To many people, the subject of Abraham’s seed is somewhat of an enigma. The purpose of this paper is to clarify thinking about:
THE DIFFERENT WORDS FOR "SEED"
In most common translations the Hebrew and Greek words pertaining to this subject are often badly translated, and the various translations are inconsistent. So, for a start let us look at all the words in Strong’s concordance and Thayer’s Lexicon for "seed", "offspring", "fruit", "generation", etc.
OLD TESTAMENT:
Strong H6631 tse’etsa Offspring, issue, that is, produce, children, - that which cometh forth [out].
NEW TESTAMENT:
It can be seen that there are a number of words in the original languages which need to be rightly divided.
The word zera is used of the genetic seed of both men and plants. In Genesis 1, these seeds always produce after their own miyn (kind or species). In Genesis 1:11 in the expression whose seed is in itself, we see a principle. There is a later principle established that mixed seeds should not be sown together. Sentimental Christians might like to think that all seeds of men are the same as far as God is concerned, but separation is shown very early in the Bible pages. It is God who separates the seeds of mankind. It is for us to believe God.
In the early part of the Old Testament, we have a story about the one special seed of Israel that was commanded by God to utterly destroy certain other seeds [races]. This shows that there was a difference between the two groups. According to the common teaching, this separation is not supposed to continue into the New Testament, so we will have a look and see if it does. Within the Law, the Psalms and the Prophets there is no pattern of prophecy forecasting any change by God to this position; therefore any change in teaching must be questioned from the full foundation of the Law and the Prophets.
THE TWO SEEDS IN GENESIS 3:15.
Both seeds are the same word zera so we must accept the genetic context. Notice there is no enmity between the seeds at the time of speaking, because the seeds to be affected did not exist at that point in time. We have been taught that God is not like that; that He does not put enmity between differing seeds, but, in fact, God is still sovereign. If God wants to separate seeds, that is His business. If God wants to put enmity between seeds, that too is His business. Yet, the hypothesis of the Church of Everyone/World Church is that God made all races and seeds of men to be one, and that they should be mixed together. To use the expression that they might be one of John 17:21 as justification is to take the expression out of the context of those that thou hast given me of verse 9. God made no such extension - so where does that leave the World Church?
In the passage from Genesis above, there are stated to be two seeds. The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent need to be identified before we can have any understanding of the issues. The seed of the woman refers to the Adamic line, and the remainder of the Bible deals only with the history of the Adamic line and its refinement to the seed of Jacob only. Somewhere along the line we have to come to a conclusion as to whether the difference between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent is a matter of:
What happened in Eden? Satan beguiled Eve by clearly misusing and misapplying God’s words. Eve was remiss by failing to quote God’s words precisely - she altered God’s words and hence was led into a trap. Adam, on the other hand, simply disobeyed. He saw Eve eating and without fancy discussion, went ahead and disobeyed God’s commandment. The capacity or facility to disregard God was now manifest in the physical make-up of Adam’s line. The Bible account of what happened to these people, down to Noah, shows us how they generally followed the ways of natural man (those of Genesis 1).
In Abram and Sarai, God wrought a major change in the Adamic line. The spirit that had been breathed into Adam was dissipated to such a low level, that something needed to change if this human line of spirit-carrying people were to continue into the future. When Isaac was conceived, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. This commemorated the fixing of the spirit in Abraham and Sarah so that everyone conceived of their line received the same amount of spirit as Isaac.
Esau also received the same amount of spirit as Isaac and Jacob. But whereas Isaac and Jacob chose to believe God, Esau rejected God by rejecting his birthright. He compounded the matter by marrying into the families that God had rejected and declared as not suitable for marriage with Israel. This was no mere prohibition but enshrined in the Law - much to the astonishment of modern Christians. To act contrary to this Law is the wilful pursuit of those who live like the natural man of Genesis 1. It was the giving over of himself to Satan’s ways that made him and his progeny the seed of Satan as surely as if Satan had been their physical father. The whole of Esau’s line is devoted to the destruction of Israel - as is Satan. This is the enmity foretold by God in Gen 3:15. Hence Esau’s line is the seed of the serpent through acts of disbelief and it is a genetic line because it applies to all who are descended from that line.
Let us look closer at the promises made to Abraham. These promises are also made to Abraham’s zera through Isaac. It is here suggested that the readers go to the trouble to pick up a Strong’s concordance, page 896-7 and look through the multitude of references which use zera [Strong’s ref 2233]. Every Old Testament reference to the seed of men, as a line, is to genetic seeds. There are no exceptions! Therefore it cannot refer to any spiritual seed in this context.
