Just finished Romans 4! Rom 4:20 “with reference to the promise of God” The reference to the divine promise at this point is vitally important. It makes it clear that the faith with which Paul is concerned is not belief in the impossibly simply b/c it is impossible…, but is wholly based on, and controlled by, the divine promise. It is the promise on which it rests which it its power. It exists b/c a man has been overpowered, held, and sustained by God’s promise. “he did not waver” For the use of wavered in the sense ‘be divided within oneself’, ‘waver’, ‘doubt’ the NT provides the earlist known examples of this usage. (Compare Rom 14:23, MT 21:21, Mk 11:23, Acts 10:20, James 1:6, 2:4, Jude 22.) ‘through unbelief” …unbelief denotes more than just the absence of faith: it denotes the active rejection of faith, the positive refusal to give credence to God’s offered promise. ‘but was strengthened in faith’ … ‘in faith’ strengthened [] refer[s] not to Abraham’s bodily strength but to the confirmation of his faith. Strengthened could mean ‘became strong’, and it is often so understood; but it seems rather more likely that it is intended to have its proper passive force – ‘was strengthened’, that is, by God. The juxtaposition of the negative statement not he didn’t waver though unbelief and the positive was strengthened in faith serves to bring out more clearly the true nature of faith by showing it in its opposition to, and its victory over, unbelief. In a situation in which everything seems to ranged against the promise, faith is a being enabled to rest on the promise alone refusing to demand visible or tangible signs and proofs. ‘having given glory to God’ A man gives glory to God when he acknowledges God’s truthfulness and goodness and submits to His authority. ‘…no greater honour can be given to God than by sealing His truth by our faith’ is Calvin’s comment. By embracing His promise and believing it faith does that which the of whom 1:21-23 speaks failed to do. #cranfieldcommentary #romans4
