Besides hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.” Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.
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Romans 4:18-21 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Is this blessing then pronounced on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it counted? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they might be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might also be accounted to them. He is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision. For the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he should be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect. For the law produces wrath, for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience. For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were. Besides hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.” Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone, but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead, who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.
Parallel Translations
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Besides hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.”
Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God,
and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.
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Which Abraham contrary to hope beleved in hope that he shuld be the father of many nacions accordynge to that which was spoken: So shall thy seed be.
And he faynted not in the fayth nor yet consydered hys awne body which was now deed even when he was almost an hondred yeare olde: nether yet that Sara was past chyldeberinge.
He stackered not at the promes of God thorow vnbelefe: but was made stronge in the fayth and gave honour to God
full certifyed that what he had promised that he was able to make good.
Show all 3 translations
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Which Abraham aboue hope, beleeued vnder hope, that he should be the father of many nations: according to that which was spoken to him, So shall thy seede be.
And he not weake in the faith, considered not his owne bodie, which was nowe dead, being almost an hundreth yeere olde, neither the deadnes of Saraes wombe.
Neither did he doubt of the promise of God through vnbeliefe, but was strengthened in the faith, and gaue glorie to God,
Being fully assured that he which had promised, was also able to doe it.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (53)
- Luke 1:37 (v21) For nothing spoken by God is impossible.”
- Jeremiah 32:27 (v21) “Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?
- Luke 1:45 (vv20–21) Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!”
- Jeremiah 32:17 (v21) “Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too…
- Hebrews 11:19 (v21) concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.
Show all 51 cross-references
- Genesis 18:14 (v21) Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”
- 2 Timothy 1:12 (v21) For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to…
- Matthew 19:26 (v21) Looking at them, Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
- Romans 8:24 (v18) For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?
- Psalms 115:3 (v21) But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.
- Romans 8:38 (v21) For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
- Romans 14:4 (v21) Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him…
- 1 Corinthians 16:13 (v20) Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong!
- 2 Corinthians 9:8 (v21) And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.
- Genesis 15:5-6 (v18) Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So…
- Hebrews 11:11-19 (v19) By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had…
- Genesis 17:17 (v19) Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah,…
- Daniel 10:19 (v20) He said, “Greatly beloved man, don’t be afraid. Peace be to you. Be strong. Yes, be strong.” When he spoke to me, I was strengthened, and…
- Romans 4:20-21 (v19) Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully…
- Romans 5:5 (v18) and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
- 2 Corinthians 12:10 (v20) Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am…
- Acts 27:25 (v18) Therefore, sirs, cheer up! For I believe God, that it will be just as it has been spoken to me.
- 2 Timothy 2:1 (v20) You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
- Hebrews 11:13 (v21) These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they…
- Isaiah 7:9 (v20) The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.’ ”
- Isaiah 35:4 (v20) Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong! Don’t be afraid! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution. He will…
- 2 Kings 7:19 (v20) and that captain answered the man of God, and said, “Now, behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, might such a thing be?” and he said,…
- 2 Chronicles 20:15-20 (v20) and he said, “Listen, all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, king Jehoshaphat. Yahweh says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, and…
- Proverbs 13:12 (v18) Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.
- Jeremiah 32:16-27 (v20) Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh, saying, “Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, you…
- Haggai 2:4 (v20) Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says Yahweh. ‘Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’…
- Zechariah 8:9 (v20) Yahweh of Armies says: “Let your hands be strong, you who hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets who were in the day…
- Zechariah 8:13 (v20) It shall come to pass that, as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you shall be…
- Mark 5:35-36 (v18) While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?”…
- Luke 1:18 (vv18, 20) Zacharias said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”
- Numbers 11:13-23 (v20) Where could I get meat to give all these people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to bear…
- 2 Kings 7:2 (v20) Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, “Behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, could this…
- Daniel 11:32 (v20) He will corrupt those who do wickedly against the covenant by flatteries; but the people who know their God will be strong, and take action.
- Genesis 18:11-14 (v19) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Sarah laughed within herself, saying,…
- Ezekiel 37:11 (v18) Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is…
- Matthew 6:30 (v19) But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you…
- Matthew 8:26 (v19) He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.
- Matthew 14:31 (v19) Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
- Mark 9:23-24 (v19) Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out with…
- John 20:27-28 (v19) Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but…
- Romans 4:17 (v18) As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the…
- Ephesians 6:10 (v20) Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.
- Ruth 1:11-13 (v18) Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Go…
- Matthew 9:8 (v20) But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
- Romans 4:19 (v18) Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and…
- Romans 14:21 (v19) It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.
51 distinct cross-references across this passage (53 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (21 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv18–21 18. Who against hope, etc. If we thus read,…
18. Who against hope, etc. If we thus read, the sense is, that when there was no probable reason, yea, when all things were against him, he yet continued to believe. And, doubtless, there is nothing more injurious to faith than to fasten our minds to our eyes, that we may from what we see, seek a reason for our hope. We may also read, “above hope,” and perhaps more suitably; as though he had said that by his faith he far surpassed all that he could conceive; for except faith flies upward on celestial wings so as to look down on all the perceptions of the flesh as on things far below, it will stick fast in the mud of the world. But Paul uses the word hope twice in this verse: in the first instance, he means a probable evidence for hoping, such as can be derived from nature and carnal reason; in the second he refers to faith given by God; for when he had no ground for hoping he yet in hope relied on the promise of God; and he thought it a sufficient reason for hoping, that the Lord had promised, however incredible the thing was in itself.
According to what had been said, etc. So have I preferred to render it, that it may be applied to the time of Abraham; for Paul meant to say, that Abraham, when many temptations were drawing him to despair, that he might not fail, turned his thoughts to what had been promised to him, “Thy seed shall equal the stars of heaven and the sands of the sea;” but he resignedly adduced this quotation incomplete, in order to stimulate us to read the Scriptures. The Apostles, indeed, at all times, in quoting the Scriptures, took a scrupulous care to rouse us to a more diligent reading of them.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv18–21 A description of true faith, wholly resting in the…
A description of true faith, wholly resting in the power of God, and his good will, set forth in the example of Abraham.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv18–21 18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he…
18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Ver. 18. Who against hope, &c.] Elegans Antanaclasis propter speciem contradietionis, saith Piscator. Spes in terrenis, incerti nomen boni; spes in divinis, nomen est certissimi, saith another.
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Believed in hope] It is the nature of faith to believe God upon his bare word; and that against sense in things invisible, against reason in things incredible: sense corrects imagination, reason corrects sense, but faith corrects both. It will not be, saith sense; it cannot be, saith reason; it both can and will be, saith faith, for I have a promise for it.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv18–21 Here the apostle digresseth a little from his principal…
Here the apostle digresseth a little from his principal argument, and falls into a commendation of Abraham’s faith.
Who against hope believed in hope: Abraham, when he had no natural or rational grounds of hope, either in respect of himself or Sarah his wife, did yet believe and hope he should have a son; and so be a root or stock, from whence many nations should spring: and this faith and hope of his was grounded upon the power and faithfulness of God.
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So shall thy seed be; so as the stars of heaven for multitude, which must be supplied out of the promise, in Gen 15:5.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v18 Here St. Paul farther expatiates in the commendation of…
Here St. Paul farther expatiates in the commendation of Abraham’s faith, telling us, That against hope he believed in hope; that is he had a strong hope, a firm faith and trust in the promise and power of God, against all natural grounds of hope; namely, that he should certainly have a son, and a seed like the stars of heaven for multitude.
He farther adds, That he considered not the deadness of his own body nor the barrenness of Sarah’s womb: neither staggered at the promise through unbelief: That is, he regarded not any difficulties which lay in the way of his faith, he admitted no doubts or questions touching the promise or power of God; but without all disputing depended fully upon God for the performance of his own promise, and so gave God the glory of his omnipotency and faithfulness.
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Observe here, 1. What was the ground of Abraham’s faith; namely, the special promise, yea, the absolute promise of God, that he should have a son.
Observe, 2. The height and measure of his faith: He was strong in faith, and staggered not through unbelief; he was fully persuaded of God’s all-sufficiency: it is a metaphor taken from ships that come into the harbour with full sail. Thus was it with Abraham, there was not any sail of his soul but what was filled with the wind of assurance. As a ship with full gale and strong sail is carried to the haven against winds and waves, so Abraham, by the strength of his faith, overcame all waves of doubts and difficulties beating upon his mind.
Observe, 3. What was the fruit and issue, the end and event of Abraham’s faith, it brought glory to God: He was strong in faith, giving glory to God. All faith glorifies God truly, but strong faith glorifies him abundantly: It gives him the glory of his power and faithfulness, goodness and truth.
Quest. 1. But how could Abraham’s body be said to be dead, when he had several children afterwards by Keturah? even six months, forty years after Sarah’s death.
Ans. Abraham’s and Sarah’s bodies received now a blessing, or new generative faculty from God, which rendered them capable of begetting and bearing children, when by nature they were not so.
Quest. 2. Was Abraham’s faith so strong as to exclude all doubting? Did not he distrust when he said, Shall a child be born to Abraham that is an hundred years old; and Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? Genesis 21.
Ans. These words are not words of doubting, but inquiring; they proceeded from a desire to be further informed how these things could be. But Abraham laughed, and Sarah also at the mention of a son. True, they did both laugh, but not both alike; Abraham’s laughter proceeded from admiration and joy, but Sarah’s from diffidence and distrust: And accordingly we find Sarah reprimanded, but not Abraham reprimanded, for laughing: Abraham staggered not at the promise through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv18–21 And being not weak in faith,.... Abraham was not…
And being not weak in faith,.... Abraham was not weak in the exercise of his faith, on the promise of God; nor was his faith weakened about the accomplishment of it, neither by the length of time after the promise was made, nor by the seeming insuperable difficulties of nature which attended it; for
he considered not his own body now dead. The Alexandrian copy reads without the negative, "he considered his own body now dead", and so the Syriac version: which makes his faith the greater, that though he did consider his case, yet his faith was not weakened: the phrase, "his body now dead", is an "euphemism" of the "merebrum virile", which by the Jews, when unfit for generation, is called , "merebrum emortuum" (t):
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when he was about an hundred years old; not being quite an hundred years of age, wanting a year or thereabout:
neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb; how unfit she was to conceive and bear children: now though he might consider these things in his mind, yet they did not dwell upon his mind, nor he upon them; at least he did not consider them, so as to distrust the divine promise.
