THE ONE SEED
‘God is Spirit and it is necessary for those worshipping Him to worship with Spirit and with truth’. (John 4:24)
‘Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, “And to seeds”, as of many; but as of one, “And to thy seed, which is Christ”.’ (Gal. 3:16.)
These are the words of Galatians 3:16 as recorded in the King James, or Authorised Version. This well known verse is often quoted, but I doubt if those who use it are aware of its true meaning. Indeed, I believe it is impossible to know what Paul did mean from this rendition of his words. On giving a little thought to the matter, several problems present themselves.
Firstly, the verse states that the promises were made only to Abraham and to Christ. But is this so? We are told that God’s promises were given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but where do we read that they were made to our Lord? Instead of being the recipient of the promises, we are told that He came to confirm them. Paul himself declares this in Romans 15:8:
‘For I say that an anointed One (or ‘Christ’) became a minister of circumcision concerning God’s truth, in order to confirm the promises belonging to the fathers’.
This immediately contradicts the A.V of Galatians 3:16, for it states that the promises belong to ‘the fathers’- i.e. to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – but not to Christ, for He came to confirm them.
Again, this wording of Galatians 3:16 explicitly limits the promises to two persons only – Abraham and Christ. This clearly means that nobody else can share in them. Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, whether believers or otherwise, would therefore be excluded from participation in them. It will be said that this is ridiculous. I agree, but it is exactly what the words state.
Another question arises. Is jesus the seed of Abraham? This is a matter that requires careful consideration. The Greek word for ‘seed’ is sperma and this denotes a literal seed – ‘that which is sown’. In man this seed is supplied only by the male and is carried (or born) by the female. Hence it refers to the male line, to a family as descendants of the man. Jesus was not begotten of any man, but directly from God, the heavenly Father, and was born by the woman, Mary.
As John 3:16 states, He was ‘begotten-only’ of God. The angel also made this clear when informing Mary about what was happening:
‘Holy Spirit will come upon thee and power of the most high will overshadow thee; therefore the holy child being born will be called Son of God.’ Luke 1:35.
The two genealogies of Jesus (in Matthew and Luke), are careful to emphasise that Joseph was not our Lord’s father. So too does Matthew’s account of events prior to His birth:
‘Now the birth of *Jesus Christ was thus: when His *mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child of Holy Spirit.’ Matthew 1:18.
Again in verse 20 Joseph was told not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, ‘for that born by her is from Holy Spirit’. It is clear from all this, that Jesus was not the ‘seed'(sperma) of Abraham, nor of any other man.
It may also be mentioned, that if He were of Abraham’s seed then He would be of the fallen Adamic line, and as such, may not have the necessary qualifications to redeem His people.
To find an explanation of these anomalies it is necessary to consult the Greek text to see if the A.V provides a correct record of Paul’s words. When this is done we find that one word in particular requires attention.
This is the word rendered ‘Christ’. It is unfortunate that our A.V has, in all of its occurrences, indiscriminately used this word to represent the Greek word christos. This is not a translation of christos, but merely a transliteration of it – a transposing of the Greek letters into English.
The Greek word christos is a verbal adjective, and simply means ‘anointed’. When used alone (as in this verse) this is the meaning that should be applied to it. Sometimes it is used alone as a substantive (i.e. a noun) and in these cases an ‘understood word’ may be inserted to suit the context, and indicate to what it refers. For example, ‘an anointed one’, or ‘the anointed one’ if the article is used with it. Thus where it is used of a certain person such as our Lord, who may not actually be named, ‘an/the anointed One’ would be appropriate.
Of course, instead of ‘one’ some other understood word may be necessary to suit a particular context. Hence it may, and frequently is, used of God’s people being anointed. Where I think this is the case I render it as ‘the anointed people‘.
Attached to a noun it has its norrnal adjectival value, Thus IEsous xristos means ‘anointed Jesus’.
In Galatians 3:16 christos occurs alone without the article, and is therefore employed with its norrnal adjectival value. In this case it relates to Abraham’s ‘one seed’. Hence the final clause of the verse reads ‘which is anointed’. So, correctly and literally translated, Paul’s words are:
‘To Abraham and his seed were the promises announced. He saith not, And to the seeds, as to many, but as to one, And to thy seed which is anointed.’
Alternatively the last clause could be rendered, ‘And to thy seed which is an anointed people.’
For a fuller explanation of the word christos see my separate article ‘Our Word Christ’.
The verse now becomes a perfectly logical statement in keeping with Paul’s arguments in all his writings. God’s promises were bestowed on Abraham and upon only one of his seeds the anointed one. No one else is included. Indeed not even Abraham’s other sons, or their descendants. Nevertheless God did give some blessings, but only material ones, to the other descendants of Abraham. (As in Gen. 17:18-21.)
In addition to Isaac, Abraham had children from Hagar and Keturah, and these are the ones designated ‘the children of the fiesh’ in Rornans 9:8:
‘That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of *God, but the children of the prornise are reckoned as descendants.’
God stated quite definitely that Abraham’s seed was to be named (or ‘called’- A.V) in Isaac, who had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Jacob was the one selected by Jehovah and, renamed, ‘lsrael’. Israel then is God’s name for Jacob, and for the people who came from him. This I believe, identified the ‘sons of Jacob’ as being the people who were ‘anointed’ with God’s Spirit.
Anointing is used to signify that God’s Spirit is placed in a person, and this would be the reason for its use in Galatians 3:16.
The birth of Isaac was miraculous. It was brought about by God Himself at the time Abraham was 100 years of age, and Sarah, who had always been barren, was 90. It was the result of God’s Spirit being introduced into Abraham, and by inheritance into lsaac and Jacob. Hence, as Paul states to his kinsrnen dwelling in Corinth, God’s Spirit dwells in His people, Israel:
‘Know ye not that your *body is a temple of the Holy Spirit that is within you, which ye possess from God; and ye do not belong to yourselves’. I Corinthians 6:19
And so, when God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, this indicated that he was the one descendant (the lone seed’) that could be regarded as that of Abraham. Anointing indicates the in-breathing of God’s Spirit, and therefore in Galatians 3:16,’thy (Abraham’s) seed which is anointed’, refers not to ‘Christ’ but to Jacob, and thence to his descendants.
‘Now to Abraham and to his *seed were the promises announced. He saith not “And to the seeds”, as to many, but as to one, “And to thy *seed which is anointed.”.’
In the verse we have been studying, Israel’s unique position in God’s Word is clearly stated. God’s covenants or promises, are bestowed upon His people (Israel), and not upon any others,
(In this study of Galatians 3:16. All Scriptural quotations are direct translations from the Greek unless otherwise acknowledged. Any Greek words used are printed in italics. Italics are also used where any ‘understood’ words are inserted to express the meaning in English. Where the Greek uses the definite article, but it is regarded as unnecessary in English, this is indicated by an asterisk before the word. Thus ho theos, ‘the God’, is sometimes printed as *God. In typing Greek words ‘e’ is used for epsilon, ‘E’ for eta, ‘o’ for omicron and ‘O’ for omega.)
