Down an Unfamiliar Road

There are many phrases we hear and use without giving them a second thought. But when we do, we wonder if it really makes sense. For instance: Why do we call a building full of many living quarters, apartments, when they’re really not apart at all, they’re all stuck together? Or why does a container full of sour cream have an expiration date? Will it get any sourer? And, when we say the lights went out, where did they go, and when will they be back?¹

But there are other ways we can say things that do not compute. For instance, how can you be absolutely uncertain about something? Then there is one I saw in a furniture ad, “Genuine imitation leather.” Is there such a thing as a bankrupt millionaire? And what does the weatherman mean when he reports calm winds? Or a farmer stated that he found dead livestock? Then there’s one we hear so often on TV, equal opportunity. How can it be equal when it is based on race, gender, or ethnicity?

The point: many times we don’t think about what we are saying and how cluttered with oxymorons our conversation has become. But there is one thing we all need to make sure is accurate and unequivocal, that is when we say, I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and my neighbor as myself. If you’re not sure, don’t say it. But if it’s what you desire to do out of love for your Savior, then try to do your best every day. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

ADULTS CAN BE BABYS TOO

Sometimes the soft and trusting heart of a baby can teach us whose hearts have become calloused over time a lesson on unconditional love. I read this in a story told by a mother, I hope it will touch your heart too.

She told how she and her husband were the only ones with a child in a downtown restaurant. She said: “I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly seated and talking. Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee. He began pounding his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes we crinkled in laughter, and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.

I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was an old man whose pants were tattered and soiled, wearing shoes so worn-out that his toes poked out the holes. His shirt was dirty, and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard, and the veins in his nose made it look a road map.

We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he reeked with body odor. His hands were flapping at my little Erik with loose wrists, as he called out. ‘Hi there, baby; Hi there, big boy. I see ya, kid.’ My husband and I exchanged looks, ‘What do we do?’ Erik continued to laugh and answer while grinning from ear to ear. Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby boy.

As our meal arrived the man began shouting from across the room, ‘Can you play patty cake?’ and then started to play peek-a-boo behind a menu. When Erik giggled, the old tramp said with joy, ‘Hey, look, he knows how to play peek-a-boo.’ Nobody thought the old man was being cute. He appeared to be drunk. My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence but not Erik, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skid-row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with admiring comments.

We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the car. The old man sat poised between me and the door. I prayed, ‘Lord, just let me out of here before he notices.’ As I drew closer to where the man was sitting, I turned my back, trying to get past him and avoid any contact. As I did, little Erik leaned over my arm, reaching out with both arms in a baby’s ‘pick-me-up’ gesture. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the old man’s arms. Suddenly, a very smelly old man and a baby expressed their love and kinship. Erik, in an act of total trust, love, and submission, laid his tiny head upon the man’s ragged shoulder. The man’s eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor cradled my baby. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time. I stood, awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, ‘You take care of this baby.’ Somehow I managed to mumble, ‘I will,’ in a cracked voice filled with embarrassment. He lovingly pried Erik from his chest as though he were in pain, and handed him back to me.

I grabbed my baby, and the old man whispered, ‘God bless you, ma’am; you’ve given me my Christmas gift.’ I said nothing more than a muttered thanks. With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tight, and why I was sobbing, ‘My God, my God, forgive me.’ I had just witnessed Christ’s love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment. The child saw a soul, and his mother saw a man dressed in crumpled clothes. I was a Christian who was blind holding a child who was not. I felt it was God asking, ‘Are you willing to share your son for a moment?’ when He shared His for all eternity. The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, ‘Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’¹”

This moving true story should remind all of us that because of God’s grace and mercy we are able to love people in a special way. As someone once said: “To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.” That’s what separates Christians from the rest of the world. But for all of us, the question is, does that describe me? – Dr. Robert R Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R Seyda

BOOK OF ROMANS

Chapter 4 (Lesson XVIII)

Scottish theologian Robert Haldane has quite a bit to say about this marvelous act of Christ in suffering for our sins, and God’s miraculous act of raising Him from the dead: “The Father gave over the Son to death, delivering Him into the hands of wicked men. Here we must look to a higher tribunal than that of Pilate, who delivered Him into the hands of the Jews. He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. When Herod, Pilate, and the Gentiles, with the people of Israel, were gathered together against Him, it was to do whatsoever God’s Word and counsel had determined before to be done.¹ The crucifixion of Christ being the greatest of all crimes, was hateful and highly provoking in the sight of God; yet it was the will of God that it should take place, to bring to pass the greatest good. God decreed this event; He willed that it should come to pass, and ordered circumstances, under His guardianship, in such a way that it gave men an opportunity to carry out their wicked intentions.”

Then Haldane makes this point: “God had no part in their sin; and His determination that the deed should be done, formed no excuse for its perpetrators, nor did it in any degree extenuate their wickedness, which the Scriptures indicts them to the fullest manner: ‘Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.’² This was an example of the same truth declared by Joseph to his brethren, ‘As for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good.’³ For our offenses or on account of our offenses. — This shows the need of Christ’s death. It was not as an example, or merely as a witness, but for our offenses. Raised again for our justification. — That is, He was raised that He might enter the holy place not made with hands, and present His own blood, that we might be made righteous, through His death for us. As the death of Christ, according to the determinate counsel of a holy and righteous God, was a demonstration of the guilt of His people, so His resurrection was their acquittal from every charge.”

Haldane concludes with this: “Having substituted Himself in the place of sinners, Jesus Christ suffered in His own person the punishment of sin, conformable to that declaration, ‘In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.’⁴ He came forth from among the dead, in testimony that what God demanded was accomplished, and as a pledge of the acceptance of His sacrifice, and that by His obedience unto death Divine justice was satisfied, the law honored and magnified, and eternal life awarded to those for whom He died, whose sins He had borne in His own body on the tree.⁵ He was quickened by the Spirit;⁶ by whom He was also justified,⁷ from every charge that could be alleged against Him as the Guarantor and Covenant-head of those whose iniquities He bore. The justification, therefore, of His people, which includes not only the pardon of their sins, but also their title to the eternal inheritance, was begun in His death, and perfected by His resurrection. He wrought their justification by His death, but its efficacy depended on His resurrection. By His death He paid their debt; in His resurrection He received their relationship. He arose to assure to them their right to eternal life, by fully discovering and establishing it in His own person, for all who are the members of His body.”⁸

