Romans 4:17

My Notes

What Does Romans 4:17 Mean?

Paul is building his case for justification by faith, and he reaches for the strongest example in Jewish history: Abraham. And the way Paul describes the God Abraham believed in is one of the most theologically dense sentences in all of his letters.

"I have made thee a father of many nations" — God spoke this to Abraham when he was old, childless, and his wife was barren. The promise was absurd by human calculation. And God didn't say "I will make thee." He said "I have made thee" — past tense. Done. Settled. Before a single child was born, God spoke of it as accomplished fact.

"Before him whom he believed, even God" — Abraham's faith wasn't in a principle or a system. It was in a specific God with a specific character. And Paul names two things about that character that made Abraham's faith rational rather than reckless.

"Who quickeneth the dead" — God gives life to the dead. Abraham's body was as good as dead. Sarah's womb was dead. And God's specialty is resurrection — bringing life from the place where life has ended. "And calleth those things which be not as though they were" — God speaks about nonexistent things as though they already exist. He names realities before they materialize. He calls the unborn "father of many nations." He treats the future as settled because, for Him, it is.

This is the God you believe in: the God who resurrects what has died and names what doesn't yet exist. Faith isn't believing in the impossible. It's believing in the God for whom nothing is impossible.

Reflection Questions

• 1.What 'dead thing' in your life do you need to trust God to resurrect — a dream, a relationship, a hope, a calling?
• 2.How does God calling things 'which be not as though they were' change the way you think about promises that haven't materialized yet?
• 3.What's the difference between wishful thinking and the kind of faith Abraham had? How do you tell them apart in your own life?
• 4.How does knowing God's specialty is resurrection affect the way you pray about situations that seem hopeless?

Devotional

If you're waiting for something that looks dead — a dream, a relationship, a calling, a part of yourself — this verse describes the God you're waiting on. He quickens the dead. That's His résumé. That's His specialty. The thing that has no pulse, no breath, no sign of life? That's exactly where He does His best work.

And He calls things that don't exist as though they do. That's not wishful thinking. That's not positive affirmation. That's the creative power of the God who spoke light into darkness and meant it. When He says you're forgiven, you're forgiven — even when you don't feel it. When He says He has a plan for you, the plan exists — even when you can't see it. When He calls you His child, you are — even when everything in your life argues otherwise.

Abraham believed this God. Not perfectly — he had his moments of doubt, his detours, his attempts to help God out. But at the core, he trusted that what God said was already done. He looked at his dead body, at Sarah's barren womb, and believed in the God who raises the dead. Not the God who raises the mostly-alive. The dead.

Whatever dead thing you're staring at right now — whatever promise seems biologically, financially, relationally impossible — the God of Abraham is your God too. He hasn't changed His specialty. He still quickens the dead. He still calls things that aren't as though they are. Your faith doesn't need to be in the probability of the outcome. It needs to be in the character of the One who promised.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture