Romans 4:17-22

As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations" [Genesis 17:5]. He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be" [Genesis 15:5]. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness."

V17 — God gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Paul first emphasizes God’s power to give life to the dead. I see two potential meanings here: Perhaps he’s alluding to the way that God opened the womb of Sarah, this woman who was barren and way past the days of child bearing. God opened that womb, which was a grave, and He brought forth life from Sarah. Then again, perhaps Paul is talking about the grace of God, which by the power of the Holy Spirit, quickens the spiritually dead to new life. Perhaps Paul is talking about the rebirth.

Then Paul emphasizes God’s power to call things that are not as though they were. Again, I see two potential meanings: This perhaps points to that multitude of descendants that Abraham would have. Abraham, a childless man, had a name that meant “great or exalted father.” And God, in mercy, granted him that which did not exist, a multitude of sons, when He came to him in a covenant relationship in Ur of the Chaldees. Then again, maybe Paul means that God calls His people righteous, though they are not. Those whom God calls to spiritual life, He justifies. Remember the golden chain of salvation: Those He foreknew, He predestined. Those He predestined, He called. Those He called, He justified. Those He justified, He glorified. He calls us righteous, though we aren’t.

So, God gave life to the dead when He opened up the womb of Sarah and when He quickened us to spiritual life, when He gave us eyes to see and ears to hear though we were blind and deaf. And He called things that are not as though they were when He gave multitudes of descendants (yet to exist) to Abraham and when He declared us righteous though we were not. Deadness must come to life and non-existence must exist. That is what grace does. Man cannot do this. Man cannot raise the dead. And man cannot create something out of nothing. But God can, and God does in order to guarantee the promises for His people. That is the meaning of grace. Grace not only gives us better than we deserve; grace gives us what we cannot produce: spiritual life, the sight of glory, the hearing of divine truth, the tasting of spiritual sweetness. It all comes into being by the grace of God. That is why the promise is certain. God’s almighty grace guarantees the promise: it brings spiritual life out of death and enables us to believe and keep on believing; and it overrides our demerit in the act of justification. The promise, just as Romans 9:16 says, is not finally dependent on our fickle will, but on God’s sovereign grace. It doesn’t depend on man’s desire or effort, on man who wills or runs, but on God Who shows mercy.

V18-22 — In hope, Abraham believed against all hope. He did not waver, but was strengthened in faith. He glorified God persuaded that He had power. The Jews in Paul’s audience finally give in to what Paul has said—justification is by faith alone. But now, what’s the next thing on their minds? Logically, if they think justification is by obedience and it’s not, and they finally concur that justification is by faith, then they’ll want to know what faith is. So picture them asking Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” They realized now, finally, that it wasn’t in them. So how was it possible? Remember what Jesus said: “With man this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible.” So Paul, in the rest of chapter 4, answers the question, “What must I do to be saved?” by answering 3 other questions; let’s call them A, B, and C. Here he begins by answering A, the question: “What is saving faith?”

He is talking about Abraham’s faith in the moments leading up to his planned sacrifice of Isaac. Many people think Abraham believed that God would provide a substitute in order to fulfill His promise, but Hebrews 11:19, in which Abraham represents a “type” of Christ, explains that Abraham did not expect a substitute. He was fully trusting in God to resurrect Isaac from the dead if necessary in order to fulfill His promise. That was the faith of Abraham. He persistently believed God’s Word despite all the evidence to the contrary. So Paul is telling us what faith is by giving us the example of Abraham. Faith is trust in God and His promises despite our circumstances and evidence to the contrary—in hope against hope. Do those two little phrases not go in the opposite direction: in hope against hope? Really, they don’t contradict one another. Abraham, in his thoughts, contemplated his human condition and saw no hope. Although there was no reason for him to hope at the human level, still he hoped in God, he believed in God and in His promise. So in hope against all hope, he believed. There was no human reason for him to expect a son or to be the father of many nations. He was almost 100 years old. He was childless by his wife, who was long past childbearing years. There was no reason for him to think that God’s promise would be fulfilled. But against hope in hope he still believed. And this is saving faith, according to Paul.

And we are in the same position. We have no hope of forgiveness from our sin, given the Holiness of God. We have no hope of being counted as righteous in His sight. Yet through faith, in hope against all hope, we are justified. We believe, like Abraham, that God will resurrect from the dead in order to fulfill His promise to us. And He did. Christ lives! Do you doubt this? 4000 years ago God spoke to a man who had no children, and who would not have children until he approached 100, and He said, “One day your spiritual descendants will be numberless.” Today, more than two billion people claim to worship the God of Abraham. Two billion people claim Abraham as their spiritual Father. What a confirmation that God can be taken at His Word! God is faithful. He fulfills what He promises. And we don’t doubt it. And we glorify God by not doubting, which is what Abraham did. By persevering in faith, we glorify God.