Charles Ellicott also addresses this two-fold redemption: “The death of Christ is the proper cause of justification, or means of atonement, according to St. Paul; the resurrection of Christ is only the in-between or secondary cause of it. The atoning efficacy lay in His death, but the proof of that efficacy – the proof that it was really the Messiah who died – was to be seen in His Resurrection. The Resurrection, therefore, gave the greatest impulse to faith in the atoning efficacy of the death upon the cross, and in this way helped to bring about justification. ‘If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins’⁹ – i. e., you have no guarantee that your sins have really been remitted; if the death of Christ had not been followed by His resurrection, the inference would have followed that it was merely the death of an ordinary man, and without any special saving efficacy.”¹⁰

Professor F. F. Bruce has quite a bit to say about this tandem of justification and salvation: “Who was put to death for our trespasses. This may be a quotation from some primitive confession of faith; the language appears to be based on Isaiah 53. The verb put to death is literally ‘delivered up’ (paradidōmi), which occurs twice in the Septuagint version of that chapter: in Isaiah 53:6, ‘the LORD has delivered Him [the suffering Servant] up for our sins’ and Isaiah 53:12, ‘because of their sins He was delivered up.’ Elsewhere it is by the sacrificial death of Christ that His people are justified,¹¹ but His sacrificial death would not have been effective apart from the resurrection. The preposition ‘for’ in both clauses of this verse represents dia (‘because of’); Christ was ‘delivered up’ to atone for His people’s sins and raised to guarantee their justification. (We must not interpret the two clauses so woodenly as to suggest that His resurrection had nothing to do with the atonement for our sins and His death nothing to do with our justification.)¹²

Jewish theologian David Stern gives a summary on what he sees at the end of this chapter: “Here it constitutes the background for the conclusion of our passage, which says that we who have become followers of Yeshua have the same kind of resurrection faith as Abraham because we have trusted in Him who raised Yeshua our Lord from the dead (v. 24), just as Abraham ‘had concluded that God could even raise people from the dead’. That is why the words, ‘it was credited to his account…’ were not written only for him, but for us also, who will certainly have our account credited too (vv. 23–24). This is a radical statement, for it says that Abraham was not special. Whereas Jewish midrashim¹ attribute unique ability, holiness, and power to Abraham, enabling him to have trust far beyond what ordinary people can attain to, Paul insists that such trust is available to everyone. This is the Good News that through Yeshua the Messiah anyone can have the same close personal relationship with Almighty God that Abraham had! Indeed, many believers have received promises from God just as Abraham did and have seen God fulfill them. The content of our ‘hope’ (v. 18; 5:2, 4-5) is that because we have fully identified with Yeshua, who was delivered over to death because of our offences and was raised to life in order to make us righteous, we too will be resurrected to sinless, eternal life with God (6:5, 23; 8:23).”²

It would be hard for anyone to say that such a plan for the redemption, calling, justification, salvation, and glorification of sinful mankind from being slaves of the devil into becoming children of God could ever exist in man’s imagination. It makes no sense when sifted through human logic. And why the eternal, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God of the universe would pick out a speck of dust in His universe called Earth, and populate it with a new species apart from the angels and heavenly beings that already existed, just so that He could show His virtues of love, grace, and mercy, is above and beyond all mankind’s creative thinking. But that was on purpose. God did not want us to accept His plan because it made sense to us, but because it would require faith in His message that it was the only way people could live forever with Him, His Son, and His Spirit in heavenly places. May He increase our faith to trust Him more and believe that what He says is true for eternity, and will come to pass.

The end of Chapter 4.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R Seyda

BOOK OF ROMANS

Chapter 4 (Lesson XVII) 

John Calvin gives this advice on following Abraham’s example of faith: “If then we would make a right and proper use of sacred histories, we must remember so to use them as to draw from them sound doctrine. They instruct us, in some parts, how to frame our life; in others, how to strengthen faith; and then, how we are to be stirred up to serve the Lord. In forming our life, the example of the saints may be useful; and we may learn from them sobriety, chastity, love, patience, moderation, contempt of the world, and other virtues. What will serve to confirm faith is the help which God ever gave them, the protection which brought comfort in adversities, and the paternal care which He ever exercised over them. The judgments of God and the punishments inflicted on the wicked will also aid us, provided they fill us with that fear which imbues the heart with reverence and devotion.”¹

Wesleyan scholar Adam Clarke echoes this same theme: “The mention of this circumstance has a much more extensive design than merely to honor Abraham. It is recorded as the model, according to which God will save both Jews and Gentiles: indeed there can be no other way of salvation; as all have sinned, all must either be saved by faith through Christ Jesus or finally perish. If God, therefore, wills our salvation, it must be by faith; and faith contemplates His promise, and His promise comprehends the Son of His love.”²

Then Charles Hodge adds his insights to this: “Now, this was not written for Abraham’s sake alone, that it was imputed to him. The record concerning the faith and consequent justification of Abraham was not made with the simple intention of giving a correct history of that patriarch. It had a much higher purpose. Abraham was a representative person. What was true of him, was true of all others who stood in the same relationship with God. The method in which he was justified, is the method in which other sinners must be justified. That he was justified by faith, is recorded in the Scriptures to be a perpetual testimony as to the true method of justification before God.”³

Verse 25; Jesus was handed over to die for our sins, and He was raised from death to make us right with God.

Now Paul ties all of this together with Christ’s death on one end of the string and His resurrection on the other. His birth was a miracle, and His resurrection was a miracle. So why should believers have any doubt that there will be miracles in-between? This was no an invention of Paul, it’s roots lie anchored in the prophecy of Isaiah: “It was our suffering He took on Himself; He bore our pain. But we thought that God was punishing Him, that God was beating Him for something He did. But He was being punished for what we did. He was crushed because of our guilt. He took the punishment we deserved, and this brought us peace. We were healed because of His bruises.”⁴

But Isaiah was not finished: “But the Lord was pleased with this humble Servant who suffered such pain. Even after giving Himself as an offering for sin, He will see His descendants and enjoy a long life. He will succeed in doing what the Lord wanted. After His suffering, He will be revived, and He will be satisfied with what He experienced… I will give Him the rewards of one who wins in battle, and He will share them with His powerful ones. I will do this because He gave His life for the people. He was considered a criminal, but the truth is, He carried away the sins of many. Now He will stand before Me and intercede for those who have sinned.”⁵

For Paul, Christ’s resurrection was an accomplished fact. It is something that happened and instituted by God as effective for everyone before they even hear about it. Therefore, it leaves them no option other than to accept or reject it as true. This led Paul to tell the Corinthians: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless and powerless [mere delusion].”⁶ Then the writer of Hebrews tells his readers: “Christ, having offered the one sacrifice [the all-sufficient sacrifice of Himself] for sins for all time, sat down [signifying the completion of atonement for sin] at the right hand of God [the position of honor].”⁷

The author of Hebrews concludes with this: “For by the one offering He has perfected forever and completely cleansed those who are being sanctified [bringing each believer to spiritual completion and maturity].”⁸ In other words, what God started in Abraham and finished through His Son Jesus the Christ, will never be repeated, and there was no backup plan in case it didn’t work. It was one time for all time. So these Jewish believers in Rome should not try to offer amendments to God’s plan nor look for a way to improve it. It is what it is! So the choice is simple, accept it and become part of the promise, or reject it and try to survive on your own.

