Charles Ellicott Commentary Romans 4:17

"(as it is written, A father of many nations have I made thee) before him whom he believed, [even] God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were." — Romans 4:17 (ASV)

Before him.—Rather, in the presence of. These words are to be connected closely with those which precede the parenthesis: “Who stands as the father of us all in the presence of that God in whom he believed.” Abraham is regarded as (so to speak) confronting the Almighty, as he had done when the promise was first given to him.

Who quickeneth.—“Who gives life to that which is dead, and issues His fiat to that which is not as though it were.” The words have reference, in the first instance, to the dealings of God with Abraham, described in the verses that follow—(1) to the overruling of the laws of nature indicated in Romans 4:19; (2) to the declaration, “So shall thy seed be.” There is, however, also an undercurrent of reference to the calling of the Gentiles: “I will call them My people which were not My people, and her beloved which was not beloved.”

On verses 14-17

This Messianic kingdom cannot have anything to do with law, for if it did, faith and the promise would no longer have any function. Faith and law cannot coexist; they are the opposites of each other.

The proper effect of law is punishment, because law only exposes sin. Faith, on the other hand, is the real key to the inheritance. It sets grace in motion, and grace, unlike law, excludes no one.

It is open alike to the legal and the spiritual descendants of Abraham—in other words (as the Scripture itself testifies), to all humankind, as the representative of whom Abraham stands before God.