Romans 4:18

against hope … in hope Lit. beyond hope … upon hope. Here perhaps the first is subjective hope, the second objective. Abraham was asked to believe in a way which went beyondall mere impressions of probability; but he rested uponthe "hope set before him" by the Divine promise, and believed.

that he might become with a view to becoming. Not that this was the radical motive of his trust; knowledge of God was that motive. But this great "joy set before him" was strongly present in his believing soul.

So shall thy seed be Genesis 15:5. This is interesting, as an example of allusivequotation. St Paul takes it for granted that the reader knows the context, and thus understands the force of the "so." Cp. Hebrews 6:13-14, where the very point of the quotation lies in the unquoted context. But that passage, addressed to Jewish disciples, is less remarkable than this, addressed to a mixed, and chiefly Gentile, Church. We have here a significant note of the Apostle's encouragement of minute study of the O. T. among his Gentileconverts. No doubt allusive quotation was much used by the Rabbis; but St Paul would not have used it with Gentiles had he not felt it to be in place. Notice that the words here quoted immediately precede (in Genesis 15) the words "Abraham believed God, &c."