Therefore [it is] on the principle of faith, that [it might be] according to grace, in order to the promise being sure to all the seed, not to that only which [is] of the law, but to that also which [is] of Abraham's faith, who is father of us all,
Verse 16 is Paul's conclusion about God's whole method. Why did God tie His promise to faith instead of to performance, and how far does that promise reach?
Faith earns nothing. God chose faith as the principle so that the promise would rest on grace. Wages for work done would be a debt, not a gift.
"That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace." Had it been by works, it would have been a matter of debt and not grace, as verse 4 told us. On the principle of faith and grace the blessing is "guaranteed to all his offspring" — that is, Abraham's true spiritual offspring, in other words, true believers. For Abraham is "the father of us all." Note it: US all — ALL true believers.
A promise is only as reliable as the one who makes it. Sinai's covenant had two parties, and one of them broke down; promise has one.
Promise depended on God alone, and God gave it to Abraham long before the law. So it could not come through the law. It came through the righteousness of faith. The covenant of Sinai was the direct opposite of promise. There the blessing depended on man's obedience, and man failed completely to keep it. Man could fail under covenant, and so forfeit all claim on the ground of works; and he did fail. But God could not fail, therefore the promise still stands sure, to all who believe.
What does faith itself contribute? Nothing. That is exactly how Abraham received both his righteousness and his promise.
The promise stood completely apart from law or condition. It was God speaking out of His own abundant goodness — a covenant with only one party to it, and that One cannot fail... For what is faith but the confession of having and being nothing, so that we turn to God of necessity for all? Righteousness came to the man who knew he had none. The promise came to the man who could promise nothing himself.
The verse names two groups: people under the law, and people who believe as Abraham believed. Which principle decides who is included?
Faith stands opposed to works, and grace stands opposed to law. The God who gave the promise opens by His grace the one door of faith — and it is a wide door — to Gentiles just as much as to Jews. If law had been the principle, only Israel could have tried, and tried in vain. Israel boasted of having the law, yet was blind to their breaking of it and to their own greater exposure to wrath. But grace goes out to the Gentile just as much as to the Jew, who could hardly limit Abraham's fatherhood of "many nations" to his own people.
"All his offspring" is a wide phrase, and law would have narrowed it. Only faith is wide enough to hold every one of them.
None of Abraham's true seed is left out. Some would be, if the promise came on the principle of law. Faith is the only ground on which all the seed could be blessed. At the same time, this principle leaves them all depending on the grace of God as the only source of blessing.
Chapter 4 calls Abraham a father three times. Each time means something different. The third belongs to this verse.
So Abraham is the father of all who are counted righteous on the principle of faith (verse 11). He is the father of all the justified who walk in true separation to God (verse 12). And he is the father of all who inherit the promises by grace on the principle of faith (verse 16).
Faith is not a small work standing in for a big one. It rests on work already finished, like hearing that someone else has paid your debt.
By faith we receive all the promises in Christ. By faith we find everything done. It is only to believe... Your believing produces joy and gladness in your heart, no doubt. But of course it does nothing to pay off the debt. So it is with salvation. The debt is paid, Christ has finished the work, and the believing soul enters into all the blessed results... None of the glory goes to man. It is a person depending on the truth of God.
- Sure — because of grace. Faith is God's chosen principle so that blessing comes as grace, not as wages owed for work.
- Sure — because of one party. Sinai depended on two parties and man failed; promise depends on God alone, who cannot fail.
- Sure — for all the seed. Only Israel could have attempted the law. Faith opens a wide door to Jew and Gentile alike, and leaves out none of the true seed.
- Sure — through one father. Abraham is father of three groups: those counted righteous by faith, the justified who walk separated to God, and all who inherit the promises by grace.
- Sure — and nothing added by us. Faith confesses having and being nothing; it receives a finished work, and no glory goes to the creature.
(according as it is written, I have made thee father of many nations,) before the God whom he believed, who quickens the dead, and calls the things which be not as being;
Paul reaches back to Genesis to show the God Abraham trusted. God promised him a vast family, and He spoke of it in the past tense before one child existed. Two things stand at the centre of the verse: a fatherhood wider than one nation, and a God whose power reaches into death and into nothing at all.
God told Abraham "I have made you" while he was still childless. One writer answers what that past tense means:
"Have made," when Abraham had no children — what did that mean? It was God who spoke and wrote it, and all was according to His settled counsel, and plan, and promise.
That leaves faith with only one thing to stand on, and it is enough:
People around Abraham might jeer at him for his readiness to believe. But Abraham knew the ground he was standing on, and took God at His word. The decree of God's word is sure ground for faith to rest on. Abraham looked away from himself and his circumstances to God, to His power and His truthfulness.
Why does the promise reach "many nations"? The answer lies in the principle it runs on:
Faith stands against works, and grace stands against law. The God who gave the promise gives grace, and grace opens the one wide door of faith to Gentiles as much as to Jews. If law had been the principle, only Israel could have made an effort, and even that effort would have been useless. Israel boasted of having the law, but was blind to breaking it and to its own greater exposure to wrath. But grace goes out to the Gentile as much as to the Jew — and the Jew could not limit Abraham's fatherhood of "many nations" to his own people.
Genesis ties Abraham's standing before God to what he believed about God:
"And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness." God credits righteousness to Abraham here because he believed in the Lord as the One who gives life to the dead. This is the character in which He reveals Himself in a world where death reigns. When a soul believes in Him as such, God counts that soul righteous. This shuts man out of any co-operation, for what can he do in a scene of death? Can he raise the dead? Can he open the gates of the grave?
The obstacle was real:
God had justified Abraham, separated him from the world, and given him the promise of a glorious inheritance. Yet in reality, death stood between the justified Abraham and the inheritance of glory.
The second phrase goes further than the first: God can speak of what has no being at all. One commentator reads this as the point where God's power enters the argument:
When Abraham received the promise, he was as good as dead. The God in whom he believed is above human failure and weakness... Now power comes in — God's power. He does not deal with man according to any good or capacity in him. He is the God who raises the dead, and by that power He calls things that are not as though they were. He can make them to be as He calls them. This applies to Abraham's case, to the Gentiles, and, as to the nature of the power, to Christ's resurrection.
Believers walk in Abraham's steps, but they look back at what Abraham looked forward to:
Abraham believed God before he had the son. He was completely sure that God could do what He had promised, and so God counted it to him as righteousness. But we believe on Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. It is done already. Here it is not believing on Jesus, but believing on God. He has proved what He is to us by raising from the dead the One who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
God speaks of what is not yet as though it were finished, and that steadies the believer about the future:
He "calls into existence the things that do not exist." He chooses "things that are not." Things which do not exist for us, exist for Him. We are glorified in the purpose of God. The thing is as good as done, for His purpose is never overturned by any hostile power.
- Word first. God said "I have made you" while Abraham was childless. The promise came out of His settled purpose, so faith rests on His word, not on what it can see.
- Death no barrier. God credited righteousness to Abraham for believing in Him as the One who gives life to the dead. That power leaves no room for any human help.
- Nothing no barrier. He also calls what has no being into being. So the promise rests on His power, not on man's capacity.
- Nations included. The basis is grace and faith, not law. So "many nations" cannot mean Israel alone, and the door stands open to all who believe.
- Proof supplied. Abraham believed before the son was born. Believers now look back at the risen Christ, and in God's purpose they are already glorified.