Romans 4:18

18 Who against hope believed in hope; that he might be made the father of many nations, according to that which was said to him: 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 Therefore is it of faith, that according to grace the promise might be firm 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 us all,

17 (As it is written: I have made thee a father of many nations), before God, whom he believed: who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things that are not, as those that are.

18 Who against hope believed in hope; that he might be made the father of many nations, according to that which was said to him: So shall thy seed be.

19 And he was not weak in faith. Neither did he consider his own body, now dead (whereas he was almost an hundred years old), nor the dead womb of Sara.

20 In the promise also of God he staggered not by distrust: but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God: