Romans 4:18

18 Who against hope believed with hope, that he should become the father of many nations; according to that which was 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 Therefore [it is] of faith, that [it might be] by grace; to the end the promise might 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 us all;

17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations) before him whom he believed, [even] God, who reviveth the dead, and calleth those things which are not, as though they were.

18 Who against hope believed with hope, that he should become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.

20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;