Romans 4:13-17

4. The priority of faith to the promise concerning headship of many nations 4:13-17

The Jews believed that they had a claim on Abraham that Gentiles did not have. Obviously he was the father of their nation, and this did place him in a unique relationship to his physical descendants. However, they incorrectly concluded that all the blessings that God had promised Abraham would come to them alone. Paul reminded his readers that part of God’s promised blessing to Abraham was that he would be the father of many nations (Romans 4:17). God had given him this promise after his justification (Genesis 17:4-6), and God repeated it to Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 22:17-18). These nations included the Edomites, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and many others including Gentile nations. Therefore the Israelites were not the only people God had promised to bless. They did not have a corner on God’s blessings.