Romans 4:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

And again: as God is our Father not by natural kinship, but by the adoption of faith, so also is Abraham. For obedience makes him father of us all. Since the Jews thought such kinship had no significance after they had received another, coarser kinship, the Apostle transfers the argument to God and proves that kinship by faith is far more important.

At the same time, he reveals that Abraham received this as a reward for faith. If this were not so, then even if he were father of all living on earth, the expression “before God” would have no place. The gift of God would be diminished. The word “before” means “like.”

Tell me, indeed, what is marvelous about being father of those who descend from him? This is common to every man. But the marvelous thing is that, by God’s gift, he received as children those who were not his by nature. Therefore, if you wish to believe that the patriarch was counted worthy of honor, believe that he is father of all.

After saying, “before God, in Whom he believed,” the Apostle did not stop there, but added: “Who gives life to the dead and calls the things that do not exist as though they existed.” Here he introduces a preliminary discourse on the resurrection, which he needed for the present subject.

If it is possible for God to give life to the dead and bring into being what does not exist, then it is also possible for Him to make those not born from Abraham into his children. Therefore the Apostle did not say, “bringing into being what does not exist,” but “calling,” indicating the great ease of this work for God.

As it is easy for us to name what exists, so it is easy for Him, and far easier, to bring into being what does not exist. And when the Apostle says that God’s gift is great and ineffable, and when he speaks of its power, he proves that Abraham’s faith was worthy of this gift, so that you should not think Abraham was honored without merit.

Thus, having encouraged the hearer not to be troubled, and so that the Jew might not object and say, “How can those who are not children be made children?” the Apostle again turns the discourse to the patriarch and continues: Rom 4:18. “Who, against hope, believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to what was spoken: ‘So shall your seed be.’”

“Before God, in Whom he believed.” Teaching that God is one for all, Paul tells the Gentiles that Abraham believed God Himself and was justified before Him in Whom the Gentiles also believe, that they too may be justified. Thus there would be no difference in faith between Jew and Greek, because when circumcision and uncircumcision are abolished, they become one in Christ (cf. Acts 15:7-9).

Abraham also believed while uncircumcised and was justified. “Who gives life to the dead and calls the things that do not exist.” By saying this, he encourages the Gentiles toward Abraham’s faith. Abraham was uncircumcised and believed in God, faith in Whom is now proclaimed in Christ, and he was given life together with his wife.

When they were already altogether aged, they came to life so fully that Abraham did not doubt at all that he would beget a son from Sarah. He knew that she was barren and that a woman’s nature had long since ceased in her (see Gen 18:11).

By this Paul showed that they should not be anxious about circumcision and uncircumcision, but about responding with faith. They must firmly believe that the One Who gives life to the dead is none other than He Who has the power, by His will alone, to make existent what had not existed before.

And lest Abraham’s faith seem to anyone a small feat, the Apostle unfolds its whole greatness. To place his son on the altar for slaughter, and at the age of one hundred, with his body deadened, still to hope to receive a new son. Could be done only by one convinced as of something evident and beyond doubt that God can give life even to the dead and call into being what does not exist (Rom 4:17, 19).

Such indeed was Abraham’s faith, which was reckoned to him as righteousness. After this the Apostle makes the application. Our faith too must be filled with the same power, in order to suffice for our justification, faith “in Him Who raised from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord, Who was delivered up for our sins and raised for our justification” (Rom 4:24-25).

Chrysostom says: “Having said, ‘to all the seed,’ the Apostle then defines what seed he means and says, ‘that which is of faith.’ By this he shows both Abraham’s kinship with the Gentiles and that those who do not have the kind of faith Abraham had cannot boast in him. Behold the fruit of faith! It bound the bond of kinship with the righteous man and made him the forefather of a most numerous offspring. Therefore the Apostle called him not simply Abraham, but father of us all who believe, confirming these words with a special testimony: ‘as it is written, I have made you a father of many nations.’ Do you see that this was predetermined even beforehand?”

This predestination was spoken to Abraham by God Himself: “I am your God... and behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be father of a multitude of nations” (cf. Gen 17:1, 4). The Apostle cites this passage to show that, in calling Abraham the father of all believers, he did not invent the name himself, but borrowed it from the word of God.

Then he continues the discourse interrupted by these inserted words: “before God,” that is, he who is father of us all before God, in whom he believed. “Before God” may mean according to God’s intention, according to God’s predetermination and decree, according to the plans of His providence. Or it may mean in the presence of God, judging kinship as God judges it.

God judges kinship by likeness of convictions, feelings, and character. The Savior also showed this when He called the devil the father of the Jews who opposed Him, and called those who believed His word and kept it His brothers (see Jn 8:44; Lk 8:21). According to your judgment, Abraham is father only of the Jews, while the other nations are strangers to him. According to God’s judgment it is not so. All who believe as Abraham did are his children.

Or “before God” means like God. Chrysostom says: “The meaning of these words is this: as God is not a partial God, but Father of all, so also is Abraham. And again: as God is our Father not by natural kinship, but by the bond of faith, so also is Abraham, for obedience makes him father of us all. Since the Jews paid no attention to this kinship, clinging to the coarser natural one, the Apostle proves through the comparison of Abraham with God that kinship by faith is far more important. And with this he also reveals that this was given to Abraham as a reward for faith. Tell me, what is remarkable about being father of those who descended from him? This belongs to every man. What is remarkable, rather, is that those who were his children by nature became children by the gift of God.”

“Before God, in whom he believed.” The holy Apostle has explained how the testimony concerning Abraham’s faith (see Rom 4:1-12) and the promise given to him from verse 13 prove that the whole power in the matter of justification before God belongs to faith. Now he begins to disclose the essential features of Abraham’s faith, in order to show in it what our faith too must be.

The main point here is that righteous Abraham believed, even though in himself and in the course of circumstances he saw much that opposed his faith, and that could have shaken it or destroyed it entirely. He believed solely because God had said so, having no external supports for his faith. The word of promise was that a numerous offspring would come from him. Meanwhile, he himself and Sarah had already grown old.

Nevertheless Abraham did not doubt at all that it would be as God had said. This is all the more wonderful because after the promise a son was not immediately born to Sarah. Years passed, the end of life approached, yet righteous Abraham did not grow weak in faith that the word of promise would be fulfilled.

For he believed in God, who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. “Who gives life to the dead.” By these words Abraham is ascribed faith in the resurrection of the dead (see Chrysostom). This lay at the foundation of his faith in the promise concerning offspring from him. He believed that if God is able to give life to the dead, then how could he not believe that He would enliven my deadened flesh and Sarah’s? (see Ambrosiaster). Blessed Theophylact writes: “Abraham believed that God could not only enliven deadened flesh, such as his was, but also make it fruitful.”

“Who calls things that are not as though they were.” These words express Abraham’s faith either in God’s omniscience or in His omnipotence. In the first case, the thought is this: God speaks even of what does not yet exist as of something existing. The future is before His eyes as the present is before ours. Therefore Abraham believed: if God says that offspring will come from me, He says it because it exists before the eyes of His omniscience. If so, I cannot fail to believe that it will be so in its own time.

In the second case, the thought is this: God’s omnipotence is boundless. Whatever He wills, He accomplishes and brings into being. He does this not by strain of power and labor, but by a single word. He speaks, and everything comes into being. “As easy as it is for us to call by name something that exists, so easy, indeed far easier, is it for God to bring into being what does not exist” (Chrysostom). If this is so, Abraham believed, then how can I doubt that God will also bring forth numerous offspring from my loins?