It should be noted that the Good News Translation rendering of this verse consists of twelve words (so also the New English Bible) while the Greek has only six words, one of which is a preposition and two of which are particles. However, the demands of communication require that the translation in English be rendered by more words than exist in the Greek text. The Greek begins with two particles which are rendered by the Good News Translation that is why Abraham through faith. In the Greek sentence structure it is clear that these particles refer back to Abraham’s faith, and so a number of other translations also make this connection explicit (see New English Bible “Abraham’s faith”; An American Translation*, Moffatt “his faith”). Was accepted as righteous by God is a quotation from Genesis 15.6 and is so placed within quotation marks in the Good News Translation. On this quotation see the comments on verses 2 and 9.

Through faith may be expressed in some languages as means—for example, “was accepted as righteous by God by means of his trusting God”—or more specifically as cause—for example, “was accepted as righteous by God because he believed.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .