lent 2 year b - romans

Romans 4:13-25

¹³For the promise that Abraham would inherit the world

     did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law

          but through the righteousness of faith. 

     ¹⁴If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs,

          faith is null and the promise is void. 

               ¹⁵For the law brings wrath;

                    but where there is no law,

                         neither is there violation. 

          ¹⁶For this reason it depends on faith,

               in order that the promise may rest on grace

               and be guaranteed to all Abraham’s descendants,

                    not only to the adherents of the law

                         but also to those who share the faith of Abraham

                              (for he is the father of all of us,

                              ¹⁷as it is written,

                                   “I have made you the father of many nations”) —

                         in the presence of the God in whom Abraham believed,

                              who gives life to the dead

                              and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 

               ¹⁸Hoping against hope,

                    Abraham believed that he would become

                         “the father of many nations,”

                              according to what was said,

                                   “So numerous shall your descendants be.”

                         ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith 

                              when he considered his own body,

                              which was already as good as dead

                                   (for he was about a hundred years old),

                         or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 

                         ²⁰No distrust made Abraham waver 

                              concerning the promise of God,

                                   but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 

                                        ²¹being fully convinced that God was able 

                                             to do what God had promised. 

                              ²²Therefore Abraham’s faith 

                                   “was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

²³Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,”

     were written not for his sake alone, 

          ²⁴but for ours also.

     It will be reckoned to us who believe

          in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 

               ²⁵who was handed over to death for our trespasses

               and was raised for our justification.

Queeries for the text:
Did Abraham weaken in faith?
Was Abraham righteous?
What does righteousness mean anyway?
Is Paul telling a revisionist history?
If the promise rests on grace, can we condemn anyone to be outside the promise?
Would the forgiveness of sins or our justification before God be true if Jesus just died and wasn't resurrected?
If God creates ex nihilo, calling into existence the things that do not exist, can God call our justification into existence without Jesus' death on the cross?

What are your queeries?