The passage
      v17b. A faith like Abraham's is a faith that believes in a life-giving God.
      v18. God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations: as the stars of the heavens "so shall your offspring be." Everything shouted to Abraham, his mind, body, wife, friends, nature itself, that he was impotent and yet in the midst of all these doubts and fears Abraham took God at his word; he trusted the revealed Word of God. For Abraham, if God says it, God will do it; such is faith.
      v19-20. Abraham was impotent and his wife Sarah was past children-bearing. Still, Abraham "in hope believed" God's promise, though it seemed impossible. He held onto the promises of God against all odds. His tenacious faith in God's promise strengthened him and served as the instrument of God's grace and thus, God's glory. Abraham's faith served as a channel of God's will.
      v21. Abraham's response to the Word of God rested on his conviction that God is both willing and able to "do what he promised."
      v22. In chapter 4:2-25, Paul expounds Genesis 15:6: "and Abraham believed God and it was reckoned (credited) to him for righteousness". Up to this point in our passage Paul has defined the nature of Abraham's faith in the terms of a reliance on the revealed Word of God. Paul now points out that this reliance on God's word serves the same function as perfect obedience. Abraham's faith therefore served to access right-standing before God such that it was "credited" to him, he was judged in the right with God, not by works of the law, but through faith.
      v23-24. Paul states that the story of Abraham's faith is not just recorded as a testimony to Abraham, but is there for us. It serves to remind us that we too can have righteousness "credited" to us through faith. The living God who raised Christ to life is well able to give life to us. He has promised us, in Christ, eternal life. If we take God at his word, have faith, then that faith will count as perfect obedience and we will stand eternally right, eternally approved, before God.
      v25. This verse alludes to the Servant Song, Isaiah 52:13-53:12. The idea is that the Servant of God, namely, Jesus, served as a representative people of God. Jesus suffered on behalf of his people, was ultimately victorious and therefore could justify many. It is a formula-like statement and might have had common usage in Pauline circles. Although both Christ's death and resurrection achieve our justification, the emphasis is on the resurrection of Christ. Christ's atoning death was "for" (on account of) our rebellion against God. His death was substitutionary, taking our punishment, and thus, our guilt before God. Christ's resurrection was "for" (in order to bring about) our right-standing before God. The resurrection of Christ, his enlivening, proclaimed his perfection and was thus, a declaration of his righteousness before God for a life lived in obedience to God. In identifying with Christ in his death we die with him, our corruption is hid in him and we stand acquitted. In identifying in his resurrection, ascension and eternal reign, we share in his glorification, eternally right with God, holy before him.

Abraham's faith
      Faith is the crucial element in the Christian life. With it we move mountains; without it we are lost. Consider what we learn from Abraham's faith:
        The object of Abraham's faith was God's promise, v18
        The strength of Abraham's life rested in his faith in that he believed God's promise, though it seemed impossible, v19,20.
        The ground of his faith was the ability and faithfulness of God to do what he promised, v21.
        The result of his faith was that he was judged right with God, v22.
        The record of his faith was given to teach us that all who believe in the revealed will of God, like Abraham, are counted right before God (justified), v23-25.

      What does God demand of us? Jesus often answered the question in much the same way as it gets answered today. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and your neighbor as yourself." Of course, when Jesus ran the law answer it was not so that people would go out and be loving, but rather that they would recognize that they aren't loving. Jesus constantly used the law to undermine self-righteousness. How then can a person stand right before God? John reminds us, "this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ..." 1 John 3:23. All that God demands of us is that we rely (believe, have faith, trust) on his promises given us in Jesus Christ. Jesus has risen from the dead and he promises his resurrection life to us for the asking. Rely on this truth and we will live, and this because God counts our faith as righteousness before him. A person who stands acquitted before God will live eternally.

17a
      Abraham is the perfect example of someone who lives by faith. He put his trust in a God who acts on his word; "who quickens the dead and calls into being the things which do not exist", Barrett. Obviously alluding to the covenant promise made to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, of a people unto God. Against all odds, Sarah being beyond child birth, Abraham believed God's promise and this faith-stance was credited to him as righteousness. Such is the nature of a faith that accesses right-standing in the sight of God apart from submission to the law, as opposed to a "breezy optimism or ... denial of external reality", Schreiner re. Moxnes.
      ou| gen. pers. pro. "in whom" - who. Genitive due to attraction, but properly dative. "In the presence of God, in whom he believed, the one who ......... against all hope, Abraham believed and so ..." There is difficulty in relating this sentence with the proceeding quote, 17a, but it is more than likely that the quote concludes the previous section.
      tou zwopoiountoV (zwopoiew) pres. part. "who gives life" - [God] the one giving life. Participle as a substantive. The present tense is durative, not punctiliar, such that God's life-giving act extends beyond giving life to Sarah's womb. He is a God who raises a people, to himself, from sin and death.
      kalountoV (kalew) "calls" - the one calling. Participle as a substantive.
      ta mh onta (eimi) "things that are not" - the things not being. The participle as a substantive.
      wJV "as [though they were]" - as. Both Barrett and Cranfield suggest that this construction, used instead of an infinitive, probably serves to introduce a consecutive clause, "so that / with the result that" - he speaks so that it is. "God called what did not exist so that it came into existence", Schreiner.

