Romans 4:18

18 Who, against hope in hope did believe, for his becoming father of many nations according to that spoken: `So shall thy seed be;'

Romans 4:18 Meaning and Commentary

Romans 4:18

Who against hope believed in hope
Abraham believed the promise of God,

that he might become the father of many nations,
being assisted by a supernatural aid: "in hope"; of the fulfilment of it by the grace and power of God: "against hope": against all visible, rational grounds of hope; Sarah's womb and his own body being dead, but inasmuch as God had said it, he believed:

according to that which is spoken, so shall thy seed be;
his faith rested upon the word of God, which showed the nature of it, and that it was of the right kind.

Romans 4:18 In-Context

16 Because of this [it is] of faith, that [it may be] according to grace, for the promise being sure to all the seed, not to that which [is] of the law only, but also to that which [is] of the faith of Abraham,

17 who is father of us all (according as it hath been written -- `A father of many nations I have set thee,') before Him whom he did believe -- God, who is quickening the dead, and is calling the things that be not as being.

18 Who, against hope in hope did believe, for his becoming father of many nations according to that spoken: `So shall thy seed be;'

19 and not having been weak in the faith, he did not consider his own body, already become dead, (being about a hundred years old,) and the deadness of Sarah's womb,

20 and at the promise of God did not stagger in unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, having given glory to God,