Rom 4:17  (as it is written, A father of many nations have I made thee) before him whom he believed, even God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were. ASV

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. KJV

Rom 4:17  according as it has been written, "I have appointed you a father of many nations;" before God, whom he believed, the One making the dead live, and calling the things that are not as if they were. LITV   See also Gen. 17:5
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                                    COMMENTARY

  To "call those things which be not as though they were" is not teaching that God lies and says black is white when it is not. What then does it mean? The answer is right in the verse. Abraham, who was nothing but a heathen Babylonian Gentile dog by birth, was made the "father of many nations" by God, something ol' Abe never could have attained to on his own. It’s not teaching that God ~says~ black is white when it is not. It’s teaching that God ~changes~ black into white and makes it into something it was not and could not be on its own. Abraham could never have made himself the "father of many nations" according to the Biblical meaning of that saying, which is the Church. No doubt there have been many human beings in the past of whom it can be said they are the "father of many nations" and yet that has nothing to do with Christianity.
In Abraham's case it means he is the "father" of all those who have the same faith as he had, which faith is indicative of salvation. When God "calls" something "white" which by nature is not "white" He first -makes- it white. So when God "calls" His people Righteous He is not saying that a person who has a heart/mind that is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" [Jer 17:9] and is therefore still "totally depraved" and UNrighteous.. is somehow 'righteous'. He is speaking the truth that Christians, whose hearts have been changed, are indeed now Righteous in their character. 1John 3:7.

Romans

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