The Seed of Abraham (Part One)

In Romans 4:11-18 we read the following:

And [Abraham] obtained the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which was in uncircumcision, for him to be the father of all those who are believing through uncircumcision, for righteousness to be reckoned to them, and the father of the Circumcision, not to those of the Circumcision only, but to those also who are observing the elements of the faith in the footprints of our father Abraham, in uncircumcision.

For not through law is the promise to Abraham, or to his Seed, for him to be enjoyer of the allotment of the world, but through faith’s righteousness. For if those of law are enjoyers of the allotment, faith has been made void and the promise has been nullified, for the law is producing indignation. Now where no law is, neither is there transgression.

Therefore it is of faith that it may accord with grace, for the promise to be confirmed to the entire seed, not to those of the law only, but to those also of the faith of Abraham, who is father of us all, according as it is written that, A father of many nations have I appointed you -- facing which, he believes it of the God Who is vivifying the dead and calling what is not as if it were -- who, being beyond expectation, believes in expectation, for him to become the father of many nations, according to that which has been declared, “Thus shall be your seed.”

Some have appealed to Paul’s affirmation in v. 13 that “the promise” in view is “not through law” in support of the position that, in the eon to come, the expectation of God’s covenant people, Israel, will not involve keeping the law that was given to them by God (and which includes the “statutes,” “ordinances” and “Sabbaths” that we find referred to in, for example, Ezekiel 20:12-13, 16, 20-21, 24, 36:27, 37:24 and 44:24). However, when Paul affirmed that the promise referred to in Rom. 4:16 was “not through law,” he simply meant that this promise – which came to Abraham before the law was given – was not dependent on the law for its fulfillment, and could not be invalidated by the law. God’s covenant with Abraham was made hundreds of year before the law was given, and thus did not contain any law-based conditions that could nullify it. As Paul stated in Gal. 3:17, “a covenant, having been ratified before by God, the law, having come four hundred and thirty years afterward, does not invalidate, so as to nullify the promise.” 

The promises Abraham received from God (including the promise that Paul had in mind in Rom. 4:16) were given without any reference to the law, and were never dependent on any legal observance for their fulfillment or confirmation. The promises depended solely on God’s own faithfulness. It is this lack of dependence on the law for the fulfillment and confirmation of the promise that Paul had in view in Rom. 4:13, and was Paul’s only point in saying that the promise is “not through law” (even the NIV Study Bible – which can’t be accused of having a “pro-dispensationalist” bias – explains the expression “not through law” as meaning, “not on the condition that the promise be merited by works of the law”). There is, therefore, no conflict between what Paul wrote in Rom. 4:13 and the place that the law will have in Israel’s covenant-based expectation during the eon to come.

But what, exactly, is “the promise” to which Paul was referring in the verses quoted above? This promise is, I believe, God’s promise to Abraham that he would be “a father of many nations, according to that which has been declared