Now, how would one get some spiritual seed on his skin and garments? This seed is zera! "Copulation" is just copulation. So, could zera here be spiritualised to be a spiritual seed? Remember that zera is also used for animals. Abraham’s seed is always a genetic seed. Please do not pass on reading until you have satisfied yourself that this is so. To go through Young’s or Strong’s concordance references is better than extracting verses for you! Then you will be able to see the total area covered.
If God chooses to make promises to those of one particular seed or race, that is His prerogative. That God does do this is found to be so from the beginning to the end of the Bible. Dare we question the purposes of God any longer? For the Lord of Hosts hath purposed, who shall disannul it [Is 14:27]. When it comes to the race of Israel, God says, "That the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth"- [Romans 9:11].
In the prophetical Scriptures in particular, the words shown above as "seed" and "offspring" are often linked together. For example, speaking of Israel, God says:
This seed which the Lord has blessed is spoken of as being the planting of the Lord [v3]. In this section of Scripture, strangers [zar] and aliens [nekar] are to serve as servants, vine-dressers, and plough-men to God’s seed. The relationship is that of servant-hood to those with the garments of salvation.
In verse one of this chapter my people, my chosen are expressed as being Israel and/or Jacob. Their King is described in verse six as the king
of Israel. This prophecy cannot be extended to all races. There are no Scriptures like this for other than Israel. The offspring of Israel are different and separate from that of all other races or people.This chapter is about an "elect" [v22], and a singular "nation" [v1]. Their situation is Jerusalem which is reserved for a "seed". The time is the time of the new heavens and a new earth [v17]. Anyone will look in vain for a prophetical stream which regathers all the seeds of men to either the Jerusalem that now is, or to the New Jerusalem.
Throughout the Old Testament the seed of Abraham is through the seed of copulation, through the son of promise, Isaac. Isaac’s birth was a physical event, not a mystical, spiritual church-conceived experience. The birth of Isaac was supernatural, but God had told Abraham that Sarah would bear him the child - unto thee [v21]. The covenant was made to him and his zera. Israel came from Abraham’s loins [Heb 7:5].
Try as we like, we cannot stretch the promise to include any other seed, or even to encompass any other of Abraham’s seed. We cannot honestly say that all of mankind came through Abraham’s loins! If any want to say God’s people now a spiritual seed from every race, where would Abraham’s loins come into it?
In the New Testament we find the same picture as is presented in the Old Testament.
Some might like to suggest from what they teach that the subject is not Israel and the seed of Abraham. They teach that all the New Testament is now about "The Church". This is not true, because what they mean by "The Church" is what the Greek text says! The passage above says nothing about a multi-racial church. The people who are the subject of the passage are Israel as the seed [zera] of Abraham [Note the "our Fathers"].
There is no mention of other peoples. There never is!
"Our fathers" is another way of expressing the line by descent of His people. Now we are back to the covenant in Genesis 17:7. This is a generation of Abraham’s physical seed to whom fulfilment is made. The promise was made to Abraham’s zera [in Hebrew] and it is being fulfilled in Abraham’s sperma [in Greek].
This word is used 37 times in the New Testament in a familial sense - referring to things that are homogenous in a genetic sense. The word used in Luke 1:44-55 in discussing Abraham’s seed (sperma). So, let us look at some more verses in which sperma occurs so we can have certainty about this matter.
"Sperma" does not sound like a spiritual seed, does it? It is physical! And it is physical seed in the following verses:
The pronoun us is the children of Abraham to whom the original covenant was made. The promise is not made at any stage to other than all the seed, namely to those of whom Abraham is the father. This could not be clearer.
The context here is the original covenant to Abraham and his seed.
Not all of Abraham’s offspring are counted for the seed, but only those through the son of promise, Isaac and Jacob - I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Because the seed is sperma, it cannot be a spiritual seed made up from converted people from all other races, as commonly taught!
Israel and the Seed of Abraham are always linked in the New Testament, not as a spiritual seed, but as a physical seed.
In this passage alone, there is an association between three factors [Hebrews, Israelites and the Seed of Abraham] which is impossible to break apart. Israel can never be any thing other than of the sperma of Abraham. It cannot be a spiritual seed as is commonly taught.