Early church scholar Origen writes this summary: “Paul says this in order to show that we ought to hate and reject the things for which Christ died. For if we believe that He was sacrificed for our sins, how can we not consider every sin to be alien and hostile to us, considering that our Lord was handed over to death because of it?… If we have risen together with Christ, who is our justification, and we now walk in newness of life and live according to righteousness, then Christ has risen for the purpose of our justification.”⁹

Origen then goes on to say that if a person has not yet cast off the old man with all his works but instead continues to live in unrighteousness, then, it is as if Christ never rose for their justification, nor was He ever sacrificed for their sins. To this Chrysostom adds the following: “After mentioning the cause of Christ’s death, Paul goes on to make the same cause a demonstration of the resurrection. For why was Christ crucified? Not for any sins of His own – and this is plain from the resurrection. For if Christ had been a sinner, how could He have risen from the dead? So if He did rise, it is clear that He was not a sinner.… Moreover, Christ did not die in order to make us liable to punishment and condemnation but in order to do good to us.”¹⁰

In other words, for those who do not accept Christ and believe in His death and resurrection, it is as if it never happened. It makes no sense to argue with them. But for those who do believe, and by faith and trust accept His death and resurrection as effective for their own forgiveness of sin and the gift of everlasting life, it is for real. But to keep it real, that faith and trust must be expressed day after day in word and deed until the day of revelation comes. Only then will those who remained faithful to the end be saved.

John Calvin summarizes his thoughts on the end of chapter four: “Scripture, when it treats our salvation, it dwells especially on the death of Christ, yet the Apostle now proceeds farther: for as his purpose was more explicitly to set forth the cause of our salvation, he mentions its two parts; and says, first, that our sins were atoned for by the death of Christ, — and secondly, that by His resurrection our righteousness was obtained. What he means is, that when we possess the benefit of Christ’s death and resurrection, there is nothing lacking for the culmination of complete righteousness. By separating His death from His resurrection, Paul no doubt does so to point out how ignorant we are of the truth; for it is also true that righteousness has been obtained for us by that obedience of Christ, which He exhibited in His death.”¹¹

John Bengel makes this point: “God is not said to have inflicted death upon Christ; although He inflicted on Him grief; He is said to have delivered up Christ, or else Christ is said to have died (Ch. 8:34). I do not deny the fact itself,¹² but the phrases are so chosen as to give special prominence to the passion laid upon Christ by the Father, and the death obediently endured by Christ… He was delivered for our sins; i.e., because we had sinned; He was raised again for our justification; i.e., that we might be justified… Faith flows from Christ’s resurrection and so does justification.¹³ The ground of our belief in God is that He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Nevertheless, the obedience and the blood of Jesus Christ justify us.”¹⁴ It is clear that Bengel assumes the reader of his commentary is a believer well-versed in the Word of God. But it must be understood that Christ’s death was due to the need for mankind’s sin to be atoned for. And, His resurrection was needed to ensure that those who were destined to die for those sins could now be justified before God as worthy of being granted forgiveness and given eternal life.

Henry Alford also makes it clear: “Our Lord was delivered up (to death) for or on account of our sins (i.e., because we had sinned): – He was also raised up (from the dead) for or on account of our justification (i.e., not because we had been, but that we might be justified). This separate statement of the great object of the death and resurrection of Christ must be rightly understood, and each member of it not unduly pressed to the exclusion of the other, by which our justification (death unto sin and new birth unto righteousness) has been made possible. It may be stated in one word as the Glorification of Christ. But this glorification consisted of two main parts, – His death, and His resurrection. In the former of these, He was made a sacrifice for sin; in the latter, He elevated our humanity into the participation of that resurrection life, which is also, by union with Him, the life of every justified believer.”¹⁵

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R Seyda

BOOK OF ROMANS

Chapter 4 (Lesson XVI)

Verses 21-22: Abraham felt sure that God was able to do what He promised. So that’s why “he was accepted as one who is right with God.”¹

Again, Paul wants his readers to see that Abraham’s acceptance by God as being a righteous man was not based on what he did, but on what he believed. Consequently, because of his strong belief, he was then accepted because of what he did. Paul saw this played out in his own life. He told young Timothy: “I was chosen to tell people that message as an apostle and teacher. And I suffer now because of that work. But I am not ashamed because I know the one I have put my trust in. And I am sure that He is able to protect what I have put into His care until that Day.”²

Here Augustine has this to say: “God brings about the faith of the Gentiles because He is able to perform what He has promised. If it is God who produces our faith, acting in a wondrous manner in our hearts so that we believe, surely we should not fear that He cannot do the entire work.³”⁴ And, Pelagius states that Abraham thanked God as if he had already received the gift.⁵

Early church scholar Ambrosiaster points out: “Paul claims that Abraham is worthy of this praise because although he knew that he could not do it himself, he strengthened his weakness by faith so that he believed that with God’s help he could do what he knew was impossible by the laws of the universe. He was of great merit before God because he believed God over against his own knowledge, not doubting that because he was God, he could do things which were impossible according to the world’s wisdom.”⁶

Then, Ambrosiaster goes on to write: “Paul, therefore, urges the Gentiles to believe as firmly as Abraham did so that they might receive the promise of God and His grace without any hesitation, secure in the example of Abraham that the praise given to a believer increases if he believes what is incredible and seems to be foolish to the world. For the more foolish what he believes is thought to be, the more honor he will have, and indeed it would be foolish to believe it if it were said to occur without God.”⁷

