John 8:37

8:37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. ¹  But you want ²  to kill me, because my teaching ³  makes no progress among you. ⁴ 

Matthew 3:9

3:9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

Matthew 5:45

5:45 so that you may be like ⁵  your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Romans 2:28-29

2:28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 2:29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart ⁶  by the Spirit ⁷  and not by the written code. ⁸  This person’s ⁹  praise is not from people but from God.

Romans 4:12

4:12 And he is also the father of the circumcised, ¹⁰  who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised. ¹¹ 

Romans 4:16

4:16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, ¹²  with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, ¹³  who is the father of us all

Romans 9:7

9:7 nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.” ¹⁴ 

Galatians 3:7

3:7 so then, understand ¹⁵  that those who believe are the sons of Abraham. ¹⁶ 

Galatians 3:29

3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, ¹⁷  heirs according to the promise.

James 2:22-24

2:22 You see that his faith was working together with his works and his faith was perfected by works. 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Now Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness,” ¹⁸  and he was called God’s friend. ¹⁹  2:24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

¹ tn Grk “seed” (an idiom).

² tn Grk “you are seeking.”

³ tn Grk “my word.”

⁴ tn Or “finds no place in you.” The basic idea seems to be something (in this case Jesus’ teaching) making headway or progress where resistance is involved. See BDAG 1094 s.v. χωρέω 2.

⁵ tn Grk “be sons of your Father in heaven.” Here, however, the focus is not on attaining a relationship (becoming a child of God) but rather on being the kind of person who shares the characteristics of God himself (a frequent meaning of the Semitic idiom “son of”). See L&N 58.26.

⁹ sn On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.

¹⁰ tn Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” (RSV).

¹¹ tn Grk “letter.”

¹² tn Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.

¹³ tn Grk “the father of circumcision.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “the ‘in-uncircumcision faith’ of our father Abraham.”

¹⁷ tn Grk “that it might be according to grace.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “those who are of the faith of Abraham.”

²¹ tn Grk “be called.” The emphasis here is upon God’s divine sovereignty in choosing Isaac as the child through whom Abraham’s lineage would be counted as opposed to Ishmael.

²⁵ tn Grk “know.”

²⁶ tn The phrase “sons of Abraham” is used here in a figurative sense to describe people who are connected to a personality, Abraham, by close nonmaterial ties. It is this personality that has defined the relationship and its characteristics (BDAG 1024-25 s.v. υἱός 2.c.α).

²⁹ tn Grk “seed.” See the note on the first occurrence of the word “descendant” in 3:16.

³³ sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.

³⁴ sn An allusion to 2 Chr 20:7; Isa 41:8; 51:2; Dan 3:35 (LXX), in which Abraham is called God’s “beloved.”