Did Abraham laugh God off in unbelief?
Did Abraham laugh God off in unbelief? In Genesis, we read of Abraham going along with Sarah’s plan with Hagar to make Ishmael his heir (Genesis 16:1–16). Later, when God tells him he and Sarah will bear a child at a hundred and ninety years old, respectively, he seems to laugh it off in unbelief (Genesis 17:17). Therefore, how is it that Romans 4 celebrates Abraham’s unwavering faith? Does it tell us anything about how God views our own wavering faith in the end?” This is a good example of how careful we should be not to read into a text something from our own experience that makes an interpretation seem likely, but rather let the context decide whether it’s likely or not. So, the question is this: Did Abraham’s laughter in Genesis 17:17 signify the kind of weakened faith or unbelieving doubt (wavering, as she calls it because that’s the way it’s translated in Romans 4:20) that Paul said Abraham did not have? Is Genesis 17:17 in conflict with what Paul says? Faith A...