witnesses from God. One is reason, you know, a true reason we can observe through creation that there is a God, that God exists. And the second witness from God is conscience, that God has put in us a conscience so we know what is right and wrong, which is our sense of morality. So this is what very briefly, in a quick review of chapter two. And in chapter three, you know, he asked some questions, I think almost seven questions, and he's answering it himself, which is called rhetorical questions. And, you know, he starts off by asking, is it useless then to receive the law? Because, you know, we are all sinners, you know, Paul is saying that all of us are sinners, we stand condemned before God. And, you know, there's no point in us, you know, don't think kindly about yourself because you have the law. So the Jews might be thinking or asking this question, then what's the law used for? Is the law useless? And then, you know, he answers it, he says, no. What happens if the second question, what happens if someone does not believe, does it change about anything about God? You know, it does not change anything about God, God still remains faithful, he still is just, he still is righteous, he justifies sin by condemning it, and he justifies the sinner. Okay. And then, you know, he comes up with another question in chapter three, which we looked at in the previous class. He says, since God unjust because he inflicts wrath on us, the Jews might be thinking or asking or saying that if our wrong deeds is going to make God look good, then is he unfair in punishing us for our wrong deeds? And Paul again answers no, and we looked at the example of Judas there, and we saw that God is just, he's a just God, and because he's just, because he's righteous, he has to judge sin. And then Paul moves on to say that none of us are perfect, because all of us have sin, we all stand condemned before God, and no one is justified because of keeping the law or, you know, the sign of covenant which is circumcision. And then Paul leads us beautifully by bringing out a solution, you know. And he says, God, you know, has brought us out of this by, you know, giving us a beautiful solution. Yes, we all are guilty before God, but God has provided the solution. Okay, you know, we are guilty, but God has given us His righteousness. We receive His righteousness freely by grace through faith, and it's because of the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. So what is the solution that God has provided for us, even though we all stand condemned and guilty before God is that, you know, we have redemption in Jesus Christ, and we receive righteousness because of the redemption in Jesus Christ. We receive it freely by grace through faith. Okay, and in verse 25, he talks about how, you know, God made Jesus as our mercy seat. The word used there is propitiation, but when translated in the Greek is mercy seat. And mercy seat is something that every Jew is very aware of because in the tabernacle, like I explained in the Holy of Holies, is the Ark of the Covenant. On top of the cover of the Ark of the Covenant are the two angels with their wings. They're covering their wings and in the middle of that is the mercy seat where the high priest goes once in a year, makes an atonement sacrifice for himself and the entire Israelite race. He takes the blood of the atoning sacrifice and he sprinkles it on the mercy seat. And he sprinkles on the mercy seat. God says, there I will come and meet with you. You know, there is where man is made righteous before God. There's a right standing before God. God speaks to man. He meets man. And you know, each one of us are made righteous in God's side is because God made Jesus our mercy seat. Jesus became that sacrifice for us. And because of his sacrifice, you know, we have a right standing with God. We can speak to God. God can speak to us and we can meet with God. So that is where we stopped. We will continue. We read verses 27 to 31. And can somebody again read that for us, please? Romans chapter three verses 27 to 31. Romans three 27 to 31. Sure. Thank you. Where there is boosting, it is excluded because of what law the law that requires works. No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too. Since there is only one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through the same faith. Do we then nullify the law by this faith? Not at all. Rather, we uphold the law. Thank you, Srikumar. So here in this concluding verses of chapter three, Paul is asking three questions in verse 27, verse 29 and verse 31. So in verse 27 he is saying what about the law? What about the works? Where is the boasting then? So Paul is saying no one can boast. No one. No one can take the credit for themselves. We cannot boast Jews. We cannot boast the law and works. So he answers the question and he says that he asks, he says no one can boast because now everything is by faith. So we see how beautifully he's bringing in faith. He's first presented that the Jews have the law. They have the circumcision, which is the sign of the covenant. The Gentiles, God has given them reason, conscience. But irrespective of the law, the circumcision, the reason, the conscience, we are all only justified by faith. So he asks the question, where is the boasting that no one can boast? Why can no one boast? Because now everything is by faith. So how is boasting excluded because of the law of faith? Now he's slowly guiding them to the next topic, which is faith, which he discusses deeply in chapter four, but he's trying to introduce this topic about faith. And then in verse 28 he presents the conclusion of what he has been discussing all this time. He says that man is made righteous or