Commentary - Romans 4:18-25

Bird's-eye view

In this magnificent conclusion to his argument about Abraham, the apostle Paul holds up the patriarch's faith as the paradigm for all who would be justified before God. This is not faith in the abstract, but a robust, God-centered trust that stared into the abyss of impossibility and did not blink. Paul is demonstrating that the faith which justified Abraham is the very same kind of faith that justifies us. It is a faith that rests entirely on the promise and power of God, specifically His power to bring life out of death. Abraham's faith was fixed on God's promise to bring a son from a dead body and a dead womb. Our faith is fixed on God's action in bringing His Son, Jesus, forth from a dead tomb. The structure is identical. The passage climaxes by explicitly connecting Abraham's justification to our own, grounding it all in the substitutionary death and vindicating resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the heart of the gospel: righteousness is counted to those who believe God can and did raise Jesus from the dead.

Paul's purpose here is to show that the gospel he preaches is not a New Testament novelty but is in fact the ancient way of salvation, exemplified by Israel's most revered ancestor. He unpacks the internal dynamics of Abraham's faith, how it hoped against hope, considered the stark realities without wavering, grew strong, and ultimately gave glory to God. This is not a description of a man mustering up internal fortitude, but rather a man who was mastered by the absolute reliability of the God who had spoken to him. The final verses then serve as a perfect bridge, showing that this story was recorded not for historical curiosity but for our direct instruction and assurance. The God of Abraham is our God, and He has performed the ultimate act of bringing life from death in the resurrection, thereby securing our justification.

Outline

Context In Romans

This passage is the capstone of Paul's argument in Romans 4. Having established in chapter 3 that justification is by faith apart from works of the law, Paul uses chapter 4 to prove his point from the Old Testament, using Abraham as his chief exhibit. He has already shown that Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised (4:9-12) and long before the Law of Moses was given (4:13-17). This means that Abraham is the father of all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile. Now, in this final section (4:18-25), Paul delves into the subjective reality of Abraham's faith. He wants his readers to understand what this kind of world-changing, justifying faith actually looks like. It is not mere intellectual assent, but a profound trust in God's character. This detailed portrait of Abraham's faith sets the stage for the glorious results of justification that Paul will unpack in chapter 5, such as peace with God, access to grace, and hope in tribulation.

Key Issues

Life from the Dead

The central theme running through this entire section is God's unique power to create life out of death. Paul has already introduced this idea in verse 17, describing God as the one "who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist." This is the God in whom Abraham believed. And the test case for this belief was intensely personal and seemingly impossible: the birth of a child from his own body, which was "as good as dead," and from Sarah's womb, which was characterized by "deadness." The situation was utterly hopeless from a human perspective. There was no life there. But Abraham's faith was not in human potential; it was in the God who specializes in resurrection.

Paul masterfully connects this to the Christian's faith. We are called to believe in the very same God, the one who demonstrated this life-giving power in the most profound way imaginable: by raising Jesus our Lord from the dead. The logic is airtight. If you believe God could bring a baby out of a dead womb, you have every reason to believe He could bring His Son out of a sealed tomb. The resurrection of Jesus is not just a historical fact we affirm; it is the ultimate display of the very character of God upon which our justification rests. Our faith, like Abraham's, is a resurrection faith. It looks at the dead end of our sin and the finality of the grave and believes that God has spoken a word of life.

Verse by Verse Commentary

18 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR SEED BE.”

Paul begins by describing the sheer absurdity of Abraham's faith from a worldly point of view. "In hope against hope" means that when all empirical, observable, natural basis for hope was gone, he continued to hope. Why? Because his hope was not grounded in the circumstances, but in the character and promise of God. There was a hope held out by the promise, and a hopelessness dictated by the situation. Abraham chose to stand on the promise. The purpose of this faith was not simply to have a son, but to fulfill God's grander plan: that he might become the father of many nations. His faith was tethered to the specific word God had spoken, quoting Genesis 15:5. Real faith is not a vague optimism; it latches onto a specific "thus saith the Lord."

19 And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;

This is crucial. Abraham's faith was not a blind faith that refused to look at the facts. It was not a "name it and claim it" denial of reality. He contemplated the facts. He looked squarely at the double impossibility: his own body, nearly a century old and reproductively dead, and Sarah's womb, which had always been barren and was now long past the age of childbearing. Paul uses the word "deadness" to emphasize the utter finality of their condition. Faith does not ignore the problems. It stares the problems in the face, acknowledges their full weight, and then looks beyond them to the God who is greater than all problems.

20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God,

Even after contemplating the deadness, Abraham did not waver. The word means to be divided in judgment, to hesitate between two opinions. He was not torn between the evidence of his senses and the promise of God. Instead of weakening, he grew strong in faith. How does faith grow strong? By being exercised against resistance. And what is the ultimate result of this kind of robust faith? It gives glory to God. Unbelief questions God's character, His power, or His goodness, and thus robs Him of glory. Faith, by taking God at His word in the face of impossibility, honors Him as powerful, truthful, and utterly reliable. It puts God's glory on display for all to see.

21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to do.

Here is the bedrock of Abraham's faith: he was fully assured. This is not wishful thinking. It is a settled conviction based on two things: God's promise and God's power. He knew what God had said, and he knew that God was omnipotent. The conclusion was inescapable. If the Almighty God makes a promise, He has the power to carry it out. The issue is never God's ability; the issue is always His word. Has He spoken? If He has, the matter is settled. Abraham's faith was not in his own ability to believe, but in God's ability to perform.

22 Therefore IT WAS ALSO COUNTED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Paul brings his argument to its conclusion with the word Therefore. He is tying it all together. Because Abraham's faith was of this nature, a faith that hoped against hope, faced the facts, refused to waver, and rested in God's promise and power, it was for this reason that God credited it to him as righteousness. This is a direct quote from Genesis 15:6. God did not look at Abraham's works. He looked at Abraham's faith, a faith fixed entirely on God, and on that basis, He declared him righteous in His sight. This is the doctrine of imputation. God did not make Abraham righteous in that moment; He legally declared him to be so.

23-24 Now not for his sake only was it written THAT IT WAS COUNTED TO HIM, but for our sake also, to whom it will be counted, as those who believe upon Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

The apostle now makes the direct application to his readers in Rome, and to us. The story of Abraham is not ancient history for our entertainment. It was written down in Scripture with a didactic purpose: for our sake. The principle of justification by faith is timeless. Just as righteousness was counted to Abraham, so it will be counted to us. What is the condition? It is for those who believe. Believe in what? Or rather, in whom? We believe in the same God Abraham believed in, but we know Him through His greatest act. We believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. The parallel is exact. Abraham believed in God who brings life from the dead womb. We believe in God who brings life from the dead tomb.

25 He who was delivered over on account of our transgressions, and was raised on account of our justification.

Paul concludes with a tightly packed, creed-like summary of the gospel. It explains the foundation upon which our faith rests. Jesus was delivered over, a term that points to His substitutionary suffering and death on the cross. This was not an accident; it was on account of our sins. Our transgressions were the legal reason for His execution. But that is only half the story. He was also raised from the dead. And this was on account of our justification. His resurrection is the divine receipt, the public declaration from the Father that the Son's sacrifice was accepted as full payment for our sins. If Jesus had remained in the grave, our debt would still be outstanding. But because He was raised, our justification is secured and demonstrated. His death paid the price; His resurrection proves the price was paid. It is upon this finished work that our faith, like Abraham's, must rest.

Application

The lesson of Abraham's faith is a sharp rebuke to much of what passes for faith in the modern church. Our faith is so often a fair-weather faith. We believe God as long as the circumstances are favorable and the odds are reasonable. But Abrahamic faith is forged in the crucible of impossibility. It is a faith for dead ends, for barren wombs and sealed tombs.

We must learn to look our impossibilities squarely in the eye, the deadness in our own hearts, the barrenness in our families or churches, the cultural decay that surrounds us, and not waver. We must not deny reality, but we must refuse to let reality have the last word. God has the last word. And His last word is resurrection. The same power that brought Isaac from Sarah's womb and Jesus from the grave is at work for us and in us. Our job is not to figure out how God will do it. Our job is to be fully assured that what He has promised, He is able also to perform. This kind of faith does not originate with us; it is a gift. But it is a gift that grows strong when we exercise it.

And let us never forget the purpose of it all. This faith is not a tool for getting what we want from God. It is the means by which we give glory to God. When we trust Him in the dark, when we believe His promise over our senses, we are declaring to a watching world that He is worthy of our trust. We are saying that His character is more real than our circumstances. And this faith is what unites us to Christ, who was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification. Our standing before God does not depend on the strength of our faith, but on the strength of its object: the risen Lord Jesus.