Romans 4:13–25 — What Did Abraham Believe?
Paul has just shown us something important about Abraham.
Abraham was counted righteous before he was circumcised.
Now Paul takes another step.
Abraham also lived before the Law of Moses.
That matters because Paul is showing that God's promise to Abraham did not depend upon circumcision or upon keeping the Law.
It depended upon God's promise.
And Abraham believed Him.
But what exactly did Abraham believe?
Let's follow Paul's argument.
The Promise Did Not Come Through the Law
Paul begins:
“For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.”
— Romans 4:13
Notice the timing again.
Abraham lived centuries before Moses.
The Law given at Sinai could not have been the basis upon which Abraham received God's promise because the Law had not yet been given.
Paul says that if inheritance depends upon the Law, something serious happens:
“For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.”
— Romans 4:14
God had made Abraham a promise.
Abraham trusted God.
The promise did not rest upon Abraham earning it.
It rested upon God keeping His word.
What Does the Law Do?
Paul adds:
“For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.”
— Romans 4:15
Paul is not saying there was no sin before Moses. He has already made that clear in Romans.
His point concerns transgression — the violation of a stated command.
Law identifies the boundary.
And when the boundary is crossed, there is transgression.
The Law therefore cannot be the means by which sinners earn God's promise.
It exposes sin rather than providing sinners with something about which they can boast.
Paul will have much more to say about this later in Romans.
Why Must the Promise Depend on Faith?
Paul answers:
“That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring.”
— Romans 4:16
Notice those words:
faith
grace
promise
They belong together in Paul's argument.
If the promise depended upon human achievement, it would no longer rest upon grace.
But because it rests upon God's grace, it can reach beyond those who possess the Law.
Paul continues:
“not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”
There it is again.
Abraham's family is larger than one physical nation.
Paul has already told us that Abraham is the father of believing uncircumcised people and of circumcised people who walk in Abraham's faith.
Now he says plainly:
Abraham “is the father of us all.”
“A Father of Many Nations”
Paul quotes God's promise from Genesis 17:
“I have made you the father of many nations.”
— Romans 4:17
That wording matters.
God did not say merely that Abraham would become the father of one nation.
He said many nations.
Paul sees believing Gentiles not as an afterthought in God's plan, but as part of the promise God made to Abraham.
The God who made that promise is:
“the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”
That description prepares us for what comes next.
Because from a human standpoint, God's promise to Abraham looked impossible.
Abraham Faced the Facts
Abraham was nearly one hundred years old.
Sarah had never been able to bear a child and was now far beyond the normal age of childbearing.
Paul does not say Abraham ignored those facts.
Quite the opposite:
“He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead … or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.”
— Romans 4:19
Abraham knew what the circumstances looked like.
Biblical faith is not pretending that problems do not exist.
It is trusting God even when we can see the problem clearly.
Humanly speaking, Abraham and Sarah could not produce the child God had promised.
But God's promise did not depend upon their human ability.
It depended upon God.
What Made Abraham's Faith Strong?
Paul says:
“No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.”
— Romans 4:20
Then Paul tells us what Abraham's faith actually meant:
“fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”
— Romans 4:21
That may be one of the clearest descriptions of faith in Romans.
Abraham believed that God could do what God had promised.
The strength of Abraham's faith was not found in Abraham.
It was found in the God Abraham trusted.
That is an important distinction.
Faith does not save because faith itself is some impressive human achievement.
Faith looks away from ourselves and trusts the One who made the promise.
“That Is Why His Faith Was Counted”
Paul now returns to Genesis 15:6:
“That is why his faith was ‘counted to him as righteousness.’”
— Romans 4:22
Paul has now shown us several things about Abraham.
He was counted righteous before circumcision.
He received the promise before the Law of Moses existed.
He could not produce the promised son by his own natural ability.
Yet he trusted God to do what God had promised.
That faith was counted to him as righteousness.
But Paul is not giving us a history lesson merely to tell us something interesting about Abraham.
He is bringing the argument directly to us.
“It Was Not Written for His Sake Alone”
Paul says:
“But the words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also.”
— Romans 4:23–24
That is remarkable.
Genesis 15:6 was written about Abraham.
But Paul says it was also written for us.
Who are the “us”?
Paul answers:
“It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord.”
Now we can see both the similarity and the difference.
Abraham trusted the God who could bring life where life seemed impossible.
Christians trust the God who actually raised Jesus from the dead.
Abraham's faith looked toward God's promise.
Our faith looks toward God's accomplished work in Jesus.
But the God being trusted is the same God — the God who gives life to the dead.
Paul Finally Names Jesus Again
For most of Romans 4, Paul has talked about Abraham.
Now, in the final sentences, he brings us directly back to Jesus:
“who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
— Romans 4:25
Jesus was delivered up because of our sins.
And He was raised for our justification.
So Paul's discussion of Abraham has never really taken us away from the gospel.
It has helped us understand it.
The God who made promises to Abraham is the God who raised Jesus.
The righteousness Abraham could not earn is the righteousness we cannot earn.
And the faith that trusted God's promise then points us toward faith in what God has now accomplished through Christ.
Notice the Timeline Paul Has Built
Paul's argument becomes especially clear when we put the events in order:
Genesis 12 and following — God gives Abraham the promise.
Genesis 15 — Abraham believes God and is counted righteous.
Genesis 17 — Abraham receives circumcision.
Centuries later — the Law is given through Moses.
Paul's point depends upon that order.
Righteousness by faith came before circumcision.
The promise came before the Law.
So neither circumcision nor the Law can be the foundation of God's promise to Abraham.
Again, chronology helps us understand theology.
Don't Make Abraham's Faith Something Paul Doesn't
Sometimes we talk about “faith” as though it means merely agreeing that certain facts are true.
But that is not how Paul describes Abraham's faith.
Abraham heard a promise from God.
He faced circumstances that seemed to make the promise impossible.
And he became:
“fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”
That is trust.
Neither should we turn Abraham's faith into something he earned.
Paul's whole argument rules that out.
The promise rests upon grace.
Abraham's confidence was not in what Abraham could accomplish.
His confidence was in what God could accomplish.
Read Paul Before Reading a System Into Paul
Romans 4 has taken us all the way back to Abraham.
Before circumcision, Abraham believed.
Before Moses gave the Law, God promised.
Before Israel existed as a nation, God had already spoken about many nations.
And now Paul tells Jews and Gentiles alike that Abraham is:
“the father of us all.”
That does not erase the history of Israel.
It shows us where that history was headed.
God's promise was always bigger than Abraham's physical family.
And ultimately the promise brings us to Jesus:
“who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
Paul began Romans 4 with Abraham.
He ends it with the risen Christ.
Before You Leave
Read Romans 4:13–25 for yourself.
Then ask:
What did Abraham's faith rest upon — what Abraham could do, or what God had promised to do?
And notice one more thing:
Why does Paul say Abraham was to become the father of “many nations”?
Keep that question in mind.
Paul is not finished explaining what God has done for Jew and Gentile through Christ.
TEXT B4 TRADITION
Read First. Conclude Later.
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