Before we pass on from sperma, it might be noted that the sperma verses in Galatians have been omitted. This is because they have been covered in the chapter, Galatians and Israel Exclusive. They tell the same story.
Only Matthew mentions and explains about the tares as being sown in His field along with the wheat. Mark and Luke do not mention either the field or the wheat. The good seed [sperma] in Matthew are defined as the children of the Kingdom [Matt 13:38]. In this field there are sown two kinds of plants, the children of the Kingdom and the children of the wicked one. The sowings are both at the seed stage. Both grow together until the harvest; there is no suggestion given that one can convert into the other.
This word occurs only five times in the New Testament. The sporos verses relate to the Word of God as seed, or to the sowing of seed where physical offspring alone is not the issue. Luke 8:11 says that the seed [sporos] is the Word of God.
THE WORDS "SPIRITUAL" AND "NATURAL"
The idea commonly presented is that the Seed of Abraham, or Abraham’s children, are a spiritual rather than a genetic seed. This is a physical impossibility! We hear the expression used, First the natural, then the spiritual to attempt to say that Israel nationally was the natural and that the Church is the spiritual that came later. What the Bible says words mean may be different to what we mean. So let us look at natural and spiritual as they connect to our present subject.
The word, of course, has a connection with "nature" which is most commonly a translation of phusis. This word is also translated as natural.
However, when we come to the verses where the "natural" body and the "spiritual" body are compared, we find the word psuchikos [Strong G5591].
Hence:
The context of these verses has reference to the resurrection. This is when the change from the natural body to the spiritual body takes place.
The word "spiritual" is pneumatikos [Strong 4152].
It is used of this present age for many things other than of the body.
But the present bodies we have are never called spiritual in this present age. These bodies may be anointed, filled etc. but they do not become spirit bodies until they are raised from the dead in their spirit form.
Thus, the seed of Abraham is still a natural body. The common teaching today is that the seed of Abraham is now a spiritual seed consisting of born again believers of every race. This born again expression is as incorrect as when Nicodemus thought it! Jesus never said born again; He said begotten from above].
The words "spiritual", "anointed" and "holy" do not mean the same things.
Here we find the seed in question is zera and that they are "holy" (set apart; Hebrew: qodesh). This is another Scripture which clearly shows that all seeds are not the same. It also shows that the seeds of mankind are not to be mixed together! That our multi-culturists ["Christian" or otherwise] disagree, only declares their ignorance.
In context, this verse concerns only the remnant of Israel, but it still shows that God’s people are a holy seed [zera], thus being different from other seeds.
There are many Scriptures that present God’s chosen nation as being a Holy People. The word for "people" is quite different from "seed", but these Scriptures quickly give the same picture.
This verse shows the separation of special people [Israel as being addressed] from all others. Deut 14:2 and Deut 26:19 are similar verses.
Then we come to a people who are separated from other races. That this carries on into the New Testament might not find favour with many teachers, but it is hard to avoid. The doctrine of separation, as taught, might have to be re-considered in this aspect!
The word badal for separation is shown by Strong H914 to denote an utter separation and a selection.
This also continues on into the New Testament, like it or not! The word in the Old Testament is segullah which signifies an enclosure or peculiar treasure. In the New Testament the noun is peripoiesis and the adjective is periousios showing that there is a people who are an acquisition, or purchased possession.
Hence:
The race of Israel is spoken of as a collective treasure and a singular people. A treasure is a depository or a thing laid up. It is also translated as special, proper and jewels. In the New Testament, peculiar treasure is variously translated as obtain salvation [1 Thess 5:9], obtaining of the glory [2 Thes 2:14], and purchased possession [Eph 1:14], or as expressed in Hebrews, as the saving.
In this book of Hebrews some might not like the pronouns, but we and them both refer to Israelites only. The first them refers to those who reject God and refuse to believe and who did not follow after holiness [or set-apartness], thus failing the grace of God [Heb 12:15,16]. Most would not like to think that there is a birthright [a right from birth] racially that could be sold, but there is. Remember how Esau sold his birthright, and how he could not regain it? But, for now, let us return to the "seed". Esau did not follow after holiness by breaching racial set-apartness.
This might well get some people going! For those who have been brought up to think that all seeds are the same this might be just too much; this might be the last straw. Let it be so! That there is an Anointed Seed as well as a Holy Seed, an Holy People, a Separated People and a Peculiar People, gives a lot of confirmation. It all compounds perfectly, does it not? Does it not show different aspects of God’s chosen Israel race? Our sovereign God gives us enough detail so that we can ignore Him no longer! To not believe Him is to kick against the pricks. The seed of Abraham to whom the covenants were made still exists. The spiritual "body" comes after the resurrection, so the seed of Abraham does not yet have a spiritual body. We are still waiting the redemption of the body, whether individual or corporate.
