Abraham’s Faith in God

Paul provides an astonishing and remarkable description of Abraham’s faith in God in Romans 4:17–21. In her new commentary on Romans in the Old & New Testament Library, Princeton Theological Seminary professor Beverly Roberts Gaventa highlights four aspects of Abraham’s faith in God. Let’s see how she skillfully unpacks this remarkable passage to learn more about God’s power to bring life to the dead.

Introduction to Romans 4:17–21

Paul makes four affirmations about Abraham’s faith (vv. 17b, 18, 19, and 20–21), leading up to the repetition of Gen 15:6 in v. 22, although even here Abraham is no spiritual athlete or hero figure. He is instead one who witnesses God’s power over life and death. The initial statement (v. 17b) is perhaps the most astonishing, since the audience might well expect a statement focused tightly on believing the content of the promise or Abraham’s conviction that there would be a child. Instead, Paul identifies God as the one “who makes the dead live and who calls into being that which does not exist” (v. 17b). This “name” for God simultaneously reflects God’s action with Abraham and Sarah and God’s action in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

To characterize the conception of Isaac as bringing life to the dead is dramatic, even hyperbolic, although this is precisely the language Paul uses in v. 19: Abraham and Sarah were as good as dead. Putting it that way, of course, connects God’s action in the case of Abraham and Sarah to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which Paul does explicitly in v. 24. And the language of death here and in v. 19 anticipates the discussion in ch. 5 of Death’s terrifying power and its defeat.

Abraham’s Faith in God as Creator

“Faced with this statement, Abraham believed God, who makes the dead live and who calls into being that which does not exist.”

Romans 4:17

The second half of the characterization of God in v. 17b recasts this act as an act of creation: God brings into being things that do not exist (as in Isa 41:4; 48:13; 2 Clem. 1.8; Philo, Spec. Laws 4.187). Already Rom 1:20 has referred to God’s creation of the world, and God’s redemption of creation returns in 8:19–22. But for Paul creation is not a theoretical proposition or a scientific argument. Creation is instead witnessed in the creation of Isaac out of nothing and the creation of Israel (ch. 9) and the fact of redemption for all things in ch. 8. The creation of Isaac and God’s creation of the universe are mutually interpreting. The cosmic character of Paul’s thought is not disconnected from specific history but is actually witnessed in that history.

Abraham’s Faith in God’s Promise

“Hoping against hope, Abraham believed he would be the father of many nations, as it was said, ‘Thus will be your offspring.’”

Romans 4:18

Verse 18 interprets Abraham’s faith in the context of events in Genesis. “Hoping against hope,” in the face of all the evidence that he would not father a child (which is to be spelled out further in v. 19), Abraham believed what had been said to him. What Abraham believes is that he will be the “father of many nations.” No reference here ties Abraham’s fatherhood to the line through Isaac, who never appears in Rom 4.

What is important for Paul is not the immediate history of Abraham’s biological line but his trust in God and his cosmically proportioned offspring, both gentile and Jew. The repetition of the earlier citation of Gen 17:5 with “many nations” and its reinforcement with the declaration of Gen 15:5 (“Thus will be your offspring”) confirm this point: Abraham is the father of “many nations,” not of “a son” or of “our people Israel.” As far as Rom 4 is concerned, the paternity of Abraham is always of “many.”

Abraham’s Faith in God’s Power

“And although he was not weak in faith, Abraham did take note of his own body, which was already as good as dead (he was about 100 years old), and the death of Sarah’s womb.”

Romans 4:19

The third statement regarding Abraham’s faith (v. 19) does address the specific circumstances of Abraham and Sarah, although in terms that anticipate the turn to the death and resurrection of Jesus (in v. 24b–25, as already in v. 17b). Even though Abraham was not “weak” (an issue to which Paul returns in 5:6 and again at length in ch. 14), Abraham frankly reflected on the situation from the perspective of his confidence in God’s promise. Here Paul gives specificity to the earlier expression “hope against hope” by conjuring up the age of both Abraham and Sarah. Abraham’s body had died already, and death is located in Sarah’s womb, placed in the organ that nurtures life. These graphic expressions enhance the statement of God’s power, but they also anticipate the resurrection of Christ from the dead (v. 24) and the grasp of Death for all humankind (5:14).

Abraham’s Growth in Faith

“But in view of the promise of God he did not hesitate in faithlessness. Instead, he increased in faith, giving glory to God and being convinced that what had been promised God was also powerful to bring about.”

Romans 4:20-21

The final expression of Abraham’s faith, and the most elaborate, comes in vv. 20–21, this time couched in reference to the promise. Abraham did not hesitate, remaining in unbelief, but he grew in faith. That faith was evidenced when Abraham was confident that what had been promised God was able also to do and gave glory to God.

The element that stands out is the reference to glorifying God. It is unusual in the immediate context, which has focused on Abraham’s faith. Yet in the larger context of Romans, glorifying God is anything but unusual. Already ch. 1 has identified failure to glorify God as a leading characteristic of humanity’s rebellion, and the catena in 3:10–18 reinforces that notion, since the fact that “no one seeks for God” suggests that God is not glorified. As 15:6–13 demonstrates, the giving of glory to God is among the characteristics of the newly created humanity; eventually all of Abraham’s children will together glorify God.

The final statement in v. 21 is crucial: what Abraham believes is that God has the power to do what God says. Here Paul echoes his interpretation of the gospel as divine power, announced in 1:4, 16–17, and promised again in the closing lines of Rom 8 (see also 14:4 and 16:20). With ch. 5, Paul will extend his argument regarding the need for this power: just as only divine power can bring life from the dead womb of Sarah, so only divine power can rescue humanity from its captivity to Sin and Death.

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