Abraham Did Not Waver
ABRAHAM DID NOT WAVER
ROMANS 4:17-21
What is true faith?
A papyrus scrap from Egypt once provided a vivid translation of the word variously rendered “substance” and “assurance” in Hebrews 11:1, which runs: “Now faith is the title-deeds to the things we hope for …”
Abraham had God’s word that he should have a vast posterity. Circumstances seemed to make such an event physically impossible. His trust was tested to the limit—and so he hoped when hope seemed against all probability (4:18). He believed that at the touch of God’s creative hand, the death which was creeping through his body could create life. Perhaps Paul has another “new creation” in mind, that of which he wrote to Ephesus (Ephesians 2:1,5).
Abraham weighed all these factors. His story shows his active consideration of such adverse circumstances. He must have been conscious of the tug of doubt. His mistake over Hagar reveals as much. He was tested and knew that he was being tested. But “no distrust made him waver …” (4:20). He conquered doubt, in other words, for that phrase does not claim that no qualms plagued his mind, keen in its intelligence. And in the victory gained, he strengthened his faith, the aim and purpose of such testing. It “gives glory to God” (4:20) to trust him in this way, and the reward is power infused into one’s faith—to the point where faith becomes something near to knowledge, a blessed paradox (2 Timothy 1:12).