<p>4:21&nbsp;<i>An</i><i>d became fully assured that what He had promised</i>- By whom? Surely by God. This continues the theme of &lsquo;was strengthened&rsquo; in 4:20 see note there, that although God&rsquo;s saving grace is accessible to us by faith, He also plays a part in developing that faith. This of course lays the basis for Paul&rsquo;s later comment in Romans upon predestination as being an indicator of God&rsquo;s pure grace. For He doesn&rsquo;t just start talking about predestination without a context- he cites it as an example, or another window onto, God&rsquo;s grace.</p><p>We have earlier commented that the doctrinal section of Romans chapters 1-8 has many connections with the latter, practical part of Romans; and we&rsquo;ve demonstrated that several verses in Romans 4 contain phrases which recur in Romans 14. &ldquo;Fully persuaded&rdquo; occurs elsewhere in Romans only in Rom. 14:5, where Paul urges that each of us, like Abraham, should be &ldquo;fully persuaded in our own mind&rdquo; about the matter of Sabbath keeping. The implication isn&rsquo;t so much that each of us should just be certain that we are fully persuaded of our position- that would be to state an axiom needlessly- but surely the point of the allusion to Abraham&rsquo;s full persuasion in Rom. 4:21 is that if we have been fully persuaded of God&rsquo;s salvation being by pure grace and not works, then we will not be concerned about keeping days or indeed any other ritual in order to gain His acceptance. That same principle can be applied in our church lives, in forming our approach to matters of external ritual e.g. head coverings for sisters, or dress codes at church meetings which in our generation may be a live issue, as Sabbath keeping was for the Rome ecclesia of the first century.</p><p><i>He was able also to perform</i>- It may seem obvious that anyone who believes in the God of the Bible will believe that God Almighty is truly almighty, and is capable of doing what He has promised. And yet when it comes to believing that He is able to save me despite my sins and regardless of my works- we all baulk. Abraham believed, that God was able to do what He had said. To save him, without works. The only other time the Greek phrase translated &ldquo;able to perform&rdquo; occurs is in Lk. 1:49, where young Mary exalts that the God who is able has performed great things for her. Perhaps Paul is setting her up as our example. That barefoot and pregnant, illiterate young woman (a teenager, probably), who took God at His word. Paul maybe has the same sense in mind when he comments that the God who cannot lie has promised us eternal life (Tit. 1:2). John in characteristic bluntness puts it so clearly: &ldquo;This is the promise that He has promised us: eternal life&rdquo; (1 Jn. 2:25). To doubt that we shall receive it is effectively calling Him a liar. We are between a rock and a hard place. We must either face up to the wonder of our salvation, or do the unthinkable- call God a liar, one incapable of doing what He has said. Sarah likewise &ldquo;judged Him faithful who had promised&rdquo; (Heb. 11:11). There again we meet the idea of putting God in the dock. We judge Him- as either faithful, or unfaithful; able or unable; almighty or impotent, a god of nice ideas and fair words which have no cash value in the weakness and desperation of our human, earthly lives. The Greek translated &ldquo;promise&rdquo; can be used in the context of a legal assertion about oneself (although it isn&rsquo;t used within the NT in this way). God is in the dock, making the promise, the assertion about Himself, His very own self, that He will give us eternal life. And we judge Him- as speaking the Truth, the most ultimate truth of the cosmos, of history- or as lying under oath to us. Faced with a choice like that, we have no real choice but with Abraham and Sarah &ldquo;judge Him faithful who has promised&rdquo; (Heb. 11:11).</p>