Romans 4.17b-Abraham Believed in God Who Gives Life to the Dead and Commands the Non-Existent to Exist
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday February 14, 2008
Romans: Romans 4:17b-Abraham Believed in God Who Gives Life to the Dead and Commands the Non-Existent to Exist
Lesson # 131
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 4:13.
This evening we will complete the fifth section of Romans chapter four that appears in Romans 4:13-17, which teaches that the Lord’s promises to Abraham that he would be heir of the world preceded the giving of the Law.
Paul teaches in Romans 4:13 that the promises of the Abrahamic covenant were received by Abraham through faith and not by obeying the Law.
These promises collectively imply that Abraham would inherit the earth and those who like him exercise faith in the Lord.
In Romans 4:14, Paul teaches us that if the inheritance was based upon obedience to the Law, then faith is useless and the promise of inheriting the earth is meaningless.
Then, in Romans 4:15, he teaches that the purpose of the Law was to bring about wrath but where there is no law, there is no violation.
Romans 4:16a reveals that the promise of inheriting the earth can only, be received by means of faith in order that it might be fulfilled in accordance with God’s grace policy.
Romans 4:16b says that the promise of inheriting the world is guaranteed to both Jewish and Gentile believers who are spiritual descendants of Abraham.
In Romans 4:17a, Paul quotes Genesis 17:5, which teaches that God appointed Abraham to be the father of many nations.
This evening we will study Romans 4:17b, which teaches that Abraham believed in the Son of God who gives life to the dead and commands the non-existent to exist.
Romans 4:13, “For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.”
Romans 4:14, “For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified.”
Romans 4:15, “for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.”
Romans 4:16, “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”
Romans 4:17, “(as it is written, ‘A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU’) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.”
Corrected translation of Romans 4:17:
Romans 4:17, “(Just as it stands written for all of eternity, ‘I have appointed you to be the spiritual father of many nations.’) He is, as an eternal spiritual truth, the spiritual father of each and every one of us in the determination of God whom (God) he (Abraham) had absolute confidence in, the One who, as an eternal spiritual truth, gives life to the dead ones and in addition, as an eternal spiritual truth, commands the non-existent to exist.”
The statement “(as it is written, ‘A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU’).” is a parenthesis as identified by the New American Standard Updated Version.
“In the presence of” is the improper preposition katenanti (katevnanti) (kat-en-an-tee), which is connected to the relative pronoun clause that appears at the end of Romans 4:16, hos estin pater panton hemon, “who is the father of us all.”
This would indicate that the statement in Romans 4:17a, kathos gegraptai `hoti patera pollon ethnon tetheika se, “(as it is written, ‘A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU’)” is a parenthesis.
The New American Standard Updated Version accounts for this by placing this statement in a parenthesis and we have done the same.
The improper preposition katenanti marks a participant whose viewpoint is relevant to an event.
Therefore, the word marks the Son of God as a participant whose viewpoint is relevant to the fact that Abraham is the spiritual father of both Jewish and Gentile believers since it was He who appointed Abraham to be the spiritual father of both Jewish and Gentile believers.
In this passage, katenanti means, “in the determination of” since the Son of God sovereignly determined along with the Holy Spirit and the Father that Abraham would be the progenitor of many nations.
Therefore, if we connect Romans 4:16b with Romans 4:17b and take into account the meaning of katenanti, Paul is saying that “Abraham is the spiritual father of each and every one of us in the determination of God who (Abraham) believed.”
Therefore, we can see that Paul is using once again the figure of ellipsis.
This means that before the prepositional phrase katenanti hou, “in the presence of Him” and after the quotation from Genesis 17:5, Paul leaves out estin pater panton hemon, “He is the father of us all,” which appears at the end of Romans 4:16.
Romans 4:17, “(as it is written, ‘A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU’) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.”
“Even God” is the noun theos (qeov$), which refers to the Son of God since He is that member of the Trinity who appeared in a theophany to Abraham.
The Son of God represented the Trinity before men and was the member of the Trinity who made the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the nation of Israel.
“He believed” is the verb pisteuo (pisteuvw), which refers to Abraham’s non-meritorious decision to “place his absolute confidence in” in the Lord to deliver on His promise to give him not only an heir from his own body but also innumerable descendants.