man is justified, not by keeping the law, not by the works, but by faith, not even to his conscience, but by faith. So man is put in a right standing with God. Right standing with God means man is made faultless or blameless before God by faith. So it's not dependent on the deeds of the law or doing the things of the law, but man is made righteous. He's justified. He stands blameless or faultless before God by faith. In verse 29 he asks the next question, another question, is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? And he answers this question by saying, yes, of the Gentiles also. So Paul says, though God gave the law and the covenant to the Jews first, yet he is God both of the Jews and the Gentiles. In verse 30 he says both Jews and Gentiles are going to be justified by faith. Paul is telling them, Jews, whether you are circumcised or are uncircumcised, like the Gentiles or uncircumcised, is going to be by faith that we are going to be justified. So there's no point in talking about circumcision, keeping the ritual of circumcision and telling those who are Gentiles or Greeks who come to the faith, who become parts of the church that they have to be circumcised because we are not justified or made righteous in God's side by keeping the law or by circumcision, but we are justified by faith. So the main thing here is what he's getting into is that we are justified by faith. Then he says, what is the use of the law? Paul is saying, I'm not making void of the law. I'm not saying that the law is useless. On the contrary, he's saying we establish the law. So how do we establish the law? Because Paul stated that no one can keep the law. The Jews say we have the law, we have the covenants, we have the circumcision, but we read that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So he stated before that no one can keep the law. All of us are sinners. And the law serves that purpose. What does the law serve? The law is basically something that exposes our sin. It shows where we have missed the mark. It shows that we are sinners. It shows that we stand guilty before God because we have done something wrong. So the law is basically serving its purpose. It's exposing sin. It shows that we are guilty before God, that we have missed the mark, that God has asked us not to do. Now the same sin that the law has condemned, God has condemned in the person of Jesus Christ, which means God has judged sin in the person of Jesus Christ on the cross. So that through what Jesus has done on the cross, he can justify sinners who come to him in faith. He can justify sinners who come to faith in Christ Jesus. So Paul is saying that the law is not useless. It serves the purpose. It exposes sin. It condemns the sin. The same way, just as the law condemns sin, God has condemned sin in the person of Jesus Christ. He has judged it in the person of Jesus Christ on the cross so that he can justify people who come to faith in Christ. So here faith comes in. Faith is not telling us that the law is not necessary. Faith comes in because the law was there, but we were unable to keep the law. We couldn't match up to the law. Our works fell short of the requirements of the law. We couldn't keep the law. We couldn't keep the requirements of God standard. We fell short of it. So faith had to come in. And faith is not doing away with the law, but faith is actually fulfilling what the law was supposed to do. So faith is saying that it is a whole purpose. The law showed us that we couldn't do it on our own so the only way we can ever be righteous in God's sight is going through faith. The law was given to us so that we can be made righteous in God's sight, but we couldn't keep the law. So faith comes in and faith is saying that this is a whole purpose. The law showed us that we couldn't do it, that we couldn't do it on our own. We couldn't keep the law. So the only way we could ever be made righteous is by faith. It's going through the way of faith. So faith, in effect, actually has established a law. So everyone has come to this place where we have faith in God saying we cannot keep the law and hence, because we cannot keep the law, we come to faith in Jesus. So we are establishing the law. We are affirming the law that, yes, we cannot keep it and we can come to faith in Christ. We can be made righteous. We can be justified in God's sight. We can stand blameless in his sight only when we have faith in Jesus Christ. So faith is established. What the law has always been telling us that we have fallen short of God's glory and so we can come to faith in Christ Jesus by which we can be made righteous, by which we can be justified, by which we can stand worthless and blameless before the Most High Holy Eternal King, that is God. So this is what he concludes this whole discussion about how beautifully he brings in, you know, law, circumcision for the Jews, for the Gentiles, how beautifully he talks about reason, conscience, and then he says, you know, that we will be justified not by any of these things, but by the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then, you know, he goes on to say that, you know, we will be justified by faith in Jesus Christ. So it's not the law. It's not the circumcision. It's not our conscience that would justify us, make us righteous because we couldn't keep the law. So faith had to come in and it's only to faith in Jesus Christ that we can be made righteous in God's sight. So he ends the chapter with this beautiful conclusion. So on this note, he's saying, you know, all of us are on the same level. Jews, Greeks, Gentiles, all on the same level because we're all being made righteous or being justified in God's sight because when we have faith in Jesus