(t) T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 55. 2. & Gloss. in ib. Sanhedrin, fol. 55. 1. & Gloss in ib. Shebuot, fol. 18. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 21 Verse 18. Who against hope believed in hope] The…
Verse 18. Who against hope believed in hope] The faith of Abraham bore an exact correspondence to the power and never-failing faithfulness of God; for though, in the ordinary course of things, he had not the best foundation of hope, yet he believed that he should be the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken; namely, that his posterity should be like the stars of heaven for multitude, and like the dust of the earth.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v18 Rom 4:18-22. Who, &c. — In this paragraph the…
Rom 4:18-22. Who, &c. — In this paragraph the apostle first takes notice of the difficulties which stood in the way of Abraham’s faith, and then of the power and excellence of it, manifested in its triumphing over them. Against hope — Against all probability; believed in hope — With an assured confidence, grounded on the divine promise; according to all that which was spoken — When God called him forth abroad to view the stars of heaven. So shall thy seed be — So numerous and glorious. And being not weak in faith — That is, being strong in faith; for the Hebrews, when they meant to assert a thing strongly, did it by the denial of its contrary. He considered not his own body now dead — With regard to the probability of begetting children. He did not regard it so as to be discouraged thereby, or induced to disbelieve the promise. The children which Abraham had by Keturah, after Sarah’s death, do not invalidate the apostle’s assertion here; for Abraham’s body, having been renewed by a miracle in order to the begetting of Isaac, might preserve its vigour for a considerable time afterward. Nor did he consider or regard the old age of Sarah. He staggered not — Greek, εις την επαγγελιαν του θεου ου διεκριθη τη απιστια, against the promise of God he did not reason; through unbelief — Did not call in question the truth of God’s promise, or the certainty of its fulfilment; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God — Entertaining high and honourable thoughts of God’s power and faithfulness, and manifesting the same by his actions. “We are told, indeed, that when God declared that Sarah was to be the mother of nations, Gen 17:17, Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to him that is a hundred years old? &c. But these questions did not proceed from unbelief, but from admiration and gratitude, as may be gathered from the posture into which he put himself. And with respect to his laughing, it did not imply any doubt of God’s promise, otherwise he would have been rebuked, as Sarah was for her laughing: but it means simply, that he rejoiced at God’s promise; for in the Hebrew language, to laugh signifies to rejoice, Gen 21:6, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me; consequently the passage may be translated, Abraham rejoiced and said, &c.” And being fully persuaded — Through the knowledge which he had of the divine perfections; that what he had promised — Greek, ο επηγγελται, that what was promised; he was able, and willing also, to perform — He believed God to be most faithful, and sure never to fail in the performance of his promises; collecting nothing else from the difficulty and improbability of the matter, but that it was the fitter for an Almighty power to effect; and therefore it — His faith; was imputed to him for righteousness — He was justified by it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv18–21 Who against hope - Who against all apparent or…
Who against hope - Who against all apparent or usual ground of hope. He refers here to the prospect of a posterity; see Rom 4:19-21.
Believed in hope - Believed in what was promised to excite his hope. Hope here is put for the object of his hope - what was promised.
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According to what was spoken - Gen 15:5.
So shall thy seed be - That is, as the stars in heaven for multitude. Thy posterity shall be very numerous.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv18–19 Who, against hope, believed in hope, or with hope.…
Who, against hope, believed in hope, or with hope. That is, Abraham, against all probability of human hopes, still hoped in God, says St. John Chrysostom, that he should have a son by Sara: and in this, he was not weak in faith. Therefore it, that is, is great faith, was imputed to him unto justice: and also our faith shall be imputed to us unto justice, or make us truly just, by believing in Christ, &c. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv18–21 Who against hope--when no ground for hope appeared.
Who against hope--when no ground for hope appeared.
believed in hope--that is, cherished the believing expectation.
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that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be--that is, Such "as the stars of heaven," Gen 15:5.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv18–20 18. Against hope—Contrary to all ordinary human hopeful expectation.…
18. Against hope—Contrary to all ordinary human hopeful expectation. In a divine hope.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv18–20 18. against hope … in hope] Lit. beyond hope…
18. against hope … in hope] Lit. beyond hope … upon hope. Here perhaps the first is subjective hope, the second objective. Abraham was asked to believe in a way which went beyond all mere impressions of probability; but he rested upon the “hope set before him” by the Divine promise, and believed.
that he might become] with a view to becoming. Not that this was the radical motive of his trust; knowledge of God was that motive. But this great “joy set before him” was strongly present in his believing soul.
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So shall thy seed be] Gen_15:5. This is interesting, as an example of allusive quotation. St Paul takes it for granted that the reader knows the context, and thus understands the force of the “so.” Cp. Heb_6:13-14, where the very point of the quotation lies in the unquoted context. But that passage, addressed to Jewish disciples, is less remarkable than this, addressed to a mixed, and chiefly Gentile, Church. We have here a significant note of the Apostle’s encouragement of minute study of the O. T. among his Gentile converts.—No doubt allusive quotation was much used by the Rabbis; but St Paul would not have used it with Gentiles had he not felt it to be in place.—Notice that the words here quoted immediately precede (in Genesis 15) the words “Abraham believed God, &c.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv18–20 (18) Who.—It must be noticed that the relative here…
(18) Who.—It must be noticed that the relative here refers to Abraham, whereas in the previous verse it referred to God.
Believed in hope.—The force of the preposition gives rather to the sentence the meaning of “grounded his faith upon hope”—that internal subjective hope that was strong within him, though there were no objective grounds for hoping.
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That he might become.—So as by exercise of faith to carry out God’s purpose.
(18-22) Extended description of the faith of Abraham.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v18 Vers. 18-21. Who against hope in hope believed (par…
Vers. 18-21. Who against hope in hope believed (par elpida ep elpidi an oxymoron. For a similar use of ep elpidi , see Corinthians 9:10; also below, Rom_5:2. Its position in the Authorized Version might suggest its dependence on "believed," which is grammatically possible, (cf. Rom_9:33 Rom_10:11) but unallowable here, since hope cannot well be regarded as the object of belief) to the end he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. (Gen_15:5, viz. "as the stars And being not weak in faith, he considered not (i.e. paid no regard to as a hindrance to faith. The codices relied on by our recent Revisers omit ou before katenohsen , and they accordingly translate, "he considered his own body," thus making the idea to be that he was fully aware of the apparent impossibility of his having a son, but believed notwithstanding. But the reading of the Textus Receptus has good support, and especially that of the Greek Fathers, and gives the best sense) his own body now dead (already deadened nenekrwmenon i.e. with respect to virility. So, with the same reference, Heb_11:12), when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah"s womb; but he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong (rather, was strengthened) in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform. With regard to the construction of ver. 20, we may observe that, though in the Authorized Version, which is followed above, the prepositions put before "unbelief" and "faith" are varied, both words are datives without a preposition in the Greek, and apparently with the same force of the dative in both cases, the sense being, "With regard to the promise, etc., unbelief did not cause him to waver (ou diekriyh th apistia), but faith made him strong enedunamwyh th pistei)." The purport of the whole passage is to show, with reference to Gen_17:15-22 Gen_18:9-16, how Abraham"s faith in the promise of a seed through Sarah, which seemed impossible in the natural course of things, corresponded in essence to our faith in "him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead" (ver. 24). It was faith in a Divine power above nature, able to quicken into supernatural life that which humanly is dead. And as Abraham"s faith in this promised birth of Isaac involved a further faith in the fulfilment through him of all the promises, so our faith in the resurrection of Christ involves faith in all that is signified and assured to us thereby in "the power of a Divine life" in him, to bring life out of death, to regenerate and quicken the spiritually dead, and finally in "eternal redemption" and the "restitution of all things". (cf. Joh_3:6 Joh_5:25 Rom_6:3-12 1Co_3:21-23 Eph_1:18-23 Eph_2:4-8 Rev_1:18; to which many other similarly significant passages might be added) It may be observed that, not only in the instance here adduced, but in his whole life as recorded in Genesis, Abraham stands forth as an exemplification of habitual faith in a Divine order beyond sight, and trust in Divine promises. In this consists the religious meaning of that record for us all. Notably so (as is especially set forth in Heb_11:17, etc.) in his willingness to sacrifice the son through whom the promise was to be fulfilled, retaining still his faith in the fulfilment.
Hope against hope.
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Faith and hope are allied, though separate, exercises and habits of created, finite mind. Neither of the two is possible to God, who is independent and eternal, and can neither confide in a superior nor anticipate a future. Man"s highest welfare depends upon faith, which is the principle of a high and noble life. Hope is less necessary, yet it belongs to a complete development of human nature, which looks forward to the future as well as upward to the unseen. Faith must have an object, and hope must have a ground. Faith is in a person; hope has respect to experience anticipated. If there be faith in a Being who has given definite promises, there will be hope in whatever is the matter of those promises. He who believes in God will hopefully expect the fulfilment of Divine assurances.
I THERE IS HOPE WHICH IS BASED UPON NATURAL HUMAN EXPERIENCES. TO some extent, hope is a matter of temperament; circumstances which to a despondent man seem to afford no gleam of comfort in looking forward to the future, will arouse the brightest expectations on the part of the man of sanguine disposition. Still, hope is often precluded by the stern teaching of constant experience; and a man would prove himself mad if, in certain circumstances, he should look forward hopefully to the enjoyment of health, honour, or riches. Abraham, in the circumstances referred to in the context, might hope for many blessings; but, if illumined only by the experience of his own life and by the experience of preceding generations, he could not hope for a posterity which should take possession of the land of Canaan as their inheritance. And we, if enlightened only by earthly wisdom, could not venture to anticipate blessings which the gospel, upon Divine authority, assures to the believing and obedient. Human hope could not so far delude us.
II THERE IS HOPE WHICH IS BASED UPON THE FAITHFUL PROMISES OF THE ETERNAL. With God nothing is impossible; from God nothing is concealed. Therefore, when he deigns to reveal his purposes to men, and when those purposes are purposes of mercy, those to whom they are made are justified in embracing them and in acting upon them. In the case of Abraham, that which human hope would have had no ground for anticipating was assured by the firm and unchanging promises of the Supreme; and Divine hope justly prevailed. He hoped in God against any hope or failure of hope which might be natural to him as man. And Abraham did not hope in vain. He embraced and believed the promises. He and his family, "not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Hope triumphed, even over the bitter trial connected with the sacrifice of Isaac. Looking forward to the future with the bright and piercing eye of hope, our father Abraham saw the day of the Messiah, and he rejoiced and was glad.
APPLICATION. Often the Christian, if reduced to the limits of earthly anticipations, might give way to discouragement and fear. But he has hope, as "an anchor to his soul," by means of which he may ride out the storms of time. Let him hope against hope, and his confidence shall be justified, and his anticipations shall be realized. His is a hope which, in the beautiful language of the Apocrypha, is "full of immortality.
"Strong in faith.
There is nothing upon which men are more given to pride themselves than upon their strength. The athlete boasts of his strength of muscle and of bodily constitution, the thinker of his strength of intellect, the monarch of his strength in war, the self-confident man of his strength of character. Such boasting is vain. Man"s estimate of his own powers may seem absurd to other beings; in the presence of the Eternal and Almighty it is profane.
Well did the prophet speak the familiar words of warning, "Let not the strong man glory in his strength." There is one respect, however, in which man may be strong. Weak in body in the presence of natural laws, weak in mind before the difficulties of life, man may nevertheless be "strong in faith." Here no limits can be set; it is faith that "Laughs at impossibilities, And cries, "It shall be done!
