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Romans 4:19<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Abraham\u2019s faith was strong, even after having waited 20 years.<\/p>\n Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The Greek word translated \u201cweak<\/span>\u201d is asthene\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which is a compound word made up of the privative a<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cnot\u201d or \u201cwithout\u201d and sthenos<\/span><\/em>, which refers to \u201cbodily vigor or bodily strength.\u201d Hence, this word means \u201cwithout bodily strength.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cConsider<\/span>\u201d is translated from the verb katanoe\u014d<\/span><\/em>. This is also a compound word which is made up of kata<\/span><\/em>, used as an intensifier, and noe\u014d<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto think.\u201d This word refers to more than just a passing thought. It means \u201cto observe, to contemplate, or to have regard to.\u201d We could paraphrase this part of the verse as \u201che didn\u2019t give much thought to the fact that he was no longer able to father children.\u201d<\/p>\n Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n There is a subtlety in this verse that you may not have seen before. In the previous verse we talked about Abraham\u2019s absolute certainty that God would fulfill His promise to him. He was about 80 years old when God promised him that he would have descendents as the stars in the sky. This is talked about in Genesis 15:5,6<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The current verse says that Abraham was not weak in his faith, which was proved by the fact that Abraham didn\u2019t even consider the fact that his own body was already dead. Now, this doesn\u2019t mean that Abraham was dead; it means that his body was past the point of fathering children. This verse (along with Genesis 21:5<\/span><\/strong>) says that he was about 100 years old.<\/p>\n But wait a minute! Didn\u2019t we just say that Abraham was about 80 when the promise was made? That means Abraham\u2019s faith was strong even after having waited for about 20 years. Think about it! Abraham was 80 when the promise was made, and he was probably already past child producing years, yet 20 years later he still believed that God would give him a son. That\u2019s faith that doesn\u2019t give up!<\/p>\n Paul uses a bit of a play on words in this verse as well. He could have said, \u201cAnd having a strong faith \u2026\u201d Instead, he says that Abraham was not \u201cweak in faith.\u201d The word translated \u201cweak\u201d is normally used to describe a physical condition, but Paul applies it to Abraham\u2019s faith. In other words, he is saying, \u201cAbraham may have had a body that was weak with regard to fathering children, but his faith was not weak like his body.\u201d<\/p>\n What is even more amazing is what was pointed out in yesterday\u2019s verse. Abraham was about 100 when Isaac was born (Sarah was about 90). Sarah died when she was 127 years old, which would make Abraham about 137 years old (Genesis 23:1,2<\/span><\/strong>). After Sarah died, Abraham married a woman named Keturah (Genesis 25:1,2<\/span><\/strong>), and he fathered at least six more children with her! Abraham didn\u2019t consider the fact that he was too old to father children; neither did God!<\/p>\n Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Have you been waiting for God to fulfill a promise to you? Are you willing to wait for 20 years? Are you willing to wait for the rest of your life?<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n <\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Romans 4:19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. Truth to Learn Abraham\u2019s faith was strong, even after having waited 20 years. Behind the Words The Greek word translated \u201cweak\u201d is asthene\u014d, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[612,118,204,40,636],"class_list":["post-1460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abraham","tag-dead","tag-faith","tag-sarah","tag-weak"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-ny","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"signature\"](\"\/signature.gif\")
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