Christ and it is by grace that we receive it through faith and it's because of the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. The price that Jesus Christ paid to buy us back from the slavery of sin that is redemption, buy us back from the slavery of sin and not only just buy us back from the slavery of sin but reinstating redemption. There's a whole different beautiful concept of redemption saying we are reinstated back to our original position, our original place where we are sons and daughters, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ Jesus. So see how beautifully he brings about this whole reasoning and argument and then he goes on to talk deeper about faith which is again a very beautiful way that he presents about how we can be justified or made righteous by faith. Okay, so that is end of chapter 3. Anyone has any questions? I hope all of you are understanding. Yes, ma'am. Yes, okay. Anyone has any questions? Okay, no questions means we'll move on to chapter 4. Okay, chapter 4 is moving on talking about how we are made righteous by faith. So in this chapter we can divide this chapter into two main sections. One where he establishes that faith came before the law and the covenants. So before the law and the covenants, there was faith. Okay, and he gives an example of Abraham. Why does he give the example of Abraham? You know, Paul is very smart because for every Jew Abraham is a patriarch, he is the father. So he says that Abraham was justified by faith or he was made righteous by faith and he received this righteousness by faith and this happened even before God gave the circumcision ritual or the laws. Even before the laws and the circumcision, Abraham was justified by faith. He was made righteous by faith. And he says the circumcision was given to Abraham after he was made righteous by faith. So both circumcision and the law came after faith. So what he's saying is that faith did not show up after Jesus but faith was their way back with Abraham even before circumcision, even before the law. So now he's really trying to get their attention and very smartly he's bringing in Abraham and very beautifully he's presenting his reasoning because when he's presenting this, no Jew can argue that they all have to agree saying, yes, the Bible scares, the scripture says that Abraham was made righteous. He was justified by faith. He was justified, made righteous by faith even before he received the circumcision ritual, even before the law was given. So that's the first part of one section of chapter four. The other section of chapter four is, he gives us insights into Abraham's faith. And therefore they're saying that the faith is what both Jews and Gentiles are going to be walking in. Whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, you're going to be walking in the faith of Abraham and he talks about Abraham's faith in God and he says this is how we, whether we are Jews or Gentiles must have faith in God. And it's just amazing how Paul is expressing the mind of God in helping these people to see that faith is both for the Jews and Gentiles and faith is not by just works, by keeping the law or by circumcision rituals. So we need to get done with that. You need to come by faith in Jesus Christ to be justified, to be standing, playing this and forth, this before God. So we'll look at Romans chapter four. Can somebody please read Romans chapter four verses one, two, three, please. Romans four, one, two, three. Yes. Abraham was humanly speaking the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have something to boast about, but that was not God's ways. But the scriptures tell us Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous because of his faith. Thank you, Kong. So he starts off chapter four by asking a question. He says, you know, what then shall we say that Abraham, our father was found according to the flesh? Now here in chapter four, he talks about Abraham and David, two patriarchs. The Jews took much pride in Abraham and David, who were the two great patriarchs. Abraham was the father of the entire Jewish race. And David, their king who established them in the land of God and appointed them. And so when Paul says Abraham, and he talks about Abraham, all the Jews understood him because they knew Abraham as their forefather as their forerunner. So he asked the question, was Abraham justified by works? And, you know, he quotes an Old Testament reference here from Genesis chapter 15 verse six. If you remember, we said in the introduction, you know, Paul brings in quotes, a lot of Old Testament scripture because he's a scholar. He studied the Torah. He knows the Torah in and out. He knows the Old Testament scriptures well because he studied under Gamaliel, a great teacher of the Old Testament. Okay. So he says he presents here Genesis chapter 15 verse six. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. So Abraham received righteousness based on one thing. And what is that one thing is clearly mentioning here that it is because he believed in God. Okay. And no one can argue that because that is, this is in scripture. So he's saying, Paul is saying, look at Abraham. What does scripture say about him? It says that he believed God and God granted to him as righteousness, which means it's made righteous in God's sight because he believed because he had faith in God. Now the Greek word for accounted, okay. Which Paul uses 11 times in the same chapter. In the NKJV, NKJV is translated as accounted, counted imputes, impute or imputed. Sorry. In the KJV it's translated as counted, reckoned, imputed. Now this is a word that basically has to do with the counting, financial counting, calculation. It simply means that put into