Characteristics of Faith – Romans 4:17-25

Bethel Baptist Church – David Rising

Romans 4:17-25; August 16, 2026 Sunday AM

Characteristics of Faith

We are looking today at the last verses of Romans 4, verses 17-25. Since we started Romans 4, the focus of Paul’s teaching has been Abraham. Father Abraham is being described so that we can understand this idea of justification – to be declared righteous before God.

Paul argues that Abraham was not justified by works, but rather by faith. Paul quotes Moses in Genesis 15:6 and states: “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted / credited to him for righteousness” (4:3). The example of Paul is applied to the present in verse 5:

But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted / credited for righteousness”

All who believe are justified. To believe is to have faith.

We were reminded last week that the blessings of God’s promise to Abraham come to us not by works but by faith so that it might be according to grace.

16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

God’s promise extends to you and me by grace through faith. God grants us something we did not earn, and we receive it by simply believing.

Since Paul has spoken several times about faith and believing, it is only fitting that he spends these final verses of chapter 4 to explain what faith is and does. That will be our focus today – six characteristics of faith. Pray.

In James 2 we are taught that there are two kinds of faith: (1) faith with no works, and (2) faith with works.

James illustrates faith with no works by saying that is the kind of faith demons have: they believe there is one God, but of course they are not going to be saved. This kind of faith is also illustrated with the person who sees someone in need but does nothing about it.

Faith with works is illustrated by Abraham who believed God’s promise and then did something about it: he offered Isaac his son on the altar right before God told him to stop. James also illustrates faith with works by citing Rahab who protected the Israelites who came to spy on Jericho.

Paul is describing this second kind of faith – faith with works – and so let’s look at our verses in Romans 4 and see these six characteristics of faith:

Faith …

1. Focuses Upon God (4:17)

17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

Abraham believed God. He had faith in God. He did not simply have faith in faith. He trusted Someone. Our faith is only as good as the object of our faith.

God spoke to Abram. He told him to leave his family, his homeland, and that he would be the father of many nations.

God revealed Himself to Abram, assuring him that he should not be afraid, that He would be his shield, his exceedingly great reward (15:1). He assured Abram that He was trustworthy and would take care and protect him.

The LORD told Abram that from his own body would come an heir – a child that would also reproduce and as a result Abram would have many offspring who would one day reclaim the world that has been lost by sin.

Those descendants would include both Jew and Gentile – those who also believe. In time, of course, the special focus of that promise was none other than the person of Jesus Christ. Those who are Christ’s are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise, Galatians 3:29.

Faith focuses upon God.

Notice in verse 17 two ways how Paul describes this God whom Abraham believed:

a. God gives life to the dead.

Who else can do this? Who else can raise the dead? No one. Magicians and con artists may claim to raise the dead, but only God can give new life.

This reference to giving life to the dead certainly has a primary reference to the resurrection of Jesus Christ – the special focus of faith.

Romans begins by declaring that the gospel of God is all about Jesus, born of the seed of David, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. At the end of chapter 4 Paul also mentions the resurrection of Christ.

This reference to giving life to the dead could also refer to the spiritual life that we receive through Christ. Scripture is clear that we are born sinners who are spiritually dead. Ephesians 2. This is the result of being of the family of Adam. We will see that explained in chapter 5.

Only God can give new life to an individual. This is what Jesus made clear to Nicodemus in John 3 – unless one is born again – from above – regenerated – he cannot see the kingdom of God.

We can trust God – the God of the Bible – because it is recorded over and over that He is the God who gives life to the dead. He proved that by raising His Son, and He proves it over and over when He calls to Himself a lost sinner and grants to them new life through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

This reference to giving life to the dead may also refer to what follows in this chapter concerning Abraham and Sarah’s age and their ability to have children at their age.

Notice in verse 17 a second way Paul describes God:

b. God calls those things which do not exist as though they did. This can certainly refer to the Creation of the world, and that certainly could fit here. God did create the world out of nothing. The beginning chapter of the first book of the bible says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. There was a time when there was nothing, and then God spoke, and then there was something.

Paul’s reference could be creation, but it seems best as a reference to Abraham and the promise that He received from God. God told him about something that did not yet exist – that he would be the father of many descendants, the father of many nations.

