Seedtime Seed
Seedtime Seed [1]
SEED, SEEDTIME (Heb. zera ‘; Gr. sperma, sporos, spora ). 1. Literal . ( a ) Vegetable ( Genesis 1:11; Genesis 8:22 etc.). See Agriculture, § 1 . ( b ) Animal ( Leviticus 15:16-18 etc.). 2. Metaphorical . ( a ) Offspring, race, family ( Genesis 3:15; Genesis 9:9; Genesis 12:7 etc.; Mark 12:19 ff., Luke 1:55 , John 7:42 etc.). In NT it is especially frequent in the phrase ‘the seed of Abraham’ a favourite Pauline equivalent for ‘Israel’ (cf. Romans 11:1 , 2 Corinthians 11:22 ). In Galatians 3:16 St. Paul argues from the use of the sing. ‘seed’ instead of the plur. ‘seeds’ in Genesis 13:15; Genesis 17:8 , that the Messiah in person is denoted and not Abraham’s progeny in general. As a proof the argument has no force, for the same word zera ’ occurs in the sing, form in every passage in the OT where it expresses the idea of offspring. It is a verbal subtlety due to the Apostle’s Rabbinical training. But the argument as a whole is independent of this grammatical refinement. St. Paul’s meaning is that the Messiah was clearly in view in the promises made to Abraham. Israel was the type of Christ, and in Him the seed of Abraham was summed up. From this follows that further extension of the fig. ‘seed of Abraham’ to denote those united to Christ by faith ( Galatians 3:7; Galatians 3:28 ), the spiritual Israel or ‘Israel of God’ ( Romans 2:29 , Galatians 6:16 ). ( b ) Vital energy . In 1 John 3:9 ‘seed’ denotes the indwelling principle of the Divine life by which the Christian is kept from sin.
J. C. Lambert.