Abrahams’ faith in the Son of God to deliver on His promise that He would make Abraham a father of many nations even though Abraham was childless at the time appropriated the omnipotence of God.
“Who gives life to the dead” refers to the Son of God’s omnipotence, which is able to give life to the dead.
Now, there are at least eight different categories of death in the Scriptures.
(1) Spiritual death is the imputation of Adam’s sin to our genetically formed old sin nature at the moment of physical birth resulting in spiritual death or the total inability to have a relationship with God in time (Gen. 2:17; Prov. 14:12; Ezek. 18:20; Rom. 5:12; 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:22; Eph. 2:1, 5).
God gives life to those members of the human race involved in real spiritual death in the sense that He gives eternal life to those who are spiritually dead through faith alone in Christ alone (John 3:16-18).
(2) Physical death is the separation of the human soul (and in the case of the believer, the human spirit also) from the body (Matt. 8:22; Rom. 8:38-39; 2 Cor. 5:1-8; Phil. 1:20-21; 2:27, 30).
God gives life to the physically dead in the sense that He raises people from physical death and gives them a resurrection body (1 Corinthians 15).
(3) Second death is the perpetuation of spiritual death into eternity or eternal separation from God and it is the final judgment of the unbelievers in the human race and fallen angels whereby they are cast in the Lake of Fire (Matt. 25:41; Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:12-15).
There is no chance for these individuals to receive eternal life from God since they have rejected Jesus Christ as Savior.
(4) Positional death is part of the Baptism of the Spirit, which identifies all believers with Christ in His death on the Cross and specifically with His rejection of human good and evil (Rom. 6:3-4; Col. 2:12; 3:3).
God gives life to the positionally dead here in the sense that He identifies believers with Jesus Christ in His resurrection.
(5) Operational death is failure to produce divine good on the part of the reversionistic believer under the influence of evil (James 2:26; 1 Tim. 5:6; Eph. 5:14; Rev. 3:1).
God gives life to the dead here in the sense that the believer can be restored to fellowship through the confession of sin (1 John 1:9) and has the capacity while in fellowship to produce divine good by obeying the voice of the Spirit, which is heard through the communication of the Word of God.
(6) Temporal death is the status of carnality or the believer out of fellowship through personal sin (Rom. 8:6, 13; Eph. 5:14; 1 Tim. 5:6; James 1:15; Luke 15:24).
God gives life to those believers involved in temporal death through the confession of sin (1 John 1:9), which restores them to fellowship with God and enables them to experience eternal life.
(7) Sexual death is the inability to copulate (Rom. 4:17-21; Heb. 11:11-12).
God gives life to the sexually dead in that He gives the ability to have sex and procreate as in the case of Abraham and Sarah.
(8) Unique voluntary substitutionary spiritual death of the impeccable humanity of Christ in hypostatic union on the cross (Matt. 27:45-46; Mark 15:34; Phlp. 2:8; Hb. 2:9, 14).
Romans 4:17, “(as it is written, ‘A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU’) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.”
“Calls into being that which does not exist” refers to the creative activity of the Son of God, which He demonstrates by commanding things to exist that did not have an existence prior to His command.
Therefore, in Romans 4:17b, Paul teaches us that Abraham appropriated the omnipotence of God by means of his faith in the Son of God in order that he might become the progenitor of many nations.
Abraham trusted in the Son of God because he knew that the Word of the Son of God was omnipotent and gave life to the dead and commands the non-existent to exist.
Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
John 1:1-4, “In eternity past the Word has always existed and the Word has always existed face to face with the God (the Father) and the Word has always existed as God. He was in eternity past face to face with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”
John 1:10, “He (the Word, God the Son) was in the world (the Word became a human being), and the world was made through Him (the Lord Jesus Christ who is God the Son), and the world did not know Him."
Psalm 33:6, “By the word of the Lord the heavens and the earth were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host (angels, the galaxies, human beings, animals, fish, etc.).”
In Matthew 17:20, the Lord Jesus Christ taught His disciples that faith in prayer appropriates the omnipotence of God whereas unbelief does not.
Matthew 17:20, “And He said to them, ‘Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.’”
Faith in the Lord permits the Lord to due what is humanly impossible.
Luke 1:37, “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Jeremiah 32:27, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?”