NOTES for Rom 4:16-25

Abraham's faith involved risk, for against hope he believed in hope when everything around him spoke against hope. Faith should not be regarded as frivolous credulity, ready to follow any promise, or as stupidity that accepts whatever it is told. No, faith denies neither sobriety nor the lessons of bitter experience, and therefore it requires risk and courage.

Abraham's faith is a guide for his descendants, and not only for his descendants according to the flesh, but it cannot replace the faith of the generations that follow him. We should not point to the faith of ancestors who once made a choice for us; following Abraham, each of us must personally take the risk of faith amid circumstances that most often work against steadfastness in faith. It is not even a matter of persecution, for direct persecution on account of faith does not happen every day. But there is a constant danger of turning away from God by becoming mired in the everyday “sobriety” and “practicality” of the customs of “this age.” Sometimes it is not the sea that drowns us, but a puddle...