I STRONG FAITH IS REQUIRED BY THE EXIGENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE AND HUMAN CIRCUMSTANCES. The apostles drew their examples of virtue, of practical religion, from the history of the fathers of their nation; the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews recounts the triumphs of faith as apparent in the life of their illustrious progenitors; and St. Paul in this passage, with a view to encourage his readers to the exercise of a living and mighty faith, quotes the example of Abraham, whom be terms "the father of us all." Certainly, there seemed, to human judgment, little likelihood of the fulfilment of Jehovah"s promise to the patriarch that the land of Canaan should be the possession of his seed. There was an antecedent improbability, so far as man"s foresight could penetrate. And there were special difficulties in the family circumstances of Abraham, which seemed insuperable. Yet, St. Paul reminds his readers, Abraham "staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God." There is very much in our character and in our life which can only be successfully dealt with by the exercise of strong faith. Our sins, our sorrows, our privations, our ignorance and uncertainty with regard to the future, all call for faith. Intellectual doubts stand in the way of some men"s progress and welfare; temptations to worldliness and selfishness are formidable obstacles in the way of others. All have occasion to complain that the light of nature, of reason, is sometimes dim. All are tempted sometimes to discouragement and to despondency. When our hearts are weak and our knowledge is limited, and all our resources fail us, as must often happen in our human existence, where shall we look? Experience is at fault, reason hesitates, man"s help is vain. What we need at such times is "strong faith.
II STRONG FAITH IS JUSTIFIED BY THE ATTRIBUTES AND THE PROMISES OF GOD. Reflection and reason may teach us something of the Supreme; but the clearest light is shed upon his character and purposes by revelation; and it is in Christ Jesus that he has made himself most fully known to us; for "he that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father." If we have the assurance that God is wise and all-powerful, much of our doubt and difficulty will disappear, for we shall enjoy the conviction that our lot is not ordered by chance or fate, but by an overruling Providence. If we are encouraged upon satisfactory authority to believe that God is good and merciful, faithful and compassionate, such belief will relieve us from many apprehensions aroused by a feeling of our own innumerable errors and follies. Such a revelation has been vouchsafed to us. It should ever be borne in mind that the value of faith depends upon the object of faith. Placed upon feeble and fallible men, faith may often fail us; but settled and fixed upon infinite wisdom, righteousness, and love, it can sustain, direct, and cheer us throughout life"s pilgrimage. To Abraham certain direct and personal promises were given by God; and Abraham"s faith is recorded by the apostle in the statement that he was "fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able to perform." The promises given to mankind through Jesus Christ are no less explicit, and are far more interesting, precious, and far-reaching. We may have, and justly, a very moderate measure of faith in assurances given to us by our fellow-men, a very qualified confidence in themselves. But this ought not to be the case when the eternal and faithful God and his gracious promises are in question. Upon him and his words we may "build an absolute trust." "Believe in God," says Christ; "believe also in me.
III STRONG FAITH IS RECOMPENSED IN THE EXPERIENCE OF GOD"S PEOPLE. It was so in the case of Abraham, who became the father of many nations, whose posterity inherited the land of Canaan, and to whom his personal faith was "imputed for righteousness." It has ever been so with Christians who have walked, not by sight, but by faith. Confidence in an unseen, but ever-present, Divine, almighty Helper, has been the principle of every truly Christian life. It has brought pardon and peace to the heart of the penitent; it has caused many "out of weakness to wax strong;" it has brought light to those in darkness, and leading to those in perplexity, safety to those in danger, comfort to those in sorrow, and hope to those who were ready to perish. "This is the victory which overcometh the world, even your faith." Nor is this inexplicable; for by faith we lay hold of the strength that is irresistible and invincible, and the might of the believer is not his own, but God"s.
Promise and performance.
How condescendingly and graciously does our heavenly Father deign to communicate with his children! What proofs does he give of his interest in us, his sympathy with us! No better illustration of this can be found than in the promises of the holy Word. Stooping, as it were, to our level, God addresses to us not merely precepts to direct our conduct, but promises to sustain our courage and to animate our hope. Exceeding great and precious are the Divine promises uttered and fulfilled for the benefit of the spiritual family dependent upon the bounty, forbearance, and tender mercy of the Most High.
I DIVINE PROMISES. The promise given to Abraham was of a special character, but both in itself, and in the way in which it was received and acted upon, it is peculiarly instructive to us as Christians.
1. The Giver of the promises upon which we, as believers in God"s Word, are called upon to rely, is the Being whose infinite resources, omniscient acquaintance with his people"s needs, and unfailing fidelity, place all his assurances apart from and altogether above those of others.
2. The matter of the Divine promises deserves our special attention; they have regard rather to spiritual than to temporal good, and whilst varied in their character, they are singularly adapted to the condition and necessities of men.
3. The receivers of these promises are creatures dependent altogether upon the Divine favour, with no resources of their own, and no hope save that which is based upon the faithfulness of God.
4. The purpose of the Divine promises is to remove natural fear and depression concerning the future, and in place thereof to instill a calm confidence, a bright and peaceful hope. If men were left to their own forecastings of the future, gloomy forebodings would often take possession of their souls; the promises of God are fitted to reassure and reanimate the downcast and cheerless.
II DIVINE PERFORMANCE.
1. This is assured and certain. We read of God that "he cannot lie." Abraham"s confidence was justified, when he was "fully assured that, what God had promised, he was able also to perform.
2. It is complete, satisfactory, and effectual. Abraham was removed from earth before the appointed time arrived for the fulfilment of the promises made to him and to his seed. Yet he foresaw with the clear vision of faith what in due season came to pass. His descendants received and possessed "the land of promise." It is so with all the performances of Eternal Wisdom and Compassion. Not one word that God has spoken shall fail; his promises are "all Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus.
3. God"s performance of his plighted word of assurance is such as to justify his people"s unhesitating confidence. How can we question either his ability or his willingness? "The voice that rolls the stars along Spake all the promises
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v19 And being not weak in faith … he staggered…
Rom_4:19-22
And being not weak in faith … he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.
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The sinfulness of staggering
I. What is it to stagger at the promise? The word staggered is properly to make use of our own judgment and reason, in discerning of things, of what sort they be (1Co_11:29). In the sense wherein it is here used (as also Mat_21:21). It holds out a self-consultation and dispute, concerning those contrary things that are proposed to us (so also Act_10:20). To stagger then at the promise is to take into consideration the promise, and all the difficulties that lie in the way of its accomplishment, and so to dispute it, as not fully to cast it off, nor fully to close with it. E.g., the soul considers the promise of free grace in the blood of Jesus, weighs those considerations which might lead the heart to rest firmly upon it; but considers his own unworthiness, etc., which, as he supposes, staves off the efficacy of the promise. If he add a grain of faith, the scale turns on the side of the promise; the like quantity of unbelief makes it turn upon him; and what to do he knows not: let go the promise he cannot, take fast hold he dares not, but wavers to and fro. Thus the soul comes to be like Paul (Php_1:23), or as David (2Sa_24:14). He sees, in a steadfast closing with the promise, presumption; on the other hand, destruction; arguments arise on both sides, he knows not how to determine them, and so hanging in suspense, he staggers. Like a man meeting with two paths, that promise both fairly, and knows not which is his proper way, guesses and guesses, and at length sits down until someone comes that can give direction. The soul very frequently in this hesitation refuses to go one step forward till God come mightily and lead out the spirit to the promise, or the devil turn it aside to unbelief. It is as a light in the air: the weight that it hath carries it downwards; and the air, with some breath of wind, bears it up again. Sometimes it seems as though it would fall by its own weight; and sometimes, again, as though it would mount quite out of sight; but poised between both it tosseth up and down, without any great gaining either way. The promise draws the soul upward, and the weight of its unbelief sinks it downward; but neither prevails. Like the two disciples going to Emmaus (Luk_24:14), They talked together of the things that had happened, and (Rom_4:22) they gave up. Yet they cannot quite give over all trusting in Christ (Rom_4:23-25): hereupon they staggered (Rom_4:17); much appears for them, something against them, they know not what to do.
II. Notwithstanding any pretences whatever staggering is from unbelief. The two disciples just mentioned thought they had good cause of all their doubtings (Luk_24:20). But our Saviour tells them that they are foolish, and slow of heart to believe. Peter venturing upon the waves at the command of Christ (Mat_14:1-36), seeing the wind to grow boisterous, also hath a storm within, and cries out, Oh; save me! The real cause of his fear was merely unbelief (verse 31). And upon several occasions doth our Saviour lay all the staggering of His followers as to any promised mercy upon this score (Mat_6:30; Mat_8:26; see also Isa_7:7; Isa_7:9; Heb_4:2). But these things will be more clear if we consider that when a man doubts his reasonings must have their rise, either from something within himself, or from something in the things concerning which he staggereth. He that doubteth whether his friend be alive or not, his staggering ariseth from the uncertainty of the thing itself; when that is made out, he is resolved, as it was with Jacob in the case of Joseph. But he that doubteth whether the needle in the compass being touched with the lodestone will turn northward all the uncertainty is in his own mind. If when men stagger at the promises we demonstrate that there is nothing in the promise that should occasion any such staggering, we lay the blame on unbelief. Let us now see weather anything be wanting to the promises.
1. Is there truth in these promises? If there be the least occasion to suspect their truth, or the veracity of the Promiser, then our staggering may arise from thence, and not from our own unbelief. But now the Author of the promises is the God of truth, who has used all possible means to cause us to apprehend the truth of His promises.
(1) By often affirming the same thing. There is not anything that He hath promised us but He hath done it again and again; e.g., as if He would say, I will be merciful to your sins, I pray believe Me, for I will pardon your iniquities, yea, it shall be so, I will blot out your transgressions as a cloud.
(2) By confirming the truth with an oath (Heb_6:13-18).
(3) By entering into covenant to accomplish what He has spoken.
(4) By giving us a hostage to secure us of His truth, one exceedingly dear to Him, of whose honour He is as careful as of His own. Jesus Christ is the pledge of His fidelity in His promises (Isa_7:14). In Him are all the promises of God yea and amen. Thus also to His saints He gives the further hostage of His Spirit, and the first fruits of glory.
2. But though there be truth in the promise, yet there may want ability in the promiser. A physician may promise a sick man recovery who, though he could rely upon the physicians truth, yet doubts his ability, knowing that to cure is not absolutely in his power; but when He promises who is able to perform, then all doubting is removed. See then whether it be so in respect of Gods promises (Gen_17:1). When difficulties, temptations, and troubles arise, remember God is not only true and faithful, but Almighty (Rom_4:21; chap. 11:23; Eph_3:20). When men come to close with the promise, to make a life upon it, they are very ready to inquire whether it be possible that the word should be made good to them. He that sees a little boat swimming at sea looks upon it without any solicitousness; but let this man commit his own life to sea in it, what inquiries will he make? So whilst we consider the promises at large, as they lie in the Word, they are all true; but when we go to venture our souls upon a promise, in an ocean of temptations, then every blast we think will overturn it. Now here we are apt to deceive ourselves. We inquire whether it can be so to us, as the Word holds out, when the question is not about the nature of the thing, but about the power of God. Place the doubt aright, and it is this: Is God able to accomplish what He hath spoken? Can He pardon my sins? Now, that there may be no occasion of staggering upon this point, you see God reveals Himself as an all-sufficient God, as one that is able to go through with all His engagements. But you will say, Though God be thus able, yet may there not be defects in the means whereby He worketh? As a man may have a strong arm able to strike his enemies to the ground, but yet if he strike with a feather, or a straw, it will not be done. But--
(1) Gods instruments do not act according to their own virtue, but according to the influence by Him to them communicated.
