Genesis 17:4 - Meaning and Application

The promise here is given with great seriousness: “As for me,” the great God says, “my covenant is with you.” He repeats the thought to make it stand out and to assure Abraham of it. The covenant of grace, meaning God’s saving agreement with sinners, is God’s own work, and he takes glory in it. So may we.

Here God promises Abraham that he would be a father of many nations. This means, first, that his physical family would become very large through Isaac, Ishmael, and the sons of Keturah. Something beyond the ordinary is surely included in this promise, and the result fits it. It seems likely that more people have descended from Abraham than from any other man at the same distance from Noah, the common ancestor of all.

It also means that all believers in every age would be counted as Abraham’s spiritual children. In that sense, he would be called not only the friend of God, but the father of all who believe. The apostle explains the promise this way in Romans 4:16, 17. Abraham is the father of those in every nation who enter into covenant with God by faith, and, as Jewish writers put it, are gathered under the wings of God’s majesty.

As a sign of this, his name was changed from Abram, which means “high father,” to Abraham, which means “father of a multitude.” This gave him honor. Scripture speaks of the church as being given a new name, one that the Lord himself will choose (Isaiah 62:2). Earthly rulers honor favorites by giving them new titles, and God, the true source of honor, did this for Abraham. All believers also receive a new name (Revelation 2:17). Some think Abraham’s new name was even more honorable because it included a letter from the name Jehovah, just as Jeconiah was dishonored when the first part of his name was cut off because it matched the opening of God’s sacred name (Jeremiah 22:28). Believers are named from Christ, which shows their belonging to him (Ephesians 3:15).

This name also strengthened Abraham’s faith. When he had no children, even his own name may have been painful, since it called him a father when he was not one. But now God had promised him many descendants, and he gave him a name that matched that promise. That made the name a comfort rather than a grief. God calls things that do not yet exist as though they already were. The apostle makes that same point in Romans 4:17. God called Abraham the father of a multitude because, in time, he would become one, even though he had only one child at the moment.