What does Romans 4:17 teach about God creating things out of nothing?
Romans 4:17 presents God as the One who quickens the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. This points back to creation, where God created everything out of nothing, taking what is nothing and making it something—a prerogative only God possesses.
Les explains that Romans 4:17 goes back to the work of creation, where Scripture tells us God created everything out of nothing. He emphasizes that this is God's prerogative: He can take that which is nothing and make it something, and only God can do that. Les then applies the same truth to the spiritual realm, saying that we are nothing, but God makes us something. The verse itself speaks of God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not, as though they were.
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.