(2) It is expressly affirmed of the great mediums of the promise, that they also are able. There is
(a) The procuring means, Jesus Christ (Heb_5:27; Heb_2:18).
(b) The means of manifestation, the Word of God (Act_20:32).
(c) The means of operation, the Spirit of grace (1Co_12:11).
3. But there may be want of sincerity in promises, which, whilst we do but suspect, we cannot choose, but stagger at them. But there can be no room for staggering here; for nothing can be plainer or more certain than that the promises of God signify His purpose, that the believer of them shall be the enjoyer of them. So that upon the making out of any promise, you may safely conclude that upon believing the mercy of this promise is mine. It is true, if a man stand staggering, whether he have any share in the promise, and close not with it by faith, he may come short of it; and yet without the least impeachment of the sincerity of the Promiser; for God hath not signified that men shall enjoy them whether they believe or not. If proclamation be, made granting pardon to all such rebels as shall come in by such a season, do men use to stand questioning whether the State bear them any goodwill or not? The gospel proclamation is of pardon to all comers in; it is for thee therefore to roll thyself on this, there is an absolute sincerity in the engagement which thou mayest freely rest upon.
4. But though all be present, truth, power, sincerity; yet if he that makes the promise should forget, this were a ground of staggering. Pharaohs butler probably spake the truth according to his present intention, and afterwards had doubtless power to have procured the liberty of a prisoner; but he did not remember Joseph. This forgetting made all other things useless. But neither hath this the least colour of Divine promises (Isa_49:14). The onuses of forgetfulness are--
(1) Want of love. But infinite love will have infinite thoughtfulness and remembrance.
(2) Multiplicity of business. But although God rules the world, He will not forget (Psa_77:9).
5. But where all other things may concur, yet if the promiser may alter his resolution, a man may justly doubt the accomplishment of the promise. Wherefore the Lord carefully rejects all sinful surmises concerning the least change or alteration in Him, or any of His engagements (Jam_1:18; Mal_3:6). In conclusion, then, such staggering must dishonour God, for--
1. It robs Him of the glory of His truth 1Jn_5:10).
2. It robs Him of the glory of His fidelity to His promises (1Jn_1:9).
3. It robs Him of the glory of His grace.
In a word, if a man should choose to set himself in a universal opposition unto God, he can think of no more compendious way than this. This then is the fruit, this the advantage of our staggering; we rob God of glory, and our own souls of mercy. (J. Owen, D. D.)
Unstaggering faith
It was Gods purpose that Abraham should be a surpassingly excellent example of the power of faith. It was therefore necessary that his faith should be exercised in a special manner. To this end God gave him a promise that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed, and yet for many a year he remained without an heir. Doubtless he weighed the natural impossibilities, but he maintained a holy confidence, and left the matter in the hands of the Sovereign Ruler. His faith triumphed in all its conflicts. Had it not been that Sarah and Abraham were both at such an advanced age there would have been no credit to them in believing the promise of God, but the more difficult its fulfilment, the more wonderful was Abrahams faith. By such unquestioning confidence Abraham brought glory to God. It glorifies God greatly for His servants to trust Him; they then become witnesses to His faithfulness, just as His works in creation are witnesses to His power and wisdom. Let us view the text in regard to--
I. The individual worker.
1. You are conscious of your spiritual weakness. You say, If God intends to bless souls, I cannot see how they can be blessed through me. I feel myself to be the most unworthy instrument in the world.
(1) Such a lowly sense of our own unfitness is common at the beginning of Christian labour, and arises from the novel difficulties with which we are surrounded. We have not gone this way heretofore, and being quite new to the work, Satan whispers, You are a poor creature to pretend to serve God; leave this service to better men. But take comfort; this is part of your preparation; you must be made to feel early in the work that all the glory must be of God.
(2) This sense of weakness grows on the Christian worker. To continue in harness year after year is not without its wear and tear; our spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak, and faintness in pursuing reveals to us that our own strength is perfect weakness. The more earnest your labours for the Lord, the more clear will be your sense of your own nothingness.
(3) There are times when a want of success will help to make us feel most keenly how barren and unfruitful we are until the Lord endows us with His Spirit. Those whom we thought to be converted turn out to be merely the subjects of transient excitement, those who stood long, turn aside, and then we cry out, Woe is me! How shall I speak any more in the name of the Lord? Like Moses, we would have the Lord send by whomsoever He would send, but not by us; or like Elias, we hide ourselves for fear, and say Let me die, I am no better than my fathers. I suppose there is no worker who is quite free from times of deep depression, times when his fears make him say, Surely I ran without being called. At such moments it only needs another push from Satan to make us like Jonah to go down to Joppa, that we may no longer bear the burden of the Lord. I am not sorry if you are passing through this fiery ordeal, for it is in your weakness God will show His own strength, and when there is an end of you there will be a beginning of Him.
2. It may be also that our sphere of Christian effort is remarkably unpromising. In that Sunday school class the boys are obstinate, the girls frivolous. You had not reckoned upon this. The more you try to influence their hearts the less you succeed. It is possible you are called to labour where the prejudices, temptations, and habits and ways of thought are all dead against the chance of success. But Christian work never succeeds until the worker rates the difficulties at their proper rate. The fact is, to save a soul is the work of Deity; and unless we have made up our minds to that, we had better retire, for we are not ready for labour.
3. Yet the godly worker has that which sustains him, for he has a promise from God. Abraham had received a promise, and he knew the difficulties and weighed them; but having done so, he put them away as not worth considering. God had said it, and that was enough, The promise of God was as good as its fulfilment; just as in trade some mens bills are as good as cash. Now if we are to be successful we must get hold of a promise too. You say, If I could have a special revelation, just as Abraham had, I would doubt no more. Now God gives His promises in many ways. Sometimes He gives them to individuals, at other times to classes of character. Now God has been pleased to give the revelation, in your case, to character. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Now if you have gone forth, wept, and carried forth precious seed, the Lord declares that you shall doubtless come again rejoicing. My word shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Have you delivered Gods word? if so, then God declares it shall not return unto Him void; and these promises are quite as good as though they had been spoken to you by the voice of an angel. A promise however given is equally binding upon a man of honour, and a promise of God, no matter how delivered, is sure of fulfilment; all you have to do is to lay hold upon it.
II. The church.
1. We have set our hearts upon a revival. But I fear that our temptation is to suppose there is some power in the ministry, or in our organisation, or our zeal. Let us divest ourselves of all that. As to causing a genuine revival by our own efforts, we might as well talk of whirling the stars from their spheres. If God help us we can pray, but without His aid our prayer will be mockery. If God help us we can preach, but apart from Him our preaching is but a weary tale told without power.
2. There is not only difficulty in ourselves, but in the work. We want to see all these people converted. But what can we do? The preacher can do nothing, for he has done his best and has failed, and all that any can suggest will fail also. The work is impossible with us, but do we therefore give up the attempt? No, for is it not written, I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye My face in vain? Christ must see of His souls travail, must see of it in this place too. We have Gods promise for it; we cannot do it, but He can.
III. Every pleading soul. If your heart has been set upon any special object in prayer, if you have an express promise for it, you must not be staggered if the object of your desire be farther off now than when you first began to pray. Wait at the mercy seat in the full persuasion that although God may take His time, and that time may not be your time, yet He must and will redeem His promise when the fulness of time has come. If you have prayed for the salvation of your child, or husband, or friend, and that person has grown worse instead of better, still God must be held to His word; and if you have the faith to challenge His faithfulness and power, assuredly He never did and never will let your prayers fall fruitless to the ground. Remember that to trust God in the light is nothing, but to trust Him in the dark--that is faith.
IV. The seeker. You imagined at one time that you could become a Christian at your own will at any moment; and now how to perform that which you would you find not. You desire to break the chains of sin, but they are far easier to bind than to loose. You want to come to Jesus with a broken heart, but your heart refuses to break. You long to trust Jesus, but your unbelief is so mighty that you cannot see His Cross. I am glad to find you in this poverty-stricken state, for I believe that in your case you must know your own powerlessness. Every sinner must learn that he is by nature dead in sins, and that the work of salvation is high above out of his reach. Self-despair throws a man upon his God; he feels that he can do nothing, and he turns to one who can do all things. Now the next thing is to find a promise. Whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Have you called upon the name of the Lord? Have you cried to Him, God be merciful to me a sinner? If you so call you must be saved. Whosoever cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. Do you come? If so, you cannot be cast out. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Religious faith rational
That its object is marvellous is quite true; and it is also true that no mind will form itself to a habit of faith without the influences of Divine grace. But to say that such a faith as that of Abraham, which led him to believe Gods word when opposed to his own experience, is a strange principle and irrational, is absurd.
I. For we act on trust every hour of our lives.
1. We trust to our memory, and our confidence in it is so strong that no man could persuade us to reject its testimony.
2. We trust our reasoning powers. Who of us would doubt, on seeing strong shadows on the ground, that the sun was shining, though our face happened to be turned the other way?
3. And we trust our memory and our reasoning powers in this way, though they often deceive us; because on the whole they are faithful witnesses, and because in all practical matters we are obliged to decide by not what may be possibly, but what is likely to be. There is a chance, e.g., that our food today may be poisonous, but it looks and tastes the same, and we have good friends round us; so we do not abstain from it, for all this chance.
4. But it may be said that such belief is not what is meant by faith--that to trust our senses and reason is to trust ourselves--and though these do sometimes mislead us, yet we can use them to correct each other; but it is a very different thing to trust another person, which is faith in the Scripture sense of the word. But reliance on the word of another is no irrational or strange principle of conduct in the concerns of this life. For what do we know without trusting others?
(1) Are there not towns within fifty or sixty miles of us which we have never seen, but in which we fully believe? What convinces us? The report of others--this faith in testimony which, when religion is concerned, is called irrational.
(2) Consider how we are obliged to confide in persons we never saw, or know but slightly; nay, in their handwritings, which, for what we know, may be forged.
(3) It is certain that we all must sooner or later die, and men arrange their affairs accordingly. Yet what proof have we of this? because other men die? how does he know that? has he seen them die? he can know nothing of what took place before he was born, nor of what happens in other countries. How little, indeed, he knows about it at all, except that it is a received fact.
(4) We constantly believe things against our own judgment; i.e., when we think our informant likely to know more about the matter under consideration than ourselves, which is the precise case in the question of religious faith. And thus from reliance on others we acquire knowledge of all kinds, and proceed to reason, judge, decide, act, form plans for the future. But it is needless to proceed; the world could not go on without trust. The most distressing event that can happen to a state is the spreading of a want of confidence between man and man. Distrust, want of faith, breaks the very bonds of human society.