John Calvin makes this point: “It becomes now more clear, how and in what manner faith brought righteousness to Abraham; and that was because he, leaning on God’s word, rejected not the promised favor. And this connection of faith with the word ought to be well understood and carefully remembered; for faith can bring us nothing more than what it receives from the word. Hence he does not become immediately just, who is imbued only with a general and confused idea that God is true, except he leans on the promise of His favor.”⁸

Adam Clarke gives his exposition: “Abraham‘s strong faith in the promise of the coming Savior… was reckoned to him for justification: for it is not said that any righteousness, either his own, or that of another, was imputed or reckoned to him for justification; but it, i.e. his faith in God. His faith was fully persuaded of the most merciful intentions of God‘s goodness; and this, which, in effect, laid hold on Jesus Christ, the future Savior, was the means of his justification; being reckoned unto him in the place of personal righteousness, because it laid hold on the merit of Him who died to make an atonement for our offences, and rose again for our justification.”⁹

Charles Hodge has this commentary: “The faith of Abraham was imputed to him for righteousness. He was accepted as righteous on account of his faith; not that faith itself was the ground, but the condition of his justification. He believed, and God accepted him as righteous; just as now we believe, and are accepted as righteous, not on account of any merit in our faith, but simply on the ground of the righteousness of Christ, which is imputed to us when we believe; that is, it is given to us, whenever we are willing to receive and rest upon it.”¹⁰ Let’s illustrate this, with a life-saving ring that is thrown to a drowning man. It is not the man’s grasp of the ring that saves him, but the ring itself. However, his trust and faith in those holding the ring to pull him out of the water are then rewarded.

Charles Spurgeon preached it this way: “O soul, if thou art like one who is dead, if thou art devoid of all strength, and grace, and savor, if thou canst but believe in God who can quicken the dead, if thou wilt but trust thy soul in the hands of him who is able even to raise dry bones out of their graves, and make them live, thy faith shall be imputed unto thee for righteousness! Thy faith is that which shall justify thee in the sight of God, and thou shalt be ‘accepted in the Beloved.’ Oh, what marvels faith works! This is the root-grace, all manner of good things spring from faith, but there must be faith as the root if there are to be other graces as the fruit. Do thy God the honor to believe Him— to believe that He cannot lie— to believe that He has never promised what He is not able to perform. If thou wilt do that, it is clear that thou art one of Abraham’s seed, and the covenant made with Abraham was made with thee also.”¹¹

Verses 23-24 These words (“he was accepted”) were written not only for Abraham. They were also written for us. God will also accept us because we believe. We believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from death.

Now, Paul makes this same Abrahamic formula of faith followed by obedience effective for believers today. The apostle makes this same point in his letter to the Corinthians by using an interesting illustration taken from the Old Testament. He wrote: “These aren’t just my own thoughts. God’s law says the same thing. Yes, it is written in the Law of Moses: ‘When a work animal is being used to separate grain, don’t muzzle it to keep it from eating the grain.’¹² When God said this, was He thinking only about work animals? No. He was really talking about us. Yes, that was written for us. The one who plows and the one who separates the grain should both expect to get some of the grain for their work.”¹³

In other words, the ox is allowed to eat of the grain that it is crushing by turning the millstone. So it is that by believing God’s promises and doing the work God intends for us to do He allows us to partake of the fruit produced by that work. Another way to put this would be if God instructed us to go and plant apple seeds so that He could sustain us with such fruit and we believe His promise and obey His instructions, then when the trees do bear fruit, we are allowed to pluck some of the apples for our own nourishment.

This concept of Christians and their descendants being the heirs of blessings promised to Old Testament believers was not just Paul’s idea. The Apostle Peter also pointed this out in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost: “Change your hearts and lives and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Then God will forgive your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you. It is also for your children and for the people who are far away. It is for everyone the Lord our God calls to Himself.”¹⁴ Yet again, such a promise is based on faith first and obedience second. Believers are not to obey in hopes of getting what God has promised, but in faith that God does what He says He will do because faith is the substance of things hoped for.¹⁵

The Apostle felt led to share this same truth with the Ephesians. He wrote: “I pray that God will open your minds to see this truth. Then you will know the hope that He has chosen us to have. You will know that the blessings God has promised his holy people are rich and glorious. And you will know that God’s power is very great for us who believe. It is the same as the mighty power He used to raise Christ from death and put Him at His right side in the heavenly places.” In other words, believers are not left with any example of God following through on His promises and offers the resurrection of Jesus as a prime example.

Early church scholar Origen touches here on what was already accepted in Jewish theology concerning Abraham’s belief in the resurrection. He writes: “Note that Paul does not speak of those who believe that God is supreme, or of those who believe that he made heaven and earth, or of those who believe that he made the angels and the other hosts of the heavenly glory. Rather, he speaks of those who believe in the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Did Abraham believe in this God even before he had raised Jesus?… Abraham’s faith contained within it the form and image of this great mystery. For when he was ordered to sacrifice his only son, he believed that God could raise him up from the dead. Moreover, he did not believe this of Isaac only but also of Isaac’s seed, which is Christ.”¹⁶

Then Pelagius adds this: “We are meant to imitate Abraham’s example as if he were our father, just as we imitate the examples of the saints, by which they pleased the Lord. They were tempted so that they might know themselves and so that we might follow them. We shall benefit if we believe as completely that God has raised Christ from the dead as Abraham believed that his body, which was as good as dead, could be made alive in order to produce children.”¹⁷

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XV)

Verse 19: Abraham was almost a hundred years old, so he was past the age for having children. Also, Sarah could not have children. Abraham was well aware of this, but his faith in God never waned.

The Aramaic version renders this verse as follows: “And he was not sickly in his faith while contemplating his inert body, (for he was a hundred years old,) and the inert womb of Sarah.” In other words, while Abraham’s reproductive system may have been inactive, his faith was proactive. In Sarah’s case, Rabbis, in the Babylonian Talmud, speak of her womb being the same as that of a dead woman.¹ To anyone with the simple knowledge of health and age, this couple having a child would be considered impossible.² That’s why Abraham could not be faulted for being doubtful that he and Sarah could have a child by natural means. The truth is, he did not put his faith in hoping the facts would turn out to be wrong, but in the fact that God’s promise would be right. This was Jesus’ theme when He talked about seeing how big God is instead of looking at how big the problem is.³

The writer of Hebrews explained Sarah’s predicament succinctly: “Sarah was not able to have children, and Abraham was too old. But he had faith in God, trusting Him to do what He promised. And so God made them able to have children. Abraham was so old he was almost dead. But from that one man came as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. So many people came from him that they are like grains of sand on the seashore.”⁴ No doubt, the author of Hebrews was talking about the natural and spiritual descendants of Abraham combined, a sum that continues to grow.

Early church scholar Origen sees both a physical and spiritual lesson in this quote by Paul. He writes: “This may be understood literally or figuratively. Literally, Abraham did not put his trust in his hundred-year-old body, which was obviously incapable of doing what God had promised him, but rather he trusted in God, the Almighty One who could perform what He had promised even when the laws of human fertility no longer functioned.… Figuratively, it may be understood in the light of what Paul says elsewhere: ‘Therefore, put to death what is earthly in you.’⁵ It would be absurd to suggest that what Paul meant in this respect was somehow lacking in Abraham. For Abraham also had put his earthly urges to death, being neither excited by indulgence nor inflamed by lust.… Sarah likewise did not suffer from lust or the desires of the flesh.… When they heard what God had promised them, they did not consider their own benefit.… All these things that would make them rich they regarded as worthless in order that they might win Christ,⁶ whose coming they foresaw.”⁷

John Calvin points out that although everything in the nature of procreation was stacked against Abraham and Sarah – their age and reproductive organs, yet it did not deter him from carrying on as though none of these things mattered when compared to God’s promise. Says Calvin: “With these frailties of the flesh, ignorance, and doubt, the faithful have a continual conflict, and in this conflict, their faith is often dreadfully shaken and distressed, but at length, it comes forth victorious; so that they may be said to be strong even in weakness.”⁸

Evangelical scholar Adam Clarke puts it this way: “He [Abraham] showed at once the correctness and energy of his faith: God cannot lie; Abraham can believe. It is true that, according to the course of nature, he and Sarah are so old that they cannot have children; but God is almighty, and can do whatsoever He wills, and will fulfill His promise. This was certainly a wonderful degree of faith; as the promise stated that it was through his posterity that all the nations of the earth were to be blessed.”⁹

Robert Haldane writes on Abraham’s faith in the absence of factual evidence: “This is an example which ought to always direct our faith. There are always obstacles and difficulties in the way of faith. We should give them no more weight than if they did not exist, reflecting that it is God who has to remove them. Nothing can be a difficulty in the way of the fulfillment of God’s own word. This ought to encourage us, not only with respect to ourselves but with respect to the cause of God in the world. Had Abraham looked at any natural means, he would have staggered; but he looked only at the power of Him who promised.”¹⁰

Verse 20: He never hesitated in believing that God would do what He promised. He never stopped believing. In fact, he grew stronger in his faith and just praised God.

So, instead of the difficulties that faced Abraham and Sarah with regard to their age and her having an unproductive womb causing them to give up, they pressed on with greater determination to prove that what God says will be, will be. This was the same type of faith Isaiah called on the Israelites to have when they saw nothing but trouble and defeat in their future.¹¹ And just as Abraham grew in faith, so did Daniel: “The one who looked like a man touched me again. When he touched me, I felt better. Then he said, ‘Daniel, don’t be afraid. God loves you very much. Peace be with you. Be strong now, be strong.’ When he spoke to me, I became stronger. Then I said, ‘Sir, you have given me strength’.”¹²

This was Paul’s message to the Corinthians: “I am glad to have weaknesses if they are for Christ. I am glad to be insulted and have hard times. I am glad when I am persecuted and have problems, because it is when I am weak that I am really strong.”¹³ In Jewish writings, we find this same theme of how vital faith is. In speaking of Jacob, we find these words: “Jacob had entered this gateway to faith. Adhering to that faith, he had to be tested in the same place his fathers had been tested, entering in peace and emerging in peace.”¹⁴ Also, in his commentary on Moses’ call for those on the Lord’s side to step out and come to him, Rabbi Abraham Saba states: “He implied that these people forming a group around him would be strong in their faith in HaShem¹⁵ and would not flinch from using the sword to carry out vengeance on the people who had violated His sacred covenant.”¹⁶

Several early church scholars make comments on this verse. Chrysostom says that Abraham trusted God even though God gave him no proof, not even a sign. Rather, only words promising things which by nature seemed impossible.¹⁷ Yet, since they were part of a supernatural God’s ways, they were then seen as superior to nature’s ways. Then Augustine sees this as Paul’s attack on those in Rome who were seeking their own glory in the sight of men by doing the works of the law, while Abraham gave God all the glory.¹⁸ And, Pelagius states that Abraham did not dismiss the fact that his old age would make it impossible for he and Sarah to have a child, but at the same time he did not doubt for a moment the assurance of God’s promise.¹⁹

John Calvin writes: “The Apostle seems to have had this in view, – That Abraham did not try to find out, by weighing the matter in the balance of unbelief, whether the Lord was able to perform what He had promised. What is a proper inquiry or to search into anything is to examine it through distrust or mistrust, and to be unwilling to accept what appears not credible, without thoroughly sifting it. He indeed asked, how it could come to pass, but that was the asking of one astonished; as the case was with the Virgin Mary, when she inquired of the angel how could that be which he had announced. Beliebvers then, when a message is brought to them respecting the works of God, the greatness of which exceeds their comprehension, do indeed burst forth into expressions of wonder; but from this wonder they soon pass on to lay hold on the power of God. For this reason it was, that Abraham was not reproved when he laughed and asked, how could a child be born to a man a hundred years old, and to a woman of ninety; for in his astonishment he fully accepted the power of God’s word.”²⁰

On the subject of giving glory to God, Robert Haldane says: “How did he [Abraham] give glory to God? By believing that He would do what He promised, although nothing less than almighty power could achieve what was promised. This is an important thought, that we glorify God by ascribing to Him His attributes, and believing that He will act according to them, notwithstanding many present difficulties to the contrary. But how often is the opposite of this exemplified among many who profess to have the faith of Abraham, who, when unable to trace Divine wisdom, are apt to hesitate in yielding submission to Divine authority. Nothing, however, to endorse this is found in Scripture. On the contrary, no human action is more applauded than that of Abraham offering up Isaac in obedience to the command of God, in which he certainly could not then discover either the reason or the wisdom from which it proceeded. Without disregarding it for a moment, he yielded to the Divine authority. He was strong in faith, giving glory to God; that is, he gave full credit for the propriety of what was enjoined, and a ready acknowledgment of that implicit submission which on his part was due.”²¹

