Romans 4:17

As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Paul addresses the Roman church, arguing that Abraham's righteousness was credited by faith rather than law. This verse is the hinge where he cites Genesis 17:5 to show the promise extends to all nations.

The words — πατέρα (patera) appears without the article, marking "a father" as a functional designation rather than an inherent title. τέθεικά (tetheika), "I have made," is perfect tense: a completed act with a standing, abiding result.

The thread — The quotation is Genesis 17:4; the "calls into being what does not yet exist" clause echoes 1 Corinthians 1:28's "things that are not," and John 5:21's "the Father raises the dead and gives them life."

Why it lands — It places the reader's standing before God on the same mechanism that produced a child from barrenness: God's word creating what is not yet. No lineage, no merit, no visible evidence is required — only the kind of faith that believes against all hope.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

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

Cross-references

1 Corinthians 1:28 He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,
Genesis 17:4 “As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
John 5:21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes.
Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
1 Peter 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.
Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
John 5:25 Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
Romans 3:29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,