one's account. Okay. Put into one's account. So in our usage, we can say that it's credited into one's account or deposited into one's account. So Abraham, when he believed God, God deposited to him. Or God credited to him or God accounted to him righteousness. So when we put our faith in God, it's God's Jesus's righteousness that has been deposited, that has been accounted, that has been credited, that has been put into our account. It's not our righteousness, but it's Jesus's righteousness, which has been put into our account. And that's why we stand righteous before God. So Abraham received righteousness by believing God. Okay. We'll move on to verses four to verse eight. So can somebody read verses four to verse eight, please? Not to him who works the wages are not counted as grace, but as death. But to him who does not work, there lives on him who justifies the ungodly. His faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God inflicts of righteousness are from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not inflict sin. Thank you, Asha. Paul posed on the save, but if a man does not work or if a man, if he believes, you know, he's received it purely by grace to faith. So if a man believes, he receives his righteousness purely by ways through faith. So he's saying Abraham received righteousness purely by believing and that is by faith and not by works. So the righteousness that God gave him is by grace through faith because he believed in God. Now, the Greek word for grace is Charis and it's used, you know, differently in different settings or contexts in the New Testament. And it's used in three ways in the New Testament. It's used for divine favor, which means divine acceptance. You know, God accepts us just how we are. And Ephesians chapter two verse eight says, for the grace you have been, for by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourself. It's a gift of God. Okay. So God exiled the first context or the usage of how grace is used in the New Testament is a divine favor where divine acceptance God accepts us just the way we are. The second usage in the New Testament of grace is divine character. It's basically talking about the character of God. For example, in John chapter one verse 14, we see that the word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us. And we see the glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the Father full of grace and truth. So grace and truth is the character of God. And the Bible tells us as believers that we all need to grow into Christ's likeness. We read this in second Peter chapter three was 18, which says, but grow in the grace and the knowledge for Lord Jesus Christ to him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. That is a second usage where it's talking about divine character, the character of God. Wherever we see, you know, grace, we need to interpret it maybe in this context of divine character of God. And another usage of grace in the New Testament is divine enablement or divine empowerment. Grace is a divine empowerment of God. For example, when Paul tells, you know, has a stone in the flesh and which is a repeated attack of Satan or the enemy, he asked God to take it away. And what I've got to tell him, my grace is sufficient for you. That means, you know, my divine enablement, my divine empowerment is enough for you to go through this situation in life. Okay. So this divine enablement is given to every believer. So Charis, which means grace, has been, can be interpreted in three, in these three different contexts in the New Testament. It can be interpreted as divine favor or divine acceptance, divine character or divine enablement or empowerment of God. And based on the context, we need to interpret it correctly. So in this context, when we're talking about grace, it's basically talking about divine favor. Okay. It's a generous beat done by God. It is done out of the heart of God without expecting anything in return. So divine favor basically is a generous beat which is done on the heart of a person, the heart of the best to work without expecting anything in return. Now we often use the phrase unmerited favor. Okay. So grace in us is receiving what we did not deserve and what we cannot earn. That's why it's unmerited favor because we don't deserve it and we cannot earn it. So grace is God doing for us and for us what we could never do for ourselves. So grace begins there, our ability ends and it's often explained as an acronym, you know, G-R-A-C-E, which means God's riches at Christ's expense. Okay. But in this context Paul is talking about grace, talking about divine favor. Now I'd like you to consider this phrase, you know, him who justifies the ungodly, him who justifies the ungodly in verse five. Okay. Now this is powerful. It's a powerful phrase even though it sounds paradoxical, God is declaring that the ungodly as righteous. Imagine, you know, we who are ungodly, you know, God is declaring us as righteous and we cannot do this on our own. It's just a favor of God, unmerited favor of God. If God can do this for us, he can look at us who are ungodly, who are sinners as righteous because of the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, which we already saw in chapter three, which Paul has already mentioned in chapter three. So we stand justified, stand righteous before God and you know, we who are sinners are looked as righteous upon this holy God. It's because of the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. And then in verses six to eight, you know, Paul is pointing out to David and again he quotes from Old Testament here, Paul quotes the first two verses from Psalm 32, but we will look at a few additional verses from Psalm 32. We will look at verses one to five so that we can understand the context. So in Psalm 32, it says, the psalmist says, the psalmist David says, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blessed is a man to whom the law does not impute iniquity. And in whose spirit there is no deceit when I kept silent my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me, my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Verse five, Paul says, I, sorry, David says, I acknowledge my sin to you and my illiquity, I have not hidden. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord who forgave the iniquity of my sin, seller. So Paul points out here that even David received righteousness apart from works. He confessed his sin and he received forgiveness. So by faith he received the blessedness of having his sins forgiven. Like you to consider this phrase, the blessedness. Okay, the blessedness of the man who does, who God declares righteous or credits with righteousness. So being declared righteous before God brings us to a place of blessedness. It brings us to a place of blessings that we cannot receive by any other means or by keeping the law or by good works or we cannot receive in any other place. We receive it only when we believe in Jesus Christ and we are made righteous in His sight. So blessed is a man whose sins are forgiven. Okay, so that is what he talks about in these verses in verses four to verse eight. Okay, we'll move on to verses nine to 12 and then we'll take up any questions if there are. Okay, so can somebody read verses nine to 12 piece? Romans four, nine to 12. Yes, there's less than upon the circumcised only or on circumcised only. For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted while he was circumcised? Or on circumcised? On circumcised, what was on circumcised? Yes, what is 11 and 12 also Asha, please? And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still on circumcised. That he might be the father of all those who believe though they are on circumcised that righteousness might be written to them also. And the father of circumcision to go so not only of the circumcision but who also walked in steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still on circumcised. Thank you Asha. So having established from the Old Testament the example of righteousness given on the basis of faith in the life of Paul or sorry in the life of Abraham, Paul then addresses the question of circumcision. So was this righteousness given because of circumcision? Paul points again to Abraham whom he says he received the righteousness by faith. We read this in Genesis chapter 15 verse 6 even before Abraham received the sign of circumcision which is in Genesis chapter 17 verse 10. He was made righteous or he was justified by faith and so Paul is saying Abraham was blessed he received this blessing. Now how did he receive this blessing? In verse 9 Paul says how did he receive this blessing? He says did he receive it when he was circumcised or did he receive when he was uncircumcised? He says he received it when he was uncircumcised and later on he was circumcised which means he is again proving the fact that Abraham was justified or received this righteousness by faith even before he was circumcised or even before he received circumcision as a sign of covenant. He says which was a seal of the righteousness of faith. So God gave him this covenant after God made him righteous through faith. So first he is saying that Abraham was not made righteousness because of the law or because he was given the law and the covenant or not because of his good works or good deeds but he was made righteous by faith and then he moves on to say that even before God gave him the sign of the covenant as the circumcision is a sign of the covenant even before he gave that Abraham was made righteous because of his belief in God, because of his faith in God. So the reason God gave him is we see this in the latter part of verse 11 but so that Abraham could be the father of all who believe. So he is kind of stretching that thinking. So he is saying that Jews, don't think that because you have the laws, you have the covenants, you have the higher place because you have the law, the covenants, the circumcision and all of those things. It is not that because your father Abraham or forefather Abraham, the patriarch Abraham was made righteous by faith and why did God make him righteous by faith even before he gave him the laws, the covenants or even before the circumcision was so that he could be a father of all who believe all who have faith in God. So he is kind of stretching that thinking. So Abraham, before he had the circumcision he had faith. So Abraham is the father of all who have faith. So he is saying that Abraham is not only the father or the patriarch of the Jews but also the Greeks, also the Gentiles. Why? Because he is the father of all who have faith. And in verse 12 he says, not just circumcision is required to be made justified, to be made righteous in God's sight but you need to walk in the faith of Abraham. So don't hold on to circumcision ritual. It's only by faith because your forefather Abraham was justified, made righteous by faith even before the sign of circumcision. So he is basically telling the Jews, the Jews are making this mandate tree, giving it up, making a hard time for all those Gentiles Greeks are coming into the church, you have to follow the law, you have to follow these patterns of eating, you have to be circumcised. So, you know, Paul is very beautifully mentioning it. It says, you know, Abraham was justified by faith even before circumcision. So Paul is basically stating two things here. The first is that Abraham