Preacher Octavius Winslow had this to say: “It is the glory, then, of faith, and the perfection of its preciousness, that it gives glory to God. The reason why faith is said to give glory to God is, because faith answers God’s faithfulness. Great faith is said to give glory to God: one of the special commendations of Abraham’s faith is, ‘He was strong in faith, giving glory to God.’ God magnifies His name of faithfulness above all His names; the believer magnifies his faithfulness by his believing; therefore, he gives glory to God. There are three honorable services that some men get put into their hands, and which are denied to angels. There is preaching of Christ, suffering for Christ, and believing in Christ. Let us consider wherein there is an honoring of God by believing; for it is a point very rarely believed. Who is there of believers that think that by bare believing they give God more glory than any other way they can do?”²²

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XIV)

Wesleyan scholar Adam Clarke shares his thoughts on God’s creation and resurrection powers: “God is the most proper object of trust and dependence; for being almighty, eternal, and unchangeable, He can even raise the dead to life and call those things which are not as though they were. He is the Creator, He made living things when there was none; He can infallibly assure the existence of those things which are not as if they were already actually in existence. And, on this account, He can never fail to accomplish whatever He has promised.”¹

Scottish Bible scholar Robert Haldane explains very well the phenomenon of the dual lines – natural and spiritual – of Abraham’s progeny: “According to the Apostle’s interpretation of this promise, it signifies numerous spiritual offspring, as well as numerous natural posterity. It is not by way of what is called modification that this is said; it is the real interpretation of the promise, whether Abraham himself understood it so or not. This interpretation of the Apostle is a key to all that is said on this subject. It shows that Abraham had a double seed, that the promise had a double meaning, and both are distinctly verified. Thus, each of the three promises made to Abraham had a double fulfillment: – Of a numerous posterity; of God being a God to his seed; and of an earthly and heavenly country. At that moment, when he stood in the presence of God whom he believed,² he was made the father of all his natural and spiritual posterity; and though he was not then actually a father, yet, being so in the purpose of God, it was made as sure to him as if it had already taken place. God now willed it, and the result would follow as surely as creation followed His word.”³

We should take note at this point that Isaac’s birth was a miracle since it came from a womb considered incapable of bearing an offspring because of Sarah’s advanced age. So every child that came into the world through Isaac was the result of that miracle. Those were the natural descendants who inherited the earthly Promised Land. Yet God said another miracle child would be born who would be Abraham’s spiritual descendant and through Him, the spiritual family would inherit a heavenly Promised Land. That promised child was Jesus, born of a miracle from a young woman named Mary who had never been intimate with a man. So Abraham produced a natural child named Isaac, while the Holy Spirit produced a supernatural child named Jesus. You may be a Jewish descendant of the natural child Isaac, but unless you can trace your spiritual birth back to Jesus, you have no promise of heaven in your destiny. That’s what Paul was trying to tell the church in Rome. It was true then, and it’s true now.

Frederic Godet points out: “The two divine attributes on which the faith of Abraham fastened at this decisive moment, were the power to quicken [make alive] and the power to create [make something out of nothing]. It was, indeed, in this twofold character that God presented Himself when He stated to Abraham these words: ‘I have made you‘ – here is the assurance of a resurrection, – ‘father of many nations‘ – here is the promise of a creation. Faith imagines nothing arbitrarily; it limits itself wholly to taking God as He presents Himself.”⁴

F. F. Bruce also comments on this subject: “Consider, too, the quality of Abraham’s faith. It was faith in the God who brings the dead to life, who calls non-existent things as though they really existed – and gives them real existence by doing so. When God told Abraham that he would have a vast multitude of descendants, he was still childless. Not only that, but he was beyond the age at which a man might reasonably hope to become a father, and Sarah his wife was even more certainly beyond the age of motherhood. Abraham did not shut his eyes to these unfavorable circumstances; he took them all into careful consideration. But, when he set over against them the promise of God, he found that the certainty of God’s ability and will to fulfill His promise outweighed them all. Having nothing to rest upon but the bare word of God, he relied on that, in the face of all the opposing indications which pressed on him from every side. In fact, his faith was strengthened by the very force of the obstacles which lay in its path. And his faith won him the favor of God.”⁵

Jewish writer David Stern shares: “That God quickens the dead is a major tenet of Judaism; the second benediction of the ‘Amidah,‘ the prayer recited three times every day in the synagogue, [which] reads: ‘You are mighty forever, Adonai. You cause the dead to live, You are great to save. With loving-kindness You sustain the living; with great mercy You cause the dead to live, support the falling, heal the sick, free the bound and keep faith with those who sleep in the dust. Who is like You, Master of mighty deeds? Who resembles You, O King? You cause death, You cause life, and You cause salvation to sprout forth, so You can be trusted to cause the dead to live. Blessed are You, Adonai, who causes the dead to live.’”⁶ That’s not only a prayer Jews can pray, but Christians as well.

Verse 18: Against all hope, Abraham continued trusting in hope that he would indeed become the father of many nations just as God told him, “You will have many descendants.”⁷

We cannot escape seeing the key factor in this verse where in spite of having hope he would have a child in his old age, nevertheless, Abraham kept the faith. That’s why the writer of Hebrews made it clear that faith is the substance of things hoped for.⁸ So it was Abraham’s faith that kept him going. This echoes the maxim expressed by King Solomon: “Hope that is delayed makes you sad, but a longing that comes true fills your life with joy.”⁹

Early church scholar Origen had this to say about faith and hope: “As always, when the Apostle Paul talks about faith, he adds hope as well, and rightly so, for hope and faith are inseparable… Just as Abraham believed against hope, so all believers do the same, for we all believe in the resurrection of the dead and the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven. These appear to go against hope as far as human nature is concerned, but when we take the power of God into consideration, there is no problem.”¹⁰

Then we read Ambrosiaster’s comments: “It is clear that since Abraham had no hope of having a son, he believed God and had faith against hope that he would have a son, knowing that with God all things are possible.¹¹ The quotation [by Paul] is from Genesis where God shows Abraham the stars of the sky and says: ‘So shall your descendants be,’¹² because in believing he was justified. For Abraham believed what seems impossible to the world because it does not occur in the order of nature that old people should have children and know that their seed will increase to such an extent that it will be impossible to count them. Therefore, faith is precious because it believes in the future, even against what it now sees or knows. For it consoles itself in this hope, that it is God who promises.”¹³

