<p>11:12 <i>Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude- innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore</i>- According to Heb. 11:12, God&rsquo;s promises to Abraham were fulfilled on account of his faith; God in some way allowed Himself to be potentially limited by Abraham&rsquo;s faith. Indeed, the promised world-wide blessing of all nations was promised only &ldquo;because thou hast obeyed my voice&rdquo; (Gen. 22:16,18). In this sense the covenants of salvation were partly due to another man Abraham being faithful although above all our salvation was due to the Lord Jesus. In this sense he is the &ldquo;father&rdquo; of the faithful.</p><p>Abraham was impotent, &quot;as good as dead&quot;. The argument here is so similar to that in Rom. 4:19. Abraham believed his body could be empowered to do it, &quot;without being weakened in faith&quot;, the same word translated &ldquo;impotent&rdquo; in Jn. 5:7. Abraham was physically impotent, perhaps even seriously ill and weak at the time the promise was given- but not impotent or weak in faith. The idea of the Greek is that Abraham didn&rsquo;t weaken in faith as he observed / considered his body. &quot;Considered&quot; in Rom. 4:19 means that he didn't fix his mind upon the fact his body was dead (i.e. impotent) and unable to produce seed. He wasn't obsessed with his state, yet he lived a life of faith that ultimately God's Kingdom would come, he rejoiced at the contemplation of Christ his Lord; and he filled his life with practical&nbsp;service. He wasn't obsessed with the fact that in his marital position he personally couldn't have children when it seemed this was what God wanted him to do; and this was very pleasing to God. Nor did he consider the &quot;deadness of Sarah&rsquo;s womb&quot;. So often we allow the apparent weakness of others to become a barrier to our faith. &lsquo;She&rsquo;ll never change&hellip; she just isn&rsquo;t capable of that&rsquo;. But Abraham not only believed that&nbsp;<i>he</i>&nbsp;could do it, but that the apparent obstacle of another&rsquo;s weakness was also surmountable by the word of promise.</p>