Abram could have scratched his head and doubted and casted it all aside. How could this be true? At that point, he and Sarai did not have any children, so how could that all come true?

But Abram did not doubt. He believed that God’s promise was true. God spoke about the future as it if had already occurred, and Abraham believed.

This is the God of Abraham, and this is the God in whom we can also trust. What God has done is true. What God will do is equally true, even though it has not yet taken place in time and space.

This point here is not for us to think that trusting God will result in us getting whatever we want. It is not that we trust Him to do anything, though of course He can do anything He wants.

The focus here I believe is trusting a God who makes claims, and we believe what He says. The focus of Romans is to explain how a person can be made right with God. You and I need to be saved from our sin, and the only way we can be saved is to have faith in God – believe what He says is true, believe what He promises is true.

Remember, Paul stood tall and was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. It is truly amazing to see the power of God work in our lives, to see God change us, change our desires, give us purpose, answer our prayers, give us a hope that does not fade away.

Faith trusts God, is focused upon God – a God who gives life to the dead, and a God who calls those things which do not exist as though they did.

Second, faith is …

2. Confident About the Future (4:18)

18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”

When God first spoke to Abram and Sarai, there was no hope. They could not have children. Everything they tried failed. Couples who seek to have children but fail to do so understand that frustration. It can seem hopeless.

Against hope – against Sarai’s barrenness – they believed what God said. God said they would have a child, and that gave them great hope.

They believed what God said.

God eventually changed Abram’s name to Abraham and made it abundantly clear that he would become the father of many nations. That meant children!

Notice the last phrase of verse 18 – ‘according to what was spoken, and then the quote from Genesis 15:5, ‘so shall your descendants be.’

Faith in God is responding with trust to what He said.

This is precisely what we see in Abraham. God said it and he believed it.

A third characteristic of faith is that it …

3. Does Not Focus On “Our” Impossible (4:19)

19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

This verse is translated in slightly different ways due to a textual issue, but the point comes across the same. One translation (ESV) has it like this: “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.”

Abraham did not weaken in faith when he thought about his and Sarah’s age. It is absurd and ridiculous to think of having a child at 90 and 100 years of age!

That was Abraham and Sarah’s “impossible” situation.

Faith does not keep focusing on that!

We could read Paul here and think he has glossed over some of the events that took place in their story. Abraham and Sarah were not perfect examples of faith when we examine all the stories.

We have Hagar and Ishmael. We have some lying about Sarah as Abraham’s sister (leaving out the fact that he was her husband!).

In Genesis 18 the LORD appeared to Abraham and Sarah and confirmed that He would keep His promise. Yes, Abraham, your wife will have a son – your son – this son of promise.

Genesis 18:11 says “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.” To God’s promise, Sarah laughs and the LORD responded by asking Abraham why she laughed.

Of course the LORD knew, but it was the segway to what we see in Genesis 18:14: “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

What a great question: is anything too hard for the LORD?

Can He keep His own promises?

Faith does not focus upon our impossible situation. Rather, it focuses upon the God of the impossible, who makes promises and keeps them.

This is another way of stating that faith is not based upon what we can accept based upon our eyes and reasoning.

If we limit God to what we can see and figure out, we will have very weak faith and probably be miserable.

We can be tempted to think that this ancient book, the bible, is ignorant of my particular situation. It is not up to date with today’s problems, so surely it can’t be of much help. Perhaps for the kids it is help, but not for adult problems in 2026.

That kind of thinking leads to an unstable life.

This is why I enjoy the bible so much because it actually does record the day-to-day living of God’s people. So much of scripture is not particularly flattering for God’s people, but through it all we see a God who is faithful and keeps His word.

Did God keep His word with Abraham and Sarah?

Absolutely. He will keep His promises.

Rather than focusing on our impossible situation, focus on the God who can do what seems impossible.

A fourth and related characteristic of faith is that it …

4. Does Not Waver in Unbelief (4:20a)

20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,

The first part of verse 20 tells us about Abraham’s faith. Abraham did not waver through unbelief. KJV has ‘he staggered not.’

What does it mean to waver?

The word () means to doubt, to become unstable, unreliable, to wobble.

The original word in its root meaning is related to the idea of judging something; that is, in a negative sense, to pick apart, to take issue with, to dispute.