We have looked into "adoption" as a subject already. We are looking for the placing of the Sons of God. But what about this particular and singular anointed seed? Is there such a thing in both Testaments?
They have universal application to persons, people and things. There are also other words in Hebrew so translated, such as suk and badal.
This places Thine anointed and Thy people as being one and the same. This says that they were anointed before they were saved - anointed by the presence of the indwelling spirit.
Speaking of the Seed of Abraham, [His servant] and the Children of Jacob [His chosen], and the covenant God made
to Israel, we read:Here we need, as usual, to go back and see what prophecy this is fulfilling. It is found in Daniel 7:13-18 and concerns Jesus and the Holy People. In Revelation, the worship is directed to the Lord, but it is not directed to the "anointed". If Jesus was "His anointed", then Jesus was being ignored!
It has been pointed out before that most people have some thought about the existence of a chosen race of people. For Christians and others brought up in the Western World, the thought is towards Israel as being that chosen race. [Some may choose incorrectly to call Israel "The Jews"]. Then, of course, if one race is chosen, then every other race not chosen! Christians are somehow able to think about an exclusive Israel and yet include everybody at the same time.
Throughout the Old Testament the exclusivity of Israel is a consistent theme, as has been shown in this book. Israel may have been put aside, brought low, dis-allowed by God, but God says the promises that were made to the fathers of Israel will yet be fulfilled in us their children.
Here we see the connection between the "chosen" and the "seed" in question. This chapter of Ezekiel goes on to express God’s final determination upon Israel at the end of this age. Trying to move this determination on to other than the seed of Jacob, will not succeed. It is not in prophecy anywhere!
When we follow through to the New Testament, we find the word eklektos which is variously translated as the chosen or the elect. Jesus spoke of the days being shortened for the Elect’s sake, and of the rising up of false christs and prophets who would try to deceive the Elect.
The word eklektos appears 23 times in the New Testament. It is derived from the root word eklego which refers to selection in the primary sense. This is usually translated as chosen or chose.
Read this verse several times. Who is God the God of? Who did He choose? This word for "elect" is used throughout the New Testament in places where it might not be obvious that a racial/national entity is involved. In context the word may be associated with, called, inheritance, and predestined. These are all words that have exact parallels in the Old Testament where they are used racially of the Nations of Israel. There is no question or suggestion in either Testament that the seed [of our fathers] might be any spiritual seed from all races.
This gathering cannot be other than the gathering from among those who are the subject of the prophecy. The Elect are the ones resurrected. This has been shown in the chapter titled Adoption as the process for the placing of sons out of Israel.
For whose sake? Is it any but the Elect?
These New Testament expressions, called, chosen, and elect, are all used in the Old Testament where they are addressed exclusively to the race and nations of Israel. Even through to Revelation, those with the Lamb are the faithful among the called and chosen. They are not from among others.
ISRAEL – A STONE PEOPLE [OR NATION]
In the Book of Daniel we find prophecy concerning nations. In this book there is a "stone" cut out of a "mountain" which "brake" the other kingdoms in pieces. The stone that smote the image became a great mountain [a symbol of nations] and filled the whole earth. In the New Testament there are references to the Kingdom of God being a nation.
In the matter of "seed", both Testaments say exactly the same thing. In no way has the zera of Abraham changed. God has not changed! The seed of Abraham is genetic only.
Yes, we still have the questions about the other non-Israel seeds/nations/races to answer. There is no justification for insisting that God must mean something different to what is presented in the Word because the non-Israel nations do not appear to be accommodated. Translators have always sought to expand the scope and even the NIV translation does this, justifying interpretation on the grounds of scholarship! We can presume all we like about the other races. We can pretend that God makes no selections among races and that all races must be the same. To say this is to say that God was wrong to choose Israel for a purpose and to sever them from the other races. We can attempt to spiritualise the Seed of Abraham all we like in an attempt to accommodate all the other races, as being in that one particular seed. We can choose to do lots of things other than believing God. But only God’s word will endure for ever. At this stage we will say only this, that understanding is impossible if we cannot accept what God says about His called, chosen, elect, peculiar and separate people who descended from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob.