The Seed

I’m going to use this post to develop a thought mentioned by Stephen De Young in his podcast, The Whole Counsel of God. In an episode about Galatians 3, he made an interesting observation about Paul’s reasoning.

The verse at issue was Galatians 3:16: “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as one would in referring to many, but rather as in referring to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Christ.”

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De Young pointed out that Paul was referring to a promise God gave to Abraham which was recorded in Genesis 22:18: “And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

In Genesis, the Hebrew word translated “seed” is zera`. Bible scholars call this a “collective noun” (see here and here) which means that while it has a singular form, it can refer either to an individual or to a group. You need the context to help you decide which one applies.

Going by Hebrew grammar alone, Paul can’t make the assertion he does in Galatians. But the Greek version of the Old Testament allows him to do so. That translation uses the Greek word sperma, which the apostle repeats in his letter. Paul then adds the plural form (spermata) to contrast the two.

The point he was stressing was that Jesus Christ qualified to inherit the promise God offered Abraham. The nation of Israel–the Jewish people–failed to live faithfully to the Lord, but Jesus never let down His Father. His commitment and loyalty to God was total and complete; He is the true heir!

And He did this for us, so when we trust in Christ and follow Him, we inherit the magnificent promise given to Abraham and fulfilled in Jesus.

This is great theology and quite encouraging, but did Paul make a mistake? He seems to be basing his argument on a line from the Greek Old Testament which is a translation of the Hebrew. Did he stretch the meaning of Scripture so he could reach a predetermined conclusion?

Actually, no!

Look at the verse that precedes the one he quoted: “indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand, which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies” (Genesis 22:17).

God is describing how He is going to fulfill His promise to bless Abraham and his “seed” (zera`). Again, the word is in a presumed singular form, but the Lord speaks of multiplication. One man, Isaac, isn’t going to stay one. He’s going to become a multitude!

When did God fulfill this word? Isaac had two sons (Esau and Jacob), so he didn’t have a large family. As time went on, the clans grew, but neither Isaac nor Jacob were men of war. They didn’t “possess the gates of their enemies.” Later generations of Israelites did; think of Joshua leading the people to take control of the Promised Land.

But following Paul’s train of thought, let’s see this verse realized in Christ. Jesus came to us in a body which He offered up in the sacrifice of His cross. Having been resurrected, He expresses His life through us, His church. We are the body of Christ, and we’re all over the world!

And this is possible because Jesus defeated the gates of His enemies–the world, the flesh, and the devil and his hosts. So through our Savior, we get to walk in His victory over these forces.

The Seed is singular; it’s Jesus Christ. But when we become His disciples, we become seeds, spreading His life wherever we are. This is what the apostle Paul was explaining to the Galatian Christians.

They were blessed because they were in Christ the Blessed One.

And so are we!

(The verses in this post were from the NASB20 version of the Bible.)