18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.



Ver. 18. Who against hope, &c.] Elegans Antanaclasis propter speciem contradietionis, saith Piscator. Spes in terrenis, incerti nomen boni; spes in divinis, nomen est certissimi, saith another.



Believed in hope] It is the nature of faith to believe God upon his bare word; and that against sense in things invisible, against reason in things incredible: sense corrects imagination, reason corrects sense, but faith corrects both. It will not be, saith sense; it cannot be, saith reason; it both can and will be, saith faith, for I have a promise for it.