Sometimes we can try to be too smart for what God says, seeking to pick it apart, ending up with our own logic.

Abraham and Sarah appear to have done that in part when Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to have a child. Genesis 16 explains that.

However, it is interesting that their imperfections are not what Paul shows in his references here.

God does not operate according to human logic and common sense. Wavering in our faith is destructive.

James speaks about asking God for wisdom in the midst of trials:

James 1:5–8 (NKJV) 5 If any of you lacks wisdom [particularly here in the context of trials], let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Doubting God leads to instability and unbelief.

Consider, for instance, the first family and their problem with believing what God had said. Satan cast doubt upon God’s words – “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

Where did that doubt lead? To unbelief and sin. The more we listen to voices contrary to God’s voice, the more we will waver and become weak in faith, not giving God glory.

Paul said instead of wavering Abraham was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

This leads us to a fifth description of faith. Faith …

5. Exalts God and His Word (4:20b)

Faith exalts God and His Word.

This is a companion point to the first: that faith focuses upon God.

Abraham did not let his own voice of doubt cloud his mind. Though he stumbled, yes, the summary of his faith here shows he did not waver and exalted God and His Word.

The text says that Abraham was strengthened in faith. How did this happen? God kept telling Him the promise. God kept appearing to Him, reminding him of the promise and how it would actually take place.

This strengthened his faith, and Abraham’s response was to give glory to God.

When we grant God’s words the supreme place in our lives, this brings glory to God and not us nor our issues.

When we gather on the Lord’s Day, our faith is strengthened as we hear the Word and exercise our faith together.

If our faith is weak and growing weaker, it is very likely that we are feasting on a diet of our own ideas and problems.

When we focus on our problems, exalting them by talking about them constantly, we are giving glory to our problems and ourselves.

Schreiner notes:

“… the fundamental sin of human beings is the failure to give glory to God (Rom. 1:21–23), the worship of the creature rather than the Creator … By contrast, faith glorifies God because it acknowledges that life must be lived in complete dependence on him … The supreme way to worship God is not to work for him (4:4–5) but to trust that he will fulfill his promises … “To disavow the credibility of God is to refuse him the honor that the individual owes him.”[1]

[1] Schreiner, T. R. (1998). Vol. 6: Romans. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (238). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

In verse 21 we have a sixth description of faith, and it is similar to our third point. Faith is …

6. Convinced God Can and Will Keep His Promises (4:21-22)

21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

This sixth point encapsulates the essence of faith.

Abraham did not waver in unbelief. He grew strong in faith. He gave God glory and he stood on his conviction that God could and would keep the promise that He made.

KJV says he was fully persuaded. He came to a position and he kept it. He trusted God to be able to do what He had said.

The strength of Abraham’s faith was not some internal fortitude. Rather, it was the object of His faith: God and His promises.

We hear people make promises all the time, particularly in the political realm. How many of those people keep their promises? Over time, where does that lead? We distrust them.

Paul will tell us in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

For me that is a simple formula: I need to hear God’s word more.

Faith trusts a God who makes promises and trusts that God will keep those promises.

What, then, was the result of Abraham’s faith? Verse 22:

22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

This draws us back to the same quote in verse 3 when Paul began to illustrate with Abraham the point he made in 3:28 – that we are justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted/counted for righteousness” (4:5).

Application

Paul spells out our application:

23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

1. This message is for us! Paul makes it clear that the story of Abraham, of David, was not just for those who read it long ago. The message, tied now with the person and work of Christ, is a message for us. It was for them, but it is also for us.

God’s righteousness is imputed, credited, to our account, upon the basis of faith – the kind of faith we have been explaining here in verses 17-22 –

a faith that

(1) focuses upon God – the God who gives life to the dead, who calls those things which do not exist as though they did,

(2) is confident about the future – that in time, God will bring to pass what He has said.

(3) does not focus on “our” impossible – our human logic and eyes do not give the final blessing about what is truth according to God’s Word.

(4) does not waver in unbelief. Rather,

(5) exalts God and His Word and thus our faith is strengthened and we give God glory.

As a result, we (6) are convinced that God can and will keep His promises.

2. Believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ. Paul makes his case for the work of Christ again here by giving the summary of what God the Father did through Christ Jesus: He raised Him from the dead – the One who died on the cross because of our sin – our offenses.