5. Now, shall we account it only rational for a man to yield to anothers judgment as better than his own, and yet think it against reason when one, like Abraham, sets the promise of God above his own short-sighted expectation?
II. The main reason for disbelief. It may be objected, If God had spoken to us as He did to Abraham, it were madness to disbelieve; but it is not His voice we hear, but mans speaking in His name. How are we to know whether they speak truth or not?
1. Whatever such may say about their willingness to believe, in a great many cases they murmur at being required to believe, dislike being bound to act without seeing, and prefer to trust themselves to trusting God, even though it could be plainly proved to them that God was speaking to them. Their conduct shows this. Why otherwise do they so frequently scoff at religious men, as if timid and narrow-minded, merely because they fear to sin? Clearly, it is their very faith itself they ridicule. To trust another implicitly is to acknowledge ones self to be his inferior; and this mans proud nature cannot bear to do. It is therefore very much to our purpose to accustom our minds to the fact that almost everything we do is grounded on mere trust in others, and that visible dependence reminds us forcibly of our truer and fuller dependence upon God.
2. Unbelievers condemn themselves out of their own mouth. Our obedience to God is not founded on our belief in the word of such persons as tell us Scripture came from God. We obey God primarily because we feel His presence in our consciences bidding us obey Him. Now, if they trust their senses and their reason, why do they not trust their conscience too? Their conscience is as much a part of themselves as their reason is; and it is placed within them in order to balance the influence of sight and reason and yet they will not attend to it; for they love to be their own masters, and therefore they will not attend to that secret whisper of their hearts, which tells them they are not their own masters, and that sin is hateful and ruinous. Nothing shows this more plainly than their conduct. Supposing a man says to them, You know in your heart that you should not do so; they get angry; or attempt to turn what is said into ridicule; anything will they do, except answer by reasoning. Their boasted argumentation flies like a coward before the stirring of conscience; and their passions are the only champions left for their defence. They in effect say, We do so, because we like it; perhaps they even avow this in so many words. And are such the persons whom any Christian can trust? Surely faith in them would be of all conceivable confidences the most irrational. For ourselves, let us but obey Gods voice in our hearts, and we shall have no doubts practically formidable about the truth of Scripture. Our doubts will be found to arise after disobedience. And if we but obey God in time faith will become like sight; we shall have no more difficulty in finding what will please God than in moving our limbs, or in understanding the conversation of our familiar friends. (J. H. Newman, D. D.)
But was strong in faith, giving glory to God.--
Strong faith
I. What it is.
1. Abraham grew strong in faith; faith grows by exercise.
2. He was made strong by faith; faith is a bracing grace. The worlds heroes are strong by faith in themselves, Gods by faith in Him (Jdg_6:14; Heb_11:1-40; David, Daniel, etc.). Weak faith is not rejected, but strong faith is commended. Strong faith triumphs over doubts and fears (Mat_14:30-31).
II. What it does. It glorifies God as unbelief dishonours Him. It gives glory to all His attributes, especially His faithfulness, benevolence, almightiness, for it builds on them alone. Honouring God is therefore honoured by Him. Not to believe Him is to offer Him the greatest insult (1Jn_5:10). Gods honour and mans interest, both combined. Faith secures both. Abraham giving glory to God waxed strong in faith. As faith glorifies God it becomes stronger and stronger, and is a worthy medium of justification as giving God all the glory. (T. Robinson, D. D.)
Strong faith
I. Strong faith is supported by abundant reasons.
1. All the reasons which justify our believing in God at all justify our believing in Him most firmly. It can never be right to believe unless the statements are true, and if true they deserve undivided faith. If anything be strong enough for you to trust your eternal destiny to it, your trust ought to be immovable as a granite rock. If it be right to enter into faiths stream at all, every possible argument proves that the deeper you go the better.
2. Reasons for strong faith may be found in the character of God. Our reliance upon man must be cautiously given; but--
(1) The Lord is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent. Should we not have strong faith who believe in a God whose very essence is pure truth?
(2) God is omnipotent, and therefore believing should be strong. Is anything too hard for the Lord? With God all things are possible.
(3) All things else change, but God knoweth no shadow of a turning. Believe immutably in an immutable God.
(4) He is the God of love. What a wanton insult it is to mistrust one who cannot be unkind.
3. When I turn mine eyes to our Lord Jesus it appears incongruous that the Son of God should be received with meagre confidence. Can we doubt His ability to save? Abraham had strong confidence when he saw the type--the burning lamp passing between the pieces of the slain victims. With how much greater confidence should we rest in the antitype.
4. We ought to give God strong faith, because there is no evidence which could justify mistrust.
(1) All down the ages those who have trusted in Him have never been confounded. We read in the eleventh of Hebrews the record of what the Lord wrought in those who believed in Him. Now, per contra, there standeth nothing.
(2) On the bed of death the truth generally comes out, yet who ever heard a solitary believer declare that it is a mistake to confide in the blood of Jesus, or to rest in the faithfulness of God? Somewhere or other this thing would have come out if it had been so.
(3) Have you experienced anything which casts suspicion upon the character of God? When you have trusted Him has He failed you? Will you put your finger upon a promise which He has broken?
II. Strong faith produces the most desirable results. We can only dwell upon the one mentioned here, giving glory to God. This is mans chief end. Strong faith answers that end because--
1. It treats him like God. Unbelief is practical atheism; because, denying the truthfulness of God, it takes away what is a part of His essential character. I would not grieve those who have but little faith, but still weak faith limits the Holy One of Israel! It believes Him up to such a point, or under such and such circumstances, whereas strong faith treats God according to His infinite character.
2. It treats Him as a father, and acts towards Him in the childlike spirit, i.e., with unlimited confidence. Can my Father do an unkind thing, be untrue, be false or changeable? Impossible!
3. It strengthens all the other graces, and all these bring glory to God.
4. It gives a striking testimony to the world, The faith which can practise eminent self-denial or achieve great enterprises attracts the eyes of men; they see your strong faith, and they glorify your Father which is in heaven. I have known some faith which would have required a microscope to perceive it, and when we have declared that little faith saves the soul, the worldling has replied, Well, it is a very small concern at any rate.
5. It enables Him to work in us and through us. As our Saviour could not do many mighty works in a certain place because of their unbelief, so is God hampered with regard to some of us.
III. Strong faith which gives glory to God may be exercised by persons who are otherwise exceedingly weak.
1. What a joy this is to you who are sufferers in body! You cannot do apostolic work and range a continent, but you may exhibit a placid patience, a sweet resignation, a sacred hopefulness as to the future, a Divine disdain as to the fear of death.
2. So you may have few talents, and yet you may have strong faith. You need not be a genius in order to give glory to God, for the strength of your faith will do it. You can glorify God by holding firmly to the truth of which you understand so little, but which you love so heartily.
3. Some saints are conscious of weakness of every sort, but they must not, therefore, think that they cannot honour God by strong faith, for Abraham was so old that his body was now dead, and yet he believed that he would be the progenitor of the chosen seed. The depth of your weakness is just the height of your possibilities of honouring the Lord.
IV. This strong faith varies as to its manner of working, very much according to the person and his circumstances.
1. There is one thing that strong faith does not do, it never talks big and boasts of what it will accomplish. There is a great deal of difference between confidence in yourself and confidence in God. Barking dogs do not often bite, and those men who promise much very seldom perform. Point me to one boastful word that fell from Abraham. David said little to his envious brothers, but he brought home the giants head.
2. Faith exercises itself as in the case of Abraham, by believing Gods word. God had said many things to him, and he believed them all.
3. But Abrahams was not alone receptive faith: his was a faith which obeyed the precept. The test of obedience was the strange command to take his only son and offer him up for a sacrifice, but he went to do it.
4. Abrahams faith awakened in him great expectations. He was looking for an heir, from whom should spring a seed as the stars of heaven for multitude. We shall be full of expectation if we have strong faith: looking for blessings, expecting prayers to be answered, and promises to be fulfilled.
V. Strong faith is especially to be expected in certain quarters.
1. In those who know God. They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee, for Thou Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee.
2. Those who have had a long experience of Him. Speak well of the bridge which has carried you over so many times. Let those of us who have been twenty-five years in the ways of God put aside our childish doubts.
3. Those who have lived in fellowship with Him.
4. Those who are getting near to heaven. Do not let it be among the last memories of earth that you doubted your Beloved.
5. Teachers and preachers. We shall never win sinners to faith if we preach what we do not intensely believe. And I do not think we shall have many conversions unless we expect God to bless the word. It is the rule of His kingdom. According to your faith so be it unto you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Trusting the Promiser
Said Hester Ann Rogers: By thus trusting the promise and the Promiser, I have conquered, and, glory be to God, through His strength I shall prevail. It is by hanging on Jesus, as an infant on its mothers breast, I retain my peace, and love, and joy.
Unfaltering faith
John and Charles Wesley were once conversing about an important project, which they agreed was desirable, but Charles thought they could not do it. John thought they should attempt it. At length Charles said, When God gives me wings Ill fly. John replied, When God tells me to fly Ill trust Him for the wings. (H. K. Burton.)
Strong faith
Amongst us there may be a lack of faith. The unbelieving man is weak, and the believing man is strong. Faith pours vigour into the understanding, the judgment, the affection, and the will. In proportion to a mans faith so is his power. This principle has been illustrated times without number, by the soldier on the battlefield, the sailor on the great deep, the traveller in other lands, and men in every department in life. Without strong faith, Hannibal never could have attempted the bold enterprise of crossing the Alps. Without strong faith, Columbus never could have sailed upon the untried waters, amid the insubordination of his crew. Without strong faith, Cook, Bruce and Livingstone never could have confronted and overcome such gigantic difficulties in unknown countries. Without strong faith in reason and science, Socrates and Galileo never could have been so daring and dauntless, so great and sublime. A mere sneerer--the man who sits in his easy chair, folds his arms, believes in nothing, and laughs at everything--could have done none of these things, and can do nothing for the improvement of the race worthy of a moments consideration. What steam is to the locomotive, or what life is to the body, faith is to successful action. (A. McAuslane.)
Faith glorifying God
The leading thought here is the connection of Gods glory with our faith. Having that faith, as the gift of God, we glorify Him. And being strong in that faith, we glorify Him all the more. To be glorifying to God, therefore, our faith--
I. Must have a promise of God to rest on. Human faith, not resting on a Divine promise, is either folly or fanaticism.
1. Even in the natural world this is true. We walk by faith; but it is by faith grounded on the promise that natures laws will operate with the regularity hitherto observed. Strong in that faith you walk safely, and glorify God. But if you disregard that promise, you rush into danger and dishonour God.
2. The promise to Abraham was fitted to try his capacity of believing to the uttermost. The only thing that could lessen the difficulty was that there could be no doubt as to the exact thing promised, or as to the particular person to whom it was promised. Ah! but one says, Give me a promise like that and I will not hesitate for a moment. But consider--
(1) May not Abrahams words elsewhere be applicable here?--If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead. Is it clear that if I am not now complying with the gospel call, addressed to all sinners, I would comply with it more readily if it were addressed to me by name? And again, if forgiveness of sin, renewal, etc., are now felt to be intangible, would it obviate the difficulty to have them made up into a material packet which my hand may handle, my eye see, my mouth swallow? Called by name I might refuse as now; that would not make me willing, and if I got the blessings embodied in some sensible sign, it would be the embodiment alone that became mine. The blessings embodied would seem as shadowy as ever. Be sure that the call is personal and pointed enough, and that the promise is to be realised experimentally. Let us together taste and see that God is good.
(2) Understand clearly the object of faith of Abraham. Immediately it was a son in his old age. But surely he did not contemplate that barely in itself. He looked at it in its spiritual significancy; in its bearing on the fulfilment of the great original promise, which he had been told was to be fulfilled in his seed. But for that aspect of it, the promise could really have no meaning to him. In a worldly point of view, what need has he of this child, for whose birth the very laws of nature are to be suspended? For his own temporal prosperity, for the preservation of his name and memory in a numerous posterity, provision has been made already. The promise then is not merely that a son is to be born to him, but that in that son he is to see the day of Christ afar off with gladness. Viewed thus, Abrahams faith really differs in no material respect from that which you are called to exercise. He has no promise on which his faith may lean more special and personal than you have; and what his faith has to lay hold of is the same unseen Saviour, and the same spiritual salvation that you have set before you in the gospel. And, simply relying, as you may rely, on the testimony of God concerning Him who is to be his seed in Isaac, he believes, and righteousness is imputed to him. Hence--
(3) Abrahams case becomes now really ours. Or, if there is any difference, the advantage is with you. Abraham had presented to him an event future and conditional upon certain necessary antecedents (verses 19, 20). You have an accomplished fact (verse 24). Isaac is to be born; and in him is to be found the seed of the woman that is to bruise the serpents head: that is Abrahams ground of hope. Christ is risen; the seed of woman having actually bruised the serpents head: that is yours.
II. Must be such as will be glorifying to God. My faith must have its root in a real personal dealing between God and me. He and I must meet personally, face to face; as truly as He and Abraham did. We must know one another; trust one another. No other kind of faith than that can be glorifying to Him. What! Shall I be contented that a member of my family should go about to satisfy himself by evidence from hearsay, or from circumstances. Is that a sort of faith which I can feel to be either complimentary or kind? Is it not, on the contrary, a bitter disappointment. For does it not show that I am held to be, not a friend, or father, who may be fondly resorted to, that I may be trusted and consulted; but at the best a suspected stranger, about whom it may be desirable to be informed?
III. Must be strong or in the way of becoming strong. Now, in considering this we must bear in mind the Lords own saying--If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed … nothing shall be impossible with you. The woman with an issue of blood was apparently not strong in faith. And yet her faith did a great thing for her, and surely God was greatly glorified through it. And indeed it was strong faith to say, If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole, for it was such immediate, personal dealing with the Lord that put all His power and love in operation on her behalf. The strength of Abrahams faith consisted--
1. Negatively, in not considering what sense may urge against the promise (verses 19, 20). If he had considered these things he would have been weak in faith.
(1) Certainly they were formidable obstacles that had to be overcome by a miracle of power upon and a miracle of faith within him. Everything that he could see and know and feel, in nature and in himself, was against his believing. And what had he on the other side for believing? Simply God speaking; God promising. That, however, prevailed.
(2) But we must distinguish this not considering these difficulties from the mere shutting of the eyes to the fact of their existence. I may be so bent upon the attainment of an object as unconsciously to overlook all intervening obstacles, and fondly persuade myself that what I wish must be possible, simply because I wish it. Or I may be so impatient, foolhardy, as to be wilfully blind to everything but the gratifying of my hearts desire. Not such was the faith of Abraham. He had full in view the obstacles in the way of the promise. And this was the very strength of his faith, that, having them full in view, he disregarded them.
(3) Alas! how is faith weakened and made to stagger by your considering what sense says or suggests against it.
(a) Am I called, as a sinner, to believe in Christ for the forgiveness of my sin and my peace with God? God Himself is telling me, not of a child to be born, but of the Child actually born; and not of His birth merely, but of His wondrous life and death; and of His rising from the dead, etc., God is telling me of this Christ as mine, if I will but have Him to be mine. Alas! I give heed to considerations that seem to make all this impossible. I am not worthy enough, or vile enough. I have not repentance enough, or faith enough. I will not make up my mind absolutely to reject Christ. But I stagger at the promise through unbelief. I stagger into unbelief. Is this giving glory to God?
(b) As regards a holy life, this evil is sorely felt. Ah! how am I tempted here to consider my own deadness; and so to consider it, as to put up with it, and make allowance for it. How apt am I to dwell on infirmities and hindrances; how ready to acquiesce in what I am, as if it were all I might be. How does all this interfere with my giving glory to God!
(c) For others my faith is to be exercised. I plead with God for a child, a brother, a friend. I have promises to plead. Ah! I can it be that here too I am hindered by my considering the suggestions of sense, and giving heed to difficulties and questions respecting his deadness and mine?
(d) For the seed of Abraham; for Him who is the seed of Abraham, and for all that is His; His cause and kingdom; the progress of His gospel; the winning of souls to Him; for all that, I am commanded to believe God. Alas! for my weakness in this faith. How do I consider the mountains that are in my way! For all this staggering the remedy is to be found, at least in part, in the negative way of not considering the difficulties which sense may raise.
2. Positively, notice what being strong in faith really is. It is simply being fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able also to perform (verse 21). Nay, but who doubts that? you ask. I at least never dream of calling in question the omnipotence of God. And yet I see not how that will of itself make me, or any man, strong in faith. Very true. But the faith in question is not believing something about God, but believing God. Ah! in that view it is everything, to be fully persuaded that what He has promised He is able also to perform. It is a blessed thing to remember that it is the Almighty who speaks to you, who bids you speak to Him. O ye of little faith, whereof do you doubt? Is anything too hard for Him who asks you to believe Him? Be, then, strong in this faith, giving glory to God. For it is faith in Gods power that most glorifies Him; it is distrust of His power which lies at the root of most of the unbelief that is so dishonouring to Him. If Thou canst do anything, we are apt to say, with the afflicted father. Let us ponder the gracious answer, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And let us enter into the spirit of the gracious reply, Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief. Conclusion: Lay to heart the ground of believing strongly. It is not that it gives peace, joy, salvation, but that it gives glory to God. To be weak in faith is not merely to miss or mar a privilege, but to dishonour the God whom you are bound to glorify. To be dwelling on hindrances standing in the way of His free word of promise; to be distrusting His ability to sweep them all away, and make His word of promise good; can anything be more fitted to affront the Almighty, the faithful, true, and loving Jehovah? Is it not literally and truly making him a liar? Beware of so great a sin. You may fancy that there is humility in it. You feel your own unworthiness and unsteadfastness so deeply that you dare not venture to be too confident or to presume. Presume!--the presumption is all the other way! The intolerable presumption is to refuse to take God at His word. Be clothed with humility. And that you may be clothed with humility, be not faithless but believing. Be strong in faith, giving glory to God. (R. S. Candlish, D. D.)
And being fully persuaded that what he had promised He was able also to perform.
Full persuasion
Having full assurance (Luk_1:1; Rom_14:5; 2Ti_4:5; 2Ti_4:17). Metaphor from a ship carried forward with full sail, Gave out all his canvas. Ventured all on Gods word. Believed without hesitation or reserve. Full assurance of faith (Heb_10:22). Grounded on full assurance of understanding (Col_2:2). Conducts to full assurance of hope (Heb_6:11). Faith a filling grace. Unbelief empties and keeps empty. (T. Robinson, D. D.)
The full persuasion of Gods ability
Gods ability the foundation of faiths stability. Faith honours God by counting Him able (Job_42:2; Gen_18:14; Mat_19:26; Luk_1:37; 1Sa_14:6; 2Ch_14:11). (T. Robinson, D. D.)
Faith as a condition of receiving
Is it any wonder that, when we stagger at any promise of God through unbelief, we do not receive it? Not that faith merits the answer or in any way earns it, or works it out; but God has made believing a condition of receiving, and the giver has a sovereign right to choose his own terms of gift. (Samuel Hart.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv18–21 18. Who against hope. Though an old man, and…
18. Who against hope. Though an old man, and his wife an aged woman, far beyond the time of child-bearing, he yet believed the promise that he would have numerous offspring.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v18 Rom_4:18.—Against hope as man; but upon hope in God…
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom_4:18.—Against hope as man; but upon hope in God (Severian).
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Rom_4:19.—In this passage Abraham is represented as placed between two opposite forces—that of sight and that of faith. The look of faith fixed on the promises prevented every look cast on the external circumstances.
Rom_4:24. If we believe on Him, etc—Implies purpose, certainty, and continuance.
Rom_4:25.—Christians assured by Christ’s resurrection of the removal of their guilt. In the same way that the death and resurrection of Christ form an intimate unity, so also in man the death of the old and the rising up of the new cannot be conceived as existing without each other (Olshausen).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_4:18-25
Not for his sake alone.—It is a glorious sight, a good man struggling with adversity and endeavouring to bear patiently the ills of life—more glorious still a good man rejoicing in adversity and making difficulties minister to highest delights. Travel back many centuries to the olden time. See a good man believing, hoping, rejoicing, though the sphere of sense did not furnish ground for such mighty faith. Abraham was not a materialist. Matter, with sceptical materialism for our guide, crushes faith. Matter is mighty, but mind is mightier. We know not the omnipotent energy of the infinite Mind. Abraham did not believe that man is a mere creature of circumstances except in so far as they are directed by God. Man divinely strengthened is superior to circumstances. Abraham defied time. What are a hundred years to Him whose existence is not measured on human dial-plates! Abraham believed in a knowable God—one whose promise was equalled by His performance. Promise and performance are coequal with God. If they were not, God would be untrue to His nature, and that He can never be. Abraham had a noble ambition. He believed in hope to the intent that he might become the father of many nations. Spiritual fatherhood is the highest and the noblest. The patriarch looked forward to a glorious and ever-increasing family. His sons and daughters are numerous. Abraham lived, believed, hoped, and prayed not for himself alone: he lived in his God and in the thought of our ennobled race. “Not for his sake alone” is inscribed on his monumental pillar. How beautifully Abraham seeks to settle the dispute between his herdmen and Lot’s! Abraham’s kindly considerateness shows that he spoke not for his sake alone. Abraham the intercessor for the Cities of the Plain showed himself one living for the welfare of others. Not for his sake alone is the short biography written. We are the heirs of the ages. A down the stream of time come argosies laden with mental and spiritual wealth. We stand on the moral delta which is enriched by the alluvial deposits from the noblest men and times. We are rich, or ought to be, in the moral spoils of time. And yet how weak in faith, how puny in works! We shake in the presence of modern pretenders like reeds before the wind. If a woman writes a book against our religion, we pile up against her magazine articles and send forth Christian evidence lecturers, as if she could hurl the Omnipotent from His throne. Why is our faith weak? Because:
1. We look only at the things which are seen. Our vision is bounded by the things of sense. We must look at the things which are unseen. We believe in the unseen and unseeable things of this world—if we may use the word—on the testimony of observant men. Why not believe in the unseen things of the spiritual realm on the testimony of God and of His servants? The things unseen are the realities—the certain and abiding realities. Let faith thus exercise itself, and it will grow.
