Romans 4:17 (As it is written, “I have appointed you a father of many nations”) in the sight of God whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls the things not being as being. RcV Bible
[In Romans 4:17, “calls the things not being as being”] is God’s mighty power of creation. As the creating God, He needs no material to work with; He can create something out of nothing simply by speaking: “For He spoke, and it was” (Psalm 33:9). (Romans 4:17, footnote 3)
What does it mean to know God as the Father? It means that everything is from God. The Lord Jesus said, “My Father is working until now, and I also am working” (John 5:17). He did not say, “My God is working until now,” but “My Father is working until now.” For God to be the Father means that God is the Creator, the unique Initiator. The Son was sent from the Father. “The Son can do nothing from Himself except what He sees the Father doing, for whatever that One does, these things the Son also does in like manner” (v. 19). This must be our experience. We must receive grace from God to realize that we cannot initiate anything. We are not worthy of initiating anything. Genesis 1 begins by saying, “In the beginning God….” In the beginning it was not us, but God. God is the Father, and everything originates from Him. (Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 35, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” p. 8)
Further reading: here and via agodman.com.
