Who is Abraham's seed?

This is a vitally important question, because Abraham’s seed is to be the recipient of great promises. The Bible says all the nations of the world will be blessed by Abraham’s seed. It says his seed will number as the stars of the sky and inherit the world. So who is it?

Unfortunately, many Christians interpret the phrase carnally. To them the seed is the Jews and national Israel. To them the seed is spread not by the Spirit but by sperm. How many times have you heard that the Jews are God’s chosen people, or, more incredibly, that Christians must act reverently and deferentially toward the current inhabitants of political Israel—regardless of their relationship with Christ?

The problems with this view are numerous.

One obvious problem is that Abraham had many children, yet the seed was passed only to one: Isaac. Ishmael was a carnal seed of Abraham, yet tradition tells us he was the father of the Arabs. After Sarah died, Abraham remarried and had many more children who had nothing to do with Israel. God “hated” Abraham’s grandson Esau and excluded him from the line of blessing. So right off the bat most of Abraham’s carnal seeds were out of the running.

So what does it mean to be of the seed of Abraham? Rather than me rambling on, let’s see if Scripture makes it clear.

“Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham” (Galatians 3: 7).

“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3: 26-29).

“For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed” (Romans 9: 6-8).

“For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith” (Romans 4: 13).

Pretty straightforward. The seed represents faith in Christ. If one of your children believes, he is of the seed. If another of your children doesn’t believe, he is not of the seed. It actually has nothing to do with genetics. The genetic descendants of Abraham are not necessarily God’s people. In fact, they never were. They were only considered so on an individual basis if they were saved by grace through faith in the Messiah.

The Sunday school song actually gets this right:
“Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham.
I am one of them and so are you, so let’s all praise the Lord.”

That’s not a song to be sung by ethnic Jews only, though they can certainly sing it if they are saved. And one day, most of them will sing it (Romans 11: 26)--along with the majority of the world (Psalms 22: 27; Isaiah 2: 2; Habbakuk 2: 14).

So if Christians are the seed, they will number as the stars of the sky, they will cause all nations to be blessed through the “gospel of the kingdom,” they will inherit not just a sliver of dry land in the Mideast, but the world. It will not be a political dominion but a spiritual one.

Kind of changes the perspective doesn’t it?

Dispensationalists have to devise a theology that takes Christians off the map (the imminent Rapture) so that national and carnal Israel can supposedly receive all those promises. But the promises were never given to national Israel or Abraham’s fleshly offspring. They were given to those who, like Abraham, have faith in Christ.

Christian Doctrines

Some excerpts from a refreshing old book called Christian Doctrines by Baptist scholar James Madison Pendleton.

On church:

“In answer to the question, What is a church? It may be said, A church is a congregation of Christ’s baptized disciples, acknowledging him as their Head, relying on his atoning sacrifice for justification before God, depending on the Holy Spirit for sanctification, united in the belief of the gospel, agreeing to maintain its ordinances and obey its precepts, meeting together for worship, and co-operating for the extension of Christ’s kingdom in the world. If any prefer an abridgment of this definition, it may be given thus: A church is a congregation of Christ’s baptized disciples, united in the belief of what he has said, and covenanting to do what he has commanded.”

On the resurrection:

“As to the period of the resurrection, the whole tenor of Scripture indicates that it will take place at the end of the world, at the second coming of Christ, and as preparatory to the general judgment.”

On baptism:

"The commission of Christ, as understood and exemplified in the apostolic age, requires the baptism of believers, disciples; and the baptism of all others, whether unbelievers or unconscious infants, is utterly unwarranted. There is, as Paul has written in the Epistle to the Ephesians, 'one Lord, one faith, one baptism.' The one Lord is the object of the one faith, the one faith embraces the one Lord, and the one baptism is a profession of the one faith in the one Lord."

On Abraham’s seed:

“As to the seed of Abraham we may learn much from Paul, who says, ‘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.’ The apostle under inspiration seized hold of the important fact that the seed of Abraham is Christ, in whom all nations are blessed. Thus the promised Saviour was known to Abraham, of whom Jesus said to the Jews, ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.’"

Dispensationalism vs. Scripture: Part I

Does Christ want to be a literal king on earth?
“My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18: 36).
“When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone” (John 6: 15).

Aren’t the OT promises about “Abraham’s seed” meant for Jews only?
No. “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children…That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed” (Romans 9: 6-8). Christ was the promise. His children aren’t determined by blood type or race.

But what about when God promised a lot of territory to the “seed” of Abraham?
“He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Gal. 3: 16). God intends for Christ--not the current nation-state of Israel—to have dominion on earth.

Are you saying there aren’t two distinct peoples of God?
“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus…There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3: 26, 28).

So were OT saints saved by grace through faith in the Messiah, just like everyone else?
“By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward” (Hebrews 11: 24-26). Moses believed in Christ. Acts 2: 29-31 tells us that David believed in Christ and His resurrection. Even Adam and Eve heard the promise of the coming Christ (Gen 3: 15).

OT saints were saved the same as NT saints—by grace through faith in Christ. They had ordinances that foreshadowed Christ (sacrifices, the Passover feast, etc.); we have ordinances that remember Christ (the Lord’s supper, baptism). They were looking forward to the cross; we are looking back at it. The blood of the cross ran down both sides of the hill, offering “one sacrifice for sins forever” (Hebrews 10: 12).

Which means—and this is a radical thought for some people--the Bible is all one story. We don’t need to chop it up. We don’t need to guess which parts are written for Christians and which parts are written for Jews. It’s all one story about one master plan.

To be continued…