2. We dwell on the seeming. Our morbid fancy leads us astray. We first fancy, and then we believe that the creation of our fancy is a child of fact. Let us seek to be, like Abraham, strong in faith. In spite of all appearances, in spite of all seeming impossibilities, let us believe in God. Can it be that Abraham in the dawn of time by his might shames our weakness? By this weakness of faith we shut ourselves up in the gloomy castle of doubt, we lead miserable lives. Our harps are hung on the willows. Our swords rust in the sheaths. We impede true progress, and we dishonour God. We might be strong if we could look above and beyond our surroundings to the God who promises, and remember that with Him nothing is impossible. Delay there may be to human seeming, and yet that may be accomplishment in the divine purpose. Faith grows like all other powers and graces. Abraham by believing was strengthened in his faith. How wide the promise “To him that hath shall be given”! Faith is an increasing grace. In order to increase there must be growth; in order to growth there must be food and exercise. Faith is fed by the promise. Faith is exercised by the period of waiting. The very obstacles which would stagger the faith of a doubting soul will be made by the believing man into the means whereby his faith is strengthened. Let us not shame our noble father. A strong faith-soul he walks the upper plains. Does he look down on us as sickly members of his great family? Oh to be strengthened in faith! and then we should give glory to God by the fuller recognition of His power and faithfulness, we should be the better able to perform our duties, our lives would be filled with joy, and God’s blessing would rest upon us. Let us live for the sake of others. The inheritance which Abraham has handed down to us let us impart to our fellows and transmit unimpaired to our descendants.
Rom_4:20. The unwavering man gathers strength.—Physical and intellectual strength may be developed up to a certain limit, and then it declines. Physical strength, sooner or later, will be shorn of the locks wherein it lies. Intellectual strength will fade into the imbecility of age. But moral strength has no limit. It will grow through the longest life. It will develop in eternal cycles. How shall we grow in strength? By wavering not at the promises of God.
I. The unwavering man has a single eye.—He looks to the promise, and not to the improbability. He treads the plank of the divine promise, looking forward to the goal of fulfilment, and thus he is not disturbed by the surging waters of scepticism.
II. The unwavering man has a clear vision.—The divine promise reveals to his soul the divine Promisor. He is able to perform. He must be faithful. For God to break His promise, would be for God to be untrue to His covenant, to be untrue to His own nature, and that He can never be. How strong a man must grow who clearly sees the divine attributes behind the promise!
III. The unwavering man provides soul growth.—He feeds on the promise. It provides a banqueting table at which the unwavering man feeds. God provides by furnishing the food. Man provides by making use of the food. We put on moral strength as we feed on the promises. We increase in strength.
IV. The unwavering man reaches sublime heights.—He develops in faith, giving glory to God. The Infinite condescends to the finite, and seeks to raise man out of his human finiteness into the larger spaces of divine possibilities. We give glory to God, not by our weakness, but by striving to get out of our weakness and by putting on strength. Dispute not the faithfulness of the divine Promiser. Be firm in faith, and thou shalt stand even amid the shifting sands of scepticism. Have the spiritual knowableness of faith, and thou shalt not feel the touch of agnosticism. Feed on the promise, and thou wilt become stronger and stronger.
Rom_4:20-21. Religious faith rational.—It is not at all true that faith itself, i.e. trust, is a strange principle of action; and to say that it is irrational is even an absurdity. I mean such a faith as that of Abraham mentioned in the text, which led him to believe God’s word when opposed to his own experience. It is obvious that we trust to our memory. We trust the general soundness of our reasoning powers. From knowing one thing we think we can be sure about another, even though we do not see it. We continually trust our memory and our reasoning powers, though they often deceive us. This is worth observing, because it is sometimes said that we cannot be certain that our faith in religion is not a mistake. When we come to examine the subject, it will be found that, strictly speaking, we know little more than that we exist, and that there is an unseen Power whom we are bound to obey. Beyond this we must trust; and first our senses, memory, reasoning powers—then other authorities; so that, in fact, almost all we do, every day of our lives, is on trust, i.e. faith. Scripture, then, only bids us act in respect to a future life as we are every day acting at present. We are from our birth dependent creatures, utterly dependent—dependent immediately on man; and that visible dependence reminds us forcibly of our truer and fuller dependence upon God. It is a mistake to suppose that our obedience to God’s will is merely founded on our belief in the word of such persons as tell us Scripture came from God. We obey God primarily because we actually feel His presence in our consciences bidding us obey Him. And this, I say, confutes these objectors on their own ground, because the very reason they give for their belief is that they trust their own sight and reason, because their own, more than the words of God’s ministers. Now let me ask, If they trust their senses and their reason, why do they not trust their conscience also? Is not conscience their own? Their conscience is as much a part of themselves as their reason is; and it is placed within them by almighty God in order to balance the influence of sight and reason, and yet they will not attend to it. For a plain reason: they love sin; they love to be their own masters, and therefore they will not attend to that secret whisper of their hearts which tells them they are not their own masters and that sin is hateful and ruinous. For ourselves, let us but obey God’s voice in our hearts, and I will venture to say we shall have no doubts practically formidable about the truth of Scripture. Find out the man who strictly obeys the law within him, and yet is an unbeliever as regards the Bible, and then it will be time enough to consider all that variety of proof by which the truth of the Bible is confirmed to us. This is no practical inquiry for us. Our doubts, if we have any, will be found to arise after disobedience. It is bad company or corrupt books which lead to unbelief. It is sin which quenches the Holy Spirit. If we but obey God strictly, in time, through His blessing, faith will become like sight; we shall have no more difficulty in finding what will please God than in moving our limbs or in understanding the conversation of our familiar friends. This is the blessedness of confirmed obedience. Let us aim at attaining it; and in whatever proportion we now enjoy it, praise and bless God for His unspeakable gift.—Newman.
Rom_4:25. The possibility of a resurrection.—The presumptions against the possibility of a resurrection operate so strongly in the minds of some that they think it needless to inquire what evidence there is for it, being persuaded that the thing itself is not capable of being supported by any evidence. This prejudice was a very early one, for the apostle expostulates this case with King Agrippa: “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?” Let us consider the force of this expostulation, and see whether it is strong enough to encounter the prejudice. Now nothing can be said to be incredible if there is a power in any person able to effect it; for if there is such a power, that power may bring into existence that very thing which you doubt of; and it cannot be incredible that a thing should exist which may possibly really exist. If we consider only the strength of children, it is incredible that they should build castles; but if we consider the strength and ability of men, it would be ridiculous to doubt whether they could or no. So that the credibility or incredibility of anything depends on knowing whether there is or is not a power adequate to the undertaking. The resurrection of the dead is in truth a very stupendous work; but neither you nor I am to undertake it: if it depended on us, it would be incredible indeed. It is the work of God, and of Him only; and surely I have named one of credit and power sufficient to be trusted in this great affair. And this is St. Paul’s argument, “Why should it be thought incredible that God should raise the dead?” Whoever, therefore, affirms that a resurrection is in itself a thing incredible must affirm that it is incredible that God has power to raise the dead. And now consider who it is that can, consistently with the common and allowed principles of reason and nature, deny this power to God. No one certainly who admits that God made the world can entertain this doubt; for if God has given us the life we now enjoy, what should hinder Him from restoring life again after this is lost? Can there be more difficulty in giving life the second time than there was at first? If there be any contradiction therefore in the notion of a resurrection, there must be the very same in the notion of creation. And therefore natural religion is just as much concerned in this point as revelation; for though the belief of the fact that the dead shall be raised depends on revelation, yet our belief that God has power to raise the dead depends, not on revelation, but on the clear dictates of reason—of that reason by which we discover Him to be our creator. And if you doubt even of this, His power of creation, you must bid adieu to all religion at once; for if God created not the world, how are you at all related to Him? If He did not make us, what right has He to govern us? or what pretence to our obedience? Neither you from nature nor we from revelation can ever be satisfied. The power of God being admitted to be equal to this work, the question of the resurrection of Christ comes to be a question of fact. And though I propose not to enter into the evidence of the fact, yet it may be proper to observe that a resurrection considered as a fact is a fact as capable of evidence as any whatever; it is an object of sense, of every sense by which we judge of the reality of things without us. We are told that “Christ died and rose again.” Of His death, I suppose, there is no great doubt—die He certainly did. And surely there could be no more difficulty to see and know that He was dead than in knowing when others were dead, from Adam to this day. One would think, therefore, that those about Him, who saw Him crucified and buried, might be trusted when they report that He died. But He came to life again. Very true; and it was very easy for those who conversed with Him to know whether He was alive or no. There was no more difficulty in judging of His being alive than of judging in any other case whether those we converse with are alive or no. His having been dead and buried could not possibly alter the case, or create any difficulty in judging whether He was really alive or no. So that the Resurrection, considered as a fact, was in every part of it an object of sense, and as capable of being well attested as any other object of sense whatever. Lay these things together—the romise of God to give us eternal life, His power to make good His word, the confirmation He has given us of our hope by the resurrection of Christ—and what is wanting to make the belief of this article a rational act of faith? The promises of God have never borrowed help from moral probabilities. The promises to Abraham were not of this kind; so far otherwise, that it is said of him that “against hope he believed in hope”—that is, he hoped where, humanly speaking, there was no ground for hope. There was no probability that his seed who was a stranger and pilgrim on earth should inherit the land of Canaan, possessed by great and powerful nations. Compare now this case with the case of Christians. We have great promises made to us by God in Christ Jesus, the promises of a resurrection to life. Inquire of the world; they know of no such thing—the ages past have afforded no instance of this kind; and, as far as they can see and judge, daily experience is a witness against this hope. Under these difficulties, whither shall we go for refuge and support? Whither but to the promises of God, and to this full persuasion, that what He has promised He is able to perform? If we hold fast this persuasion and stagger not through unbelief, then shall we indeed be the children of the faith of Abraham, whose “faith was imputed to him for righteousness.”—Sherlock.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_4:18-25
These things are written not for Abraham’s sake alone.—These things were not written for Abraham’s sake alone; they were written for ours. Abraham trusted in God to quicken his unborn son—by-and-by to raise him (if need were) from the dead. We trust Him who did quicken in the flesh and raise from the dead His own supernatural Son Jesus. The gospel facts, the gospel promises, and the blessings of the new covenant in Christ are to us what the birth of Isaac was to Abraham: things all of them beyond the reach of experience or against it—things past or future or absent or spiritual—things in one way or another undiscerned by sense and to reason improbable; resting for their evidence solely on the word of the living God. To that man they are very real things—more real than anything else—who believes in God before all others. To other men they are quite unreal, shadowy, phantom-like, unbelievable. Such a faith in God is reckoned for righteousness to every man who has it, just as it was to Abraham, the father of all believers.—Dykes.
Christ died not as a mere teacher.—St. Paul first declares that Christ was “delivered for our offences.” Now, if the single service which Christ has rendered to mankind be, as the Socinian tells us, in the character of a teacher of religion; and if, by the discovery which our Lord has made of the different conditions of the righteous and the wicked in a future life, every man, once brought to a belief of the doctrine, might be reclaimed in such a degree as to merit, by his future conduct, not only a free pardon of his past offences, but also a share of those good things which “God hath prepared for them that love Him”; if our Lord’s doctrine might of itself, in this way, be a remedy for the sins of men, and if His sufferings and death were necessary only for the confirmation of His doctrine,—then might we admit it to be only in an indirect and a figurative sense that the sins of men are spoken of in this clause as having been the occasion of His death. For His doctrine would in that case be the means of their reformation, and His death would only be the means of establishing His doctrine. But if nothing future can undo the past; if we have incurred guilt without so much as the ability of meriting reward; if it is only through the power of divine grace that we can think or do anything which is right; and if, after all that divine grace has done for him, the life of the believer still consists in a perpetual conflict with appetites which are never totally subdued, and in an endeavour after perfection which never is attained; if the case really be that “if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”; if, nevertheless, we are expressly assured that, on “confessing our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”; and if, as the beloved disciple assures us, it is the “blood of Jesus Christ” which “cleanseth us from all sin,”—then must it plainly follow that the Redeemer’s death was available to the expiation of the sins of men, far otherwise than merely as a solemn confirmation of the truth of the Christian religion; then must it plainly follow that Christ died to make an atonement for the sins of men, and that His blood has a direct and proper efficacy to expiate our guilt.—Bishop Horsley.
Faith against improbability.—For “against hope”—contrary to all natural reason for hope—“he believed in hope.” He trusted with the most immovable expectation that he should become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, “So shall thy seed be.” This was the promise on the fulfilment of which he so confidently relied. It was given many years before the birth of Isaac to which it relates. But though every year of delay increased the natural improbability of the event, it in no degree weakened the patriarch’s faith. He did not suspect that the circumstances on which its improbability depended rendered the promise unlikely to be fulfilled. He looked to nothing but the faithfulness of God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth things which be not as though they were. He knew that whatever the Almighty promised He was able to fulfil, and would fulfil. “He staggered not therefore at the promise through unbelief.” He did not deliberate on the improbability of the event, the possibility of his being deceived as to the divine authority of the communication, or the unlikelihood of the supernatural event taking place in order to raise up a family to him. The expression “He was delivered” means He was given up to death, as is plain from the immediately subsequent reference to His resurrection. He was given up to death in order to atone for our offences, and as a sacrifice in virtue of which it might be just in God to forgive our sins, and raised again for our justification. These words are not intended to imply that to particular parts of our Lord’s ministry particular parts of our salvation must be referred—the pardon of sin being the consequence of His death, and justification the effect of His resurrection. His whole ministry forms one connected series; and from the whole series of our Lord’s obedience, and death, and resurrection, and ascension into heaven, and intercession at the Father’s right hand, our salvation, and every particular part of it, are derived. By being “raised again for our justification” may be understood that His resurrection from the dead is a sure proof that His death is a full and an accepted atonement for sin, and that in virtue of it we may obtain justification by faith in His name.—Ritchie.
Faith rests on the nature of God and work of Christ.—Our judgment declares that God will keep His word—i.e., that He will not punish for their sins those who believe the gospel. By an act of the will our entire being accepts this verdict of our judgment, and there follows at once within us, by the laws of mind fixed by God, a confident expectation that we ourselves will escape from punishment. Such is justifying faith. The faith which sanctifies is a belief of the promises. It is a sure expectation that in consequence of God’s eternal purpose, by union with Christ, and through the agency of the Holy Spirit, we shall actually be, from this moment, dead to sin and living only for God. In each case according to our faith it is done to us. Again, it is because God raised Christ from the dead that we accept the teaching of Jesus as the word and promise of God. Consequently our assurance of escape from punishment, and our expectation that all the promises will be fulfilled, rest upon the historical fact of the resurrection of Christ. Our faith is therefore a leaning “on Him who raised Jesus from the dead.” In the death of Christ God’s infinite love is revealed to us as the firm ground of our confidence. We are sure that He who spared not His own Son will give us all things. Hence the love of God manifested on the cross of Christ is the immovable foundation on which rests our expectation of the fulfilment of each gospel promise. We may therefore describe faith in God as an assurance that God’s words will come true, an assurance resting upon the nature of God as made known in the death and resurrection of Christ. From the foregoing it will be evident that faith in God, so far from being contrary to reason, is itself the noblest kind of reasoning. For our hope we have the best reason, one which our intelligence fully approves—viz., the word and character of God. Owing to the comparative uncertainty of all human testimony, the word “believe” frequently denotes in common life an assurance mingled more or less with doubt. But the faith which God requires is the very opposite of doubt. It is therefore a full assurance that God’s word will come true.—Beet.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4
Rom_4:18. Comfort in a cloud.—“A friend of mine,” says Paxton Hood, “told me of a visit he had paid to a poor woman overwhelmed with trouble in her little room, but she was always cheerful; she knew the Rock. ‘Why,’ said he, ‘Mary, you must have very dark days; they must overwhelm you with clouds sometimes.’ ‘Yes,’ she answered; ‘but then I often find that there is comfort in a cloud.’ ‘Comfort in a cloud, Mary?’ ‘Yes,’ she said; ‘when I am very low and dark I go to the window, and if I see a heavy cloud I think of those precious words, “A cloud received Him out of their sight,” and I look up and see the cloud sure enough, and then I think, “Well, that may be the cloud that hides Him”; and so you see there is comfort in a cloud.’ There was strong faith. She gave glory to God by believing in hope against human appearances, and God rewarded her faith by putting cheerfulness into her soul. A simple faith can do more than sublime philosophy. Against hope Abraham believed in hope.”
Rom_4:20. Lord to the fore.—“The Lord’s aye to the fore,” said a good Scotchwoman in her day of trial, and by this faith she was supported. God is ever in the forefront of His trusting people. He is still at the helm of human affairs. “The best of all is, God is with us,” said John Wesley as he was dying, and by this trust he was supported as he passed within the veil. Yea, by this trust he was supported as he passed from scene to scene in his laborious life of surpassing energy and glorious endeavours for the benefit of his fellow-creatures and for the extension of the Saviour’s kingdom.
Rom_4:21. God’s promise to Abraham.—Among the curiosities of the Bank of England may be seen some cinders, the remains of some bank-notes that were burned in the great fire of Chicago. After the fire they were found, and carefully put between boards and brought to the bank. After applying chemical tests, the numbers and values were ascertained, and the Bank of England paid the money value to the owners. If a human promise can be worth so much, how much more so is the promise of God? Nothing can ever destroy the promise divine. “I will be their God.”—Home Words.
Rom_4:22.—Imputed righteousness.—Bishop Asbury being asked his thoughts on imputed righteousness, observed, “Were I disposed to boast, my boasting would be found true. I obtained religion near the age of thirteen. At the age of sixteen I began to preach, and travelled some time in Europe. At twenty-six I left my native land and bid adieu to my weeping parents, and crossed the boisterous ocean to spend the balance of my days in a strange land, partly settled by savages. I have travelled through heat and cold for forty-five years. In thirty years I have crossed the Alleghany Mountains fifty-eight times. I have often slept in the woods without necessary food or raiment. In the Southern States I have waded swamps and led my horse for miles, where I took cold that brought on the diseases which are now preying on my system and must soon terminate in death. But my mind is still the same—that it is through the merits of Christ I am to be saved.”
Rom_4:24-25. The roll-call.—In a hospital at Scutari during the Crimean war a soldier lay dying; he had lain there, watched by his nurses for many a long hour, apparently unconscious. On a sudden he rose up in his bed, and with a voice which startled them all—so strong it was—he shouted, “Yes, I am here!” They laid him back upon his bed exhausted and breathless with the effort, gently soothed him, and asked him what he was doing. “Oh! “he said,” I heard the roll-call of my regiment after the battle, and I was answering to my name.” Jesus Christ was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. His resurrection is the pledge of that of all believers. The great roll-call will be given at the final day. The redeemed will pass to the home of endless rest and peace.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv18–21 18. “Who against hope believed, pursuant to hope that…
18. “Who against hope believed, pursuant to hope that he should be the father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv18–21 Who in hope believe against hope, to the end…
Who in hope believe against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be . [Now, since a righteousness of law is unattainable by men, the inheritance was bestowed because of a righteousness of faith, that it might be a free gift, and that all the promises concerning it might be sure, to the entire household. Not only to that division of Abraham's spiritual children who are under the law (believing Jews), but also to that part who are only his children by reason of a like faith with him (believing Gentiles), for Abraham is the father of all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles; as it is written, "A father of many nations have I made thee." And Abraham was such a spiritual father in the estimate of God, who, in his omnipotence and omniscience, gives life to the dead (and, from a child-bearing standpoint, Abraham and Sarah were as good as dead), and speaks of unborn and as yet non-existent children as though they already had being. And God spoke thus to the man who, when nature withheld all reason to hope, still hoped for the purpose of obtaining from God the fulfillment of the promise that he should be the father of many nations, according to God's gracious assurance, when he bade Abraham look upon the stars, and said, "So shall thy seed be." The word "made," in Rom_4:17 ; means to constitute or appoint. "This word," says Shedd, "denotes that the paternity spoken of was the result of a special arrangement or economy. It would not be used to denote the merely physical connection between father and son." Such a word is to be expected, for the promise was that Abraham was to be a spiritual, not a fleshly, father of many nations. Again, it is fittingly said that Abraham was such in God's sight, for it was God, and not man, who thus anticipated the future. Though Abraham and Sarah were long past the age of child-bearing, and though it was to be many centuries before Abraham would have spiritual children, begotten of the gospel among the Gentiles, yet God spoke of him as the father of many nations; foreknowing his own power and foreseeing his own workings, God meant both to make him a father in the near future, and to give him a spiritual seed among the Gentiles in the remote future.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv18, 20 In hope he believed against hope
In hope he believed against hope
This idiom means that Abraham trusted God even though it did not seem that he could have a son. AT: "Even though it seemed impossible for him to have descendants, he believe God" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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according to what he had been told
You can translate this in an active form. AT: "just as God said to Abraham" (See: Active or Passive)
So will your descendants be
The full promise God gave to Abraham can be made explicit. AT: "You will have more descendants than you can count" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Without becoming weak in faith,
You can translate this in a positive form. AT: "He remained strong in his faith, although" (See: Litotes)
translationWords
Abraham
trust
nation
descend
faith
Sarah
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.