Romans 4:16-18

Amplified Bible

¹⁶ Therefore, [inheriting] the promise depends entirely on faith [that is, confident trust in the unseen God], in order that it may be given as an act of grace [His unmerited favor and mercy], so that the promise will be [legally] guaranteed to all the descendants [of Abraham]—not only for those [Jewish believers] who keep the Law, but also for those [Gentile believers] who share the faith of Abraham, who is the [spiritual] father of us all— ¹⁷ (as it is written [in Scripture], “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the sight of Him in whom he believed, that is, God ^[a]who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.^{(A) 18} In hope against hope Abraham believed that he would become a father of many nations, as he had been promised [by God]: “So [numberless] shall your descendants be.”^(B)