John Bengel makes it clear that while Abraham was lacking any hope within himself, but he never lost hope in God. He goes on to say: “We grasp the same object both by faith and by hope: by faith, as a thing, which is truthfully proclaimed; by hope, as an object of joy, which certainly can and will be realized. He believed in the hope of the promise, against the hope of reason.”¹⁴

Robert Haldane writes:”The thing testified to Abraham was an object of hope, therefore, he is said beyond hope to believe in hope. This is explained by some as indicating that Abraham believed that he should become, that is, his becoming the father of many nations was the object of his belief. Others explain it, that he believed the promise in order that he might become; that is, his faith was the means through which the promise was to be made good to him. Both of these are true, but the last appears to be most agreeable to the expression and is the more important sense. He was made such a father through faith. Had he not believed the promise, he would not have been made such a father. This shows that Abraham’s expectation rested solely on the Divine promise. He had no ground to hope for so numerous a posterity, or any posterity at all, except on the surety of the promise of God. This he received in its true and obvious meaning, and did not, like many, explain away, modify, or fritter it down into something less wonderful. He hoped for the very thing which the words of the promise intimated, and to the very utmost extent of the meaning of these words, ‘So shall your seed be’.”¹⁵

Frederic Godet has this insight to offer: “The word hope is used here in two different senses, the one subjective: hope as a feeling (in the phrase: in hope), the other objective: hope to denote the motive for hoping (in the phrase: against hope)… The Apostle, therefore, means: without finding in the domain of sense or reason the least ground for hoping, he nevertheless believed, and that by an effort of hope proceeding from a fact which the eye did not see nor the reason comprehend, God and His promise.”¹⁶

Charles Ellicott gives this summary of verse 18: “It must be noticed that the relative here refers to Abraham, whereas in the previous verse it referred to God. Trusting in Hope. —The force of the preposition gives 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. That he would indeed become. —So as by exercise of faith to carry out God’s purpose.”¹⁷

In other words, Abraham’s trust and faith in what God said to him was so strong, that he was willing to accept as real what he could not see nor for which he had any evidence. As the writer of Hebrews rightly said, faith can be all we need to have hope that whatever God promised will come to pass even though we see no evidence of it yet.¹⁸ Of all things most pertinent to us today is the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ coming back to resurrect the believers who have died and transform those who are still living. So let us be like Abraham and have faith that although we may not see evidence it will happen today, it will come to pass.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), Poet Laureate of Great Britain, is best known for his excellent poetry. One of his poems I remember reading in High School was “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” But one that really stayed with me, and that I have used in sermons, was his famous “Crossing of the Bar.” But what many may not know is what he said as a prelude in memory to a dear college friend. Tennyson wrote: “Strong Son of God, immortal Love, whom we, that have not seen thy face, by faith, and faith alone, embrace, believing where we cannot prove.”

What was once a common occurrence in English poetry, where God, faith, trust in our divine purpose, has been replaced by a new form of poetry called, “Rap.” But the lyrics our young people hear in this secular genre say nothing about reverence for God, good morality, or respect for one another. Rather, vulgarity has become the new norm because it is supposed to be the reality in life. But thank God there is another reality, and that is the Kingdom of God where there is faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.¹ Love for God and love for each other.² – Dr. Robert R Seyda

DOES YOUR HEART HAVE CALLER ID?

I read this story and thought it had a great message for all of us. I hope you enjoy it.

One Saturday night, a pastor was working late in the church office getting ready for Sunday’s services. He decided to call his wife to let her know he would be home soon. It was quite late, and his wife didn’t answer the phone. The pastor let it ring many times. He decided to hang up and call again once he finished his work.

When he tried again, she answered right away, so he asked her why she hadn’t answered before? She said that the phone never rang. So they brushed it off. It wasn’t long before he was home and they were soon off to bed and sound asleep.

The following Monday, the pastor received a call at the church office. The caller was a man, and he wanted to know why the pastor called him late Saturday night. The pastor couldn’t remember making such a phone call. Then the man said that his phone rang again and again, but he decided not to answer.

It was then that the pastor realized that while calling his wife he had dialed the wrong number. He apologized to the man and asked his pardon for disturbing him at such a late hour. He explained that he was actually trying to call his wife but made a mistake.

The man was quick to say that he understood, but then said, “That’s okay. But let me tell you my story. You see, I was planning to commit suicide Saturday night, but before I did, I prayed, ‘God if you’re there, and you don’t want me to do this, give me a sign now.’ At that point, my phone started to ring. I looked at the caller ID, and it said, ‘Almighty God.’ I was shocked and afraid to answer!”

After he and the pastor then talked for a little while, and he invited the man to come see him or perhaps attend the service on Sunday. Then the Reverend explained to him why his caller ID listed that name. You see, the church that the minister pastored was called, “Almighty God Tabernacle.” – Dr. Robert R Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XIII)

Methodist scholar Adam Clarke gives his commentary on how God’s Promise to Abraham became ours: “On this account the promise is mercifully grounded, not on obedience to a law, but on the infinite goodness of God: and thus the promise is sure to all the seed – to all, both Jews and Gentiles, who, believing in Christ Jesus, have a right to all the blessings contained in the Abrahamic covenant. All the seed necessarily comprehends all mankind. Of the Gentiles there can be no doubt, for the promise was given to Abraham while he was a Gentile; and the salvation of the Jews may be inferred, because they all sprang from him after he became an heir of the righteousness or justification which is received by faith; for he is the father of us all, both Jews and Gentiles.”¹

Charles Hodge then adds his understanding: “The inheritance promised to Abraham and his seed must be either of the Law [of Moses], or of faith. It cannot be of the Law, for the Law works wrath. Therefore, it is of faith’.”² Then Hodge adds: “If salvation is in any form or to any degree dependent on the merit, the goodness, or the stability of man, it never can be sure, no, it must be utterly unattainable. Unless we are saved by grace, we cannot be saved at all. To reject, therefore, a gratuitous salvation, is to reject the only method of salvation available for sinners. Salvation being of grace, suspended on the simple condition of faith, without regard to parentage, to national or ecclesiastical connection, it is available for all classes of men.”³

Then, Frederic Godet gives his comments: “The last words [of verse 16]: ‘He is the father of us all,’ sum up all that has been developed in the previous context. Believing Jews and Gentiles, we all participate by faith not only in justification but also in the future possession of the world; for the true seed to whom this promise was made was that of faith, not that according to the Law [of Moses]. Abraham is, therefore, the sole stem from which proceed those two branches which form in him one and the same spiritual organism.”⁴

Jewish writer David Stern shares with us an important truth that shows how even great Jewish scholars in the past understood this principle. He asks the question: Can a Gentile speak of Abraham as his father? He offers the following condensed form the Rambam’s⁵ well-known “Letter to Obadiah the Proselyte.” He does so because its sentiments are so precisely appropriate when you imagine it as a letter written to a Gentile follower of Yeshua.

