Father Abraham had many sons... and I am one of them

Romans 4:9-15

Observations:
The words that are repeated are: circumcised, uncircumcised, faith, credited, righteousness, father. The ideas that are contrasted and compared are circumcised/uncircumcised and faith/law. The people mentioned are Abraham and his offspring - Paul argues that everyone who has faith in God is Abraham's offspring whether they are circumcised (Jews) or not (Gentiles).

Interpretation:
"This blessedness" (v. 9) refers to the quote in v. 7-8: blessed are those who have been forgiven. Paul argues that this blessedness (and, therefore, forgiveness) is not just of the circumcised. The argument goes like this: Abraham was credited righteousness because of his faith (not because of his works) and this credit was given to him before he was circumcised. Therefore, circumcision is not necessary for righteousness to be credited to our account (in other words, Gentiles don't need to convert to Judaism to become believers in Christ) and Abraham, in his example of faith, is the spiritual father of both the Jewish and Gentile-ish(?) believer.
Paul is referring back to the blessing that Abraham received: many offspring (like the dust of the earth), possession of the land of Canaan and that all nations would be blessed through him. Ultimately, all nations are blessed because Abraham was the ancestor of the Messiah but also because we are the spiritual offspring of Abraham.
It is interesting that James uses this same example to prove that faith without works is dead. He says that Abraham was credited righteousness because he acted on his belief and until he acted on that faith, there was no righteousness credited to his account.

Application:
I am really struck by the logical flow of Paul's arguments. I really enjoy the balance of emotion and reason that Paul achieves. I personally tend to lean on the law which doesn't make sense. I don't even live up to my own standards and I try to impose those standards on others. I know that as a follower of Christ there are standards for me to live up to but I can't achieve those standards without the intervention of the Holy Spirit. This means that my role as youth pastor is not to impose standards on people but to use those standards, and our failure to reach them, to point out our need for Christ, then to teach students how to depend on Christ.