That righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Now, in Romans 4 and 5, Paul takes that truth further. How does faith work? What does it mean to be justified by faith? Was this really something new? And what happens to a person who has been justified? Paul answers those questions by taking us back to Abraham, the father of faith, and then forward to Jesus Christ, the One through whom we have peace with God.

Some passages of Scripture grow familiar with time. Others never do. Genesis 22—the binding of Isaac—is one of those texts that resists comfort. No matter how often we read it, it remains unsettling. A father is told to offer his promised son. The son carries the wood. God is silent. The knife is raised. We hurry to the end. We reassure ourselves that God never really intended the sacrifice. And that is true. But Kierkegaard insists that if we rush past the fear, we miss