Romans 4 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

459 460radiance to the God; 4.21 and having been fully convinced that what he had promised, he458(...continued)Bowie comments, "To have a general pious belief in God's existence was one thing; totrust that his power and grace could come directly into her life with a wonderful blessing wasanother [especially in a way so contrary to all human reason and expectation]. Why shouldshe be simple-minded enough to believe that?" (The Interpreter’s Bible, I, p. 619) Indeed,Sarah's attitude is easily understandable, and quite often imitated in our own lives.When the divine intention to destroy the cities of the plain was made known toAbraham, Abraham argued with God, seeking to get God to relent from the divine judgment(Genesis 18:22-33). In this way, the biblical picture of the "person of trust" is of one whobrings his highest feelings and longings, and expresses them openly and honestly to God,refusing to simply accept the divine verdict without any questioning.There is of course much more to the story of Abraham, the person of trust, than this.But we have seen enough to know that what the Bible means by "trust" is a far cry from anunquestioning acceptance of the divine promise. The person of trust is pictured in Genesis ascompletely human, honestly questioning, laughing at what seems incredulous, always openand blunt with God in expressing his true feelings and puzzlement and alternative suggestions.This is the Abraham whom Paul describes as "never wavering" and "never growing weak" inhis trust.Is Paul, then, wrong in his evaluation of the trust of Abraham? We might ask just aswell, was Jesus not a person of trust because of his agonizing questions in the Garden ofGethsemane, or his cry upon the Roman post, "My God, my God, why have you forsakenme?"Perhaps the problem is that we have a non-biblical understanding of trust, and of whatit means to "walk with God." If we ask, "Did Abraham ever quit walking with God?" Theanswer is obvious--"No, he never quit walking with God." Again, "Did Abraham ever turn hislife away from the divine promise, to build his life upon something else?" And the answeragain is, "No--he kept in touch with God; he lived out his long life-time in constant dialoguewith God--even though on occasion he was severely tempted to find some human way to fulfillthe promise himself."When we ask, whether Abraham was always pious, never expressing his innermostfeelings and puzzlement, the answer which we must give is, no, he seems very earthy, and heexpresses the same kind of questioning and troubled feelings that we ourselves experience attimes in our own lives. But Abraham never turned back, never ceased building his life uponobedience to that divine promise that had come to him with its demand and seeminglyunbelievable promise for the future.459Moo comments that “It was Abraham’s faith itself that grew stronger. In what way...? Inthe sense that anything gains strength in meeting and overcoming opposition–muscles whenweights are raised; holiness when temptation is successfully resisted. So Abraham’s faithgained strength from its victory over the hindrance created by the conflict between God’spromise and the physical evidence. And in this strengthening of his faith, Abraham gave(continued...)249