Many believers have been taught to “speak those things which be not as though they were.” Romans 4:17 describes God, and the rest of Scripture shows whose Word carries the power to perform.
By EEW Magazine Online Editors
Romans 4:17 is often cited to teach that believers can speak desired outcomes into existence. The verse describes God as the One who calls those things which be not as though they were. (Illustration: Carol Yepes/Getty Images)
Speak those things which be not as though they were. The phrase is heard in sermons, prayer lines and social media posts. Believers use it to declare healing over their bodies, financial increase over their households and blessings over their futures. They expect that words spoken with enough faith will bring the desired outcome to pass. Romans 4:17 is cited as the foundation.
The teaching, commonly called positive confession, is closely associated with the Word of Faith movement, which spread through Christian broadcasting, books and conferences during the 20th century.
Its influence now reaches across Pentecostal, charismatic and evangelical congregations, far beyond the churches that claim the name. In its fuller forms, believers are taught that their spoken declarations, exercised through God-given authority, determine whether desired circumstances become reality.
Romans 4:17 says something different. Paul wrote that Abraham believed “before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”
In the Greek, the words translated “quickeneth” and “calleth” are participles that both describe God. He gives life to the dead. He calls things that do not exist as though they did. Abraham is the one who believed Him. When the verse is quoted as a command to “speak those things,” the subject of the sentence wrongly moves from God to the believer.
We cannot hold fast to error and call it truth, and a teaching untethered from the text, however sincerely held, will lead believers astray.
Positive confession has spread across Pentecostal, charismatic and evangelical congregations, leaving many believers confused about whose words carry the power to perform. (Illustration: DigitalVision/Getty Images/EEW Magazine Online)
Genesis shows what Paul was describing. When Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah had never carried a child, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and declared, “a father of many nations have I made thee” (Genesis 17:5). God spoke of the promise as already accomplished before Isaac was even conceived. Abraham’s part was to believe what God had said, as he had years earlier: “he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).
Paul then described the nature of that faith. Abraham “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform” (Romans 4:20-21). The promise originated with God, and so did the power to bring it to pass.
The Lord taught Jeremiah the same truth at the start of his ministry. He showed the young prophet a branch and asked, “Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it” (Jeremiah 1:11-12).
The Hebrew contains a wordplay English does not capture. The word for almond is shaqed, and the word God spoke next is shoqed, meaning watching or keeping awake, which is why many modern translations render the verse, “I am watching over my word to perform it.” The vision that followed announced judgment coming against Judah, so God’s assurance covered His warnings as surely as His promises.
God watches over His Word to perform it. Not ours.
Scripture returns to the principle again and again. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please” (Isaiah 55:11). Lamentations asks the question outright: “Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?” (Lamentations 3:37).
Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?” (Lamentations 3:37). (Illustration: Carol Yepes/Getty Images)
James even reminded people who confidently announced their business plans that they did not know what tomorrow would bring. “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:15).
Something the teaching does do rightly is recognize the power of words. Proverbs 18:21 declares, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” The proverb addresses the real consequences of human speech. James warns that the tongue, though small, can do enormous damage (James 3:5-6). Words wound, encourage, deceive, reconcile and shape the course of people’s lives.
Confession also has a firm foundation in Scripture. Paul wrote, “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9). That confession openly acknowledges Jesus as Lord and professes faith in His resurrection. Paul further wrote, quoting Psalm 116:10, “I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13).
He wrote those words while describing the persecution he endured for preaching the Gospel. His confidence rested in the God who raised Jesus and would raise him also (2 Corinthians 4:14). That faith gave him courage to keep proclaiming Christ.
Writing amid persecution, Paul declared, “I believed, and therefore have I spoken” (2 Corinthians 4:13), resting his confidence in the God who raised Jesus from the dead. (Illustration: EEW Magazine Online)
Believers have the same biblical grounds to confess Christ, testify to God’s faithfulness and speak His promises with confidence. Their words bear witness to what they believe. Scripture presents faith as speaking in response to what God has said, with the outcome left in His hands. Positive confession reverses that order, treating speech as the cause and the speaker’s faith as the deciding factor.
Jesus’ words about speaking to mountains are often cited in support. After the disciples found that the fig tree He had cursed had withered, Jesus told them, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22). He promised that a mountain could be removed at the word of one who believed, then tied that promise directly to prayer: “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24). Jesus was urging His disciples to approach God with extraordinary confidence. John adds the condition that governs every request: “if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us” (1 John 5:14).
Abraham’s example brings the matter back to the heart of Romans 4. He trusted the promise because he knew the One who made it, and he was “fully persuaded” that God was able to perform it.
That same confidence belongs to believers today. We can pray with expectation and hold fast to God’s promises, knowing the power to perform rests with Him.