“You ask me if you are permitted to say in the prayers, ‘Our God’ and ‘God of our fathers,’ and ‘You who worked miracles for our fathers.’ Yes; you may say your blessing and prayer in the same way as every born Jew. This is because our father Abraham revealed the true faith and the unity of God, rejected idol-worship, and brought many children under the wings of the Sh’khinah [see Genesis 18:19]. Ever since then whoever adopts Judaism and confesses the unity of the Divine Name, as prescribed in the Torah, is counted among the disciples of our father Abraham, peace unto him. In the same way, as he converted his contemporaries through his words and teaching, he converts later generations through the testament he left his children and household after him. Thus our father Abraham is the father of his pious posterity who keep his ways and the father of his disciples and of all proselytes who adopt Judaism.

“Since you have come under the wings of the Sh’khinah and confessed the Lord, no difference exists between you and us, and all miracles done to us have been done, as it were, both to you and to us. Thus it is said in the book of Isaiah, ‘Let not the son of the stranger who follows Adonai say, “Adonai has completely separated me from his people”’ (Isaiah 56:3). There is no difference whatsoever between you and us.

“Know that our fathers, when they came out of Egypt, were mostly idolaters; they had mingled with the pagans in Egypt and imitated their way of life, until the Holy One, blessed be He, sent Moshe Rabbenu [Moses our teacher], who separated us from the nations, brought us under the wings of the Sh’khinah, us and all proselytes, and gave all of us one Law.

“Do not consider your origin as inferior. While we are the descendants of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, you derive from Him through whose word the world was created. As is said by Isaiah: “One shall say, I am the Lord’s, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob” (Is. 44:5).”⁶

Verse 17: As the Scriptures say, “I have made you a father of many nations.”⁷ This is true in God’s eyes, the One Abraham believed – the God who gives life to the dead and speaks of things that don’t yet exist as if they are real.

Now Paul makes another important point. It was not Moses with the Law who was the father of the faith, but Abraham without the Law of Moses who was given that honor by God. This is clearly articulated in the Torah: “Then Abram bowed down before God. God said to him, “This is my part of our agreement: I will make you the father of many nations. I will change your name from Abram⁸ to Abraham,⁹ because I am making you the father of many nations.”¹⁰

The Apostle Paul’s point here is that God has the ability and power to forecast things and with just a word say them as though they already existed. As the writer of Hebrews was inspired to say: “Abraham was so old he was almost dead. But from that one man came as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. So many people came from him that they are like grains of sand on the seashore.” When thinking of the nations that came from Abraham, we must look at those descendants of Abraham through Sarah, his maid Hagar,¹¹ and also his second wife, Keturah.¹² But Paul was thinking of those considered spiritual descendants. And if we counted all those from Abraham’s day, including those who became his spiritual descendants through Christ up unto this day, they certainly would fill the sky with stars.

Early church scholar Ambrosiaster comments: “Paul invites the Gentiles to share the faith of Abraham, who believed God while he was still uncircumcised. Now that that faith is preached in Christ, he has been raised from the dead, along with his wife. For when they were already very old, they sprang back to life so that Abraham did not doubt that he would have a son by Sarah, whom he knew to be sterile and who had long since ceased to have her menstrual period. Paul said this so that they would not worry about circumcision or uncircumcision but that they would respond eagerly because of their faith, secure in the knowledge that the One in whom they believe is no other than the One who gives life to the dead, who has the power to bring things which do not exist into being by His will.”¹³

Reformist John Calvin has an excellent way of putting what he finds here in Paul’s message. He writes: “We have here also a type and a pattern of the call of us all, by which our beginning is set before our eyes, not as to our first birth, but as to the hope of future life, — that when we are called by the Lord we emerge from nothing; for whatever we may seem to be we are not, no, not a spark of anything good, which can render us fit for the Kingdom of God. That we may indeed, on the other hand, be in a suitable state to hear the call of God, we must be altogether dead in ourselves. The character of the divine calling is, that they who are dead are raised by the Lord, that they who are nothing begin to be something through His power. The word ‘call’ ought not to be confined with preaching, but it is to be taken, according to the usage of Scripture, for raising up; and it is intended to set forth more fully the power of God, who raises up, as it were by a nod only, whom He wills.”¹⁴ In other words, since we were all dead in trespasses and sin, our new birth was, in fact, God calling us forth from the dead so that we could be alive in Christ.¹⁵

John Bengel makes this point: “The dead are not dead to God because to God things which don’t exist really do. The seed of Abraham did not yet exist, yet God said, “So shall your seed be.” The multiplication of the seed takes the existence of the seed for granted… God speaks to the light, while it is not around, as if it were, [and tells it] to come forth into existence. Think of the often-recurring ‘be,’ Genesis 1, which expresses the transition from non-existence to existence, produced by God’s summons.¹⁶”¹⁷ In other words, God does not need anything to already exist before He calls for its revelation. His words alone are powerful enough to create on the spot something that has never before existed except in His omniscience. That’s why He could say to Abraham that he would become the father of many nations before those nations were ever formed.

Henry Alford also addresses this concept. He writes: “Much difficulty has been found here: and principally owing to an idea that this clause (calls those things which are not as though they were) must minutely correspond with the former (who quickens the dead), to furnish [make possible] another instance of God’s creative Almightiness. Hence, commentators have given to call the sense which it has sometimes, ‘to summon into being,’ and have understood as though they were as if it were so as to be.” The use of old English by Alford makes this somewhat hard to understand. What the theologian is saying can be repeated this way: To summon something into existence, it must be understood that it already existed in that form before it was revealed. Alford goes on to say: “I see however in this latter clause not a repetition or expansion of the former, but a new attribute of God’s omnipotence and eternity, on which Abraham’s faith was fixed.”¹⁸ To rephrase, Alford is saying that the statement by Paul that God had the power to call forth from the dead should not be confused with His ability to call things into existence that, heretofore did not exist, such as a dead body would be needed to call someone back from death. That means although we were physically alive we were spiritually dead until we heard God’s call, and He made us spiritually alive, but only in Christ. Therefore, the only way to stay spiritually alive is in Christ.¹⁹