v18
      par elpida ep elpidi (iV ewV) "against all hope [Abraham] in hope [believed]" - beyond hope in hope. The phrase is a difficult one. As Barrett puts, we have two hopes here. The "beyond hope" = "human hope's uttermost limit has already been reached and passed", Cranfield, is set aside by Abraham, who then "on the basis of hope" [in God] believes, = "Abraham still relied in hope on the promise of God", Calvin.
      eiV to + inf. "and so [became]" - This construction usually forms a purpose clause, although consecutive seems more likely here, "and so as a result became the father .....", cf. Lagrange.
      to eirhmenon (legw) perf. pas. part. "had been said" - the thing having been said/spoken. Participle as a substantive. "God promised", CEV.

v19
      mh asqenhsaV (asqenew) pres. part. "without weakening" - not having weakened. The negation here should properly be ou, but mh is often used with participles, cf. Moule. The participle is adverbial, probably causal, "because", or concessive, "although", cf. TNT. Here, "without becoming weak". Abraham, "without growing weak in faith", Weymouth.
      katenohsen (katanoew) aor. "he faced the fact" - he considered, understood, discerned. Variant negation of the verb exists producing the translation "he was so strong in faith that he did not consider ....", Metzger.
      hdh "as good as [dead]" - already. "Now", AV; "permanently", Wuest. Variant reading, possibly added, but more likely accidentally dropped. "Abraham was of the opinion that he was impotent, but none the less ....."
      nenekrwmenon (nekrow) perf. pas. part. "dead" - having been dead. The participle forms a dependent statement of perception, "he discerned that his body was already dead." Perfect tense expressing a completed, but ongoing state, "his own impotence", Phillips.
      uJparkwn (uJparkw) pres. part. "since he was" - possessing. The participle, forming a participle phrase denoting Abraham's age, adverbial, probably causal, "because", as NIV.
      thn nekrwsin (iV ewV) "[Sarah's womb] was [also] dead" - "Worn out", BAGD.

v20
      de "yet" - but, and. Here adversative, as NIV.
      ou diekriqh (diakrinw) aor. "he did not waver" - divide. "divide" and therefore "divided of the mind", "wavering, unable to hold one position". "Stagger at", Weymouth
      th/ pistei (iV ewV) dat. "through unbelief" - in/by unbelief. The dative is probably instrumental, "dative of cause", Turner. "No lack of faith made him waver", Cassirer.
      eiV "regarding [the promise]" - to, into. Here taking the special sense, "with respect to", BAGD.
      enedunamwqh (endunamow) aor. pas. "was strengthened" - was empowered. Divine passive; God does the strengthening. When all seemed lost Abraham's faith served to strengthen him (note, Abraham is strengthened through his faith; it was not his faith that was strengthened). "His faith made him strong", CEV.
      douV (didwmi) aor. part. "and gave" - giving. Attendant circumstance participle identifying action accompanying the verb "was strengthened", as NIV.

v21
      plhroforhqeiV (plhroforew) aor. pas. part. "fully persuaded" - having been fully persuaded, convinced. The participle is probably adverbial, causal, "Abraham was strengthened by his faith and gave glory to God because he was persuaded that ..." Abraham was fully convinced that God could and would do as he promised, although, as with all of us, the doubts were there, but he set them aside. "In the firm conviction of His power to do what he had promised", NEB.
      oJti "that" - Introducing a dependent statement, what Abraham was convinced about.
      poihsai (poiew) aor. inf. "to do" - [he is able also] to do. The infinitive is complementary, completing the sense of the verb "is able."
      ephggeltai (epaggellw) perf. "[what] he had promised" - he has promised. The perfect tense underlined the past giving of the promise and its ongoing validity.

v22
      dio kai "this is why" - wherefore also. The "also" is a variant, but if read means: [therefore] "the inference is self evident", BAGD.
      elogisqh (logizomai) "credited" - it was accounted, taken into account, considered [to him]. cf. v3, Gen:15:6. Righteousness, right-standing before God, is credited to the account of a person who trusts God, as Abraham trusted God. "God reckons his faith to him ...... for righteousness", Godet; "one may infer from reckon that God treats faith as though it were righteousness", Kasemann. Taking a new perspective angle Dumbrell states "This faith stance was credited to him for what it really was, a demonstration of his being right with God. "Was reckoned to him as righteousness", Cassirer. "Was accepted as righteous by God", TEV.

v23
      Paul now applies his argument to his readers. The scriptural truths concerning Abraham, were not just for Abraham, they were written for us today. "A faith that takes God at his word" is a faith "which saves", Dumbrell, and this "faith which results in righteousness ... is no vague abstraction", Schreiner. "Righteousness will be reckoned to us in the same way it was to Abraham", Morris.

v24
      dia hJmaV "[but also] for us" - because of, on account of us. "On our account", the "our" being believers.
      mellei (mellw) pres. "will [credit]" - is about [to credit]. The NIV "righteousness" is added for meaning sake. The verb "is about to" possibly touches on the sense of justification as a now/not yet reality. Moo suggests the sense is logical, rather than theological: "every time the condition shall be fulfilled, the same imputation will certainly take place."
      logizesqai (logizomai) pres. pas. inf. "credit" - to credit. The infinitive is complementary, completing the sense of the verb "about".
      epi + acc. "in" - upon, on, at, up to. Here the preposition is obviously spacial, rather than temporal, but with Paul, it is usually followed by a dative, "believe in/on Jesus". Here followed by the accusative of person which possibly carries the sense of movement toward, so Moule. A common use in Acts. Here it is belief toward God, "the one having raised Jesus", rather than Jesus himself, probably paralleling Abraham's belief.