It was a warm afternoon and the air in the church felt heavy and sticky. I walked from my office to the meeting room in the Kids Ministry area with a bible, notebook and phone in hand. The thick, still air made the smell of the old carpet stronger. The newly painted bright green walls stood in stark contrast to the smell. I sat down on a dark gray padded chair in the third of five long rows that curved across the room, facing a tall round table next to two empty black stools and a whiteboard. The room was already mostly full, staff chattering before the meeting began. I smiled as my eyes met others while I took my seat.
A minute later the pastor and his wife took their seats at the table in front. The meeting started. Prayers were said and some weekly and daily items were addressed briefly. Soon a silence settled in as the pastor waited for everyone’s undivided attention. He excitedly explained a revelation he’d had while in scripture and prayer earlier that week. He picked up a bible and began reading: “The God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” Romans 4:17b
He went on to expound on his revelation and the teaching that had brought him to his conclusion. If we are created in God’s image, our words have power, just as God’s do. And we know from the very first book in the bible that God created everything with His spoken word. The teaching continued: In Romans 4 Paul is using Abraham as an example for us to model our faith after and then describes God, in whom Abraham has faith, as the God who gives life and calls things into being. Abraham believed it and it came to fruition.
The conclusion of this teaching was that we were to follow this example of what God did as well: use our words to call things that are not as though they were and believe for them by faith. If our circumstances weren’t what we wanted or deemed good, we were to speak about them as if they were. If someone in our lives was negative, we were only to speak out the positive things about them – speaking life over and about them. If there was something we wanted to accomplish or see come to fruition, we were to speak about it as if it were already happening or definitely going to happen.
Of course, there was some practical teaching that came alongside this teaching: Define what was desired and then break the bigger goal down into smaller steps for today, this week, this month, this quarter, this year, etc. to make it happen. Looked at logically, this only makes the teaching more confusing because there is no account of that happening in Genesis when God spoke the world into existence. Or when He made Abraham the father of many nations. Or any of the other numerous times that God spoke and executed His promises in scripture.
Jump ahead 7 years…
It’s a cool July morning and I’m sitting at my dining room table drinking a cup of coffee and reading my bible (the same one I brought with me to that staff meeting). I’m several days into slowly reading the book of Romans and taking time to absorb it and listening to a verse-by-verse study by Mike Winger. This particular morning after praying for wisdom, I began reading Romans 4. I had all but forgotten about the teaching in verse 17 over the years, but to my surprise it all flooded back as I read the second half of that verse that I had highlighted in bright pink.
“The God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” Romans 4:17b
Taking time to read the notes and commentary in the margin, I reread the verse a couple more times. Then I read on…
As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why ‘it was credited to him as righteousness.’ The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”
Romans 4:17-25
Wait. What? How did I not see this and understand it before? It’s so plain!! The reason that Abraham was able to “believe and receive” is because he was believing a single, specific promise from God to him. God calls things into existence because He is God. He is sovereign over all. We are not. God is perfect. We are not. God is always truthful. We are filled with deceit. (“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” Jeremiah 17:9) Therefore we are not like God in this way. We cannot call things that are not as though they were. Our words don’t hold the same power as God’s.
As I read to the end of Romans chapter 4, it became abundantly clear that the remainder of the chapter was not a prescription for us to follow to believe and receive just anything we desire, but that Paul was specifically writing about salvation. We receive salvation because we believe that specific promise that we will be saved by grace through faith. (“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” Ephesians 2:8) The belief that we are able to call things into existence with our words is actually not a Christian one at all, but a New Age or New Thought one called the Law of Attraction. (HERE is a link for more info on the Law of Attraction.)
My heart leapt as I realized how good God is to bring me full circle back to this verse 7 years later to correct my understanding. Although I hadn’t been actively believing that teaching for quite some time, having an understanding of the actual meaning is so much better! I’m sharing this not to call anyone out (as I’ve said before, I haven’t been to that church for a long time, and I don’t claim to know the current teachings there) but to share the truth about half of a verse that I know is still used incorrectly in many popular NAR and Word of Faith churches today. I share my experience along with it because it’s just that, my experience, and the only way to convey my message in context and in my personal writing style. I hope that this blessed you, and I really hope that this can help someone today.
God bless,
Robin 💜
TransformerGirl Blog 