received righteousness, my faith, so that he will be the father of everyone who walks in faith. Even if they are uncircumcised, which means the Gentiles, or even if they are circumcised, which means the Jews. And so he's saying, you know, we all come to a common denominator, common place, we all receive righteousness by faith. The second thing he's saying is, Abraham is the father of circumcision, okay, but he's not really of circumcision but you need to walk in the faith of Abraham because that is what is going to make you righteous because that is what made Abraham righteous first and not circumcision. So Paul is saying, even if you are circumcised, you have to walk by faith like Abraham walked in faith. So now Paul moves on to Abraham's faith, what was his faith like and what we can say about Abraham's faith. And that he talks about in the next few verses, in verses 13 following, okay. So verses 13 to verse 16, we see the promises based on faith because of grace, okay. So can somebody read that please? Verses 13 to verse 16. Can somebody read verses 13 to verse 16 please? Yes, sure, go ahead. For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not Abraham or to his sake through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect. Because the law brings about wrath for where there is no law, there is no transpiration. Therefore it is of faith that might be according to grace so that the promise might be short to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith. Abraham raised their father first off. Thank you, Asha. So here we, you know, Paul is very beautifully presenting that the promises that God gave Abraham through him, you know, he'll have a seed and, you know, through him nations will come out, generations will be blessed, there will be numerous as the stars in the sky, the sand on the sea shore all the nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham. And so the promise that God gave Abraham was something he gave at the point of faith. You know, when he was made righteous by faith, it was given to him when he stepped out in faith, he believed God, he stepped out, he went to the promised land and he received those promises because, you know, he had faith in God because he believed in God, he was made righteous by faith even before God gave him the sign of the covenant of circumcision. So the promises that Abraham inherited or God gave it to him was when he stepped out in faith. It was given at the point of his faith when he was made righteous by faith. The promise was through the righteousness of faith and it was not and it is not just who are of the law who have the promise but there is everyone who has faith will inherit this promise. So Paul is so beautifully bringing it out here. He is saying, Abraham received all his promises when did he receive it? He received it, you know, when he had faith in God, when he stepped out in faith, he was made righteous by faith even before circumcision, even before the law. So he is saying all those, you know, who have the law which has been given the sign of the covenant which is circumcision, which is he is talking about the Jews are not the only ones who will receive the promise of Abraham. What he says is everyone who has faith, faith in whom? Faith in Jesus Christ, faith in his gospel, who will inherit this promise because Abraham received these promises when he was justified or made righteous by faith. So, what is the promise? You know, I will bless you, I will make you a blessing. This was, this promise was given and your generations will be numerous as the stars in the sky, the sand on the seashore. So this promise was given to Abraham and to his descendants and Paul is saying is given to him even before the law or the circumcision ritual was given and this promise is not just for those who are custodialists of the law or of the covenants or the sign of circumcision it's not just the descendants of Abraham who have been given the law and the circumcision which he is talking about the Jews but it's also to all who have faith in Jesus Christ. So all those who have faith in Jesus Christ will inherit this promise or will be partakers of this promise or will be part of this promise that was given to Abraham. Hence, Abraham is the father of us all which means he is the father of all the Jews, the Gentiles and Greeks who have you know, who believe in Jesus Christ who come to faith in Jesus Christ when they put their faith in him and it's because of the grace of God and the redemption work of Jesus Christ. So you see how beautifully he is bringing out everything and so Paul is repeating this point that Abraham is the father of all who have faith and all who have faith receive the promise that God gave Abraham and this is according to the grace of God. It's unmerited favor. It's something that we don't deserve and so it's he's saying it's faith righteousness and grace and it's given to everyone to both Jews and Gentiles. So you see how beautifully he is bringing about this whole argument. So he's saying that it is basically faith righteousness. We made righteous by keeping the faith and it's a grace of God and it's through the redemption work of Jesus Christ and it's given to everyone to both Jews and Gentiles and now he gets on to verses 17 where he gets into the faith of Abraham. He's talking about the basic details of the dimensions of the faith of Abraham which we will look in our next class on Friday. We'll stop here. Anyone has any questions? Any questions? Okay I hope all of you are in class and hope all of you have understood. Okay. No questions. Okay. If there are no questions we'll end class. Thank you all for joining class. I'll see you on Friday and we continue with the rest of