Romans 4:16-17 - Exposition

Therefore it is of faith, that it may be according to grace ( κατὰ χάριν , as in Romans 4:4 ); to the end the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the Law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all, (as it is written, A father of many nations have I made thee,) before him whom he believed, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth the things that are not as though they were. , Romans 4:16 introduces no new thought, being but a summing up of what has been said, except that, in Romans 4:17 , the text Genesis 17:5 is adduced in support of the extended sense in which "the seed of Abraham" has been understood. In Genesis 17:17 , too, the thought is introduced of how Abraham evinced his faith; and this with a view of showing it to have been in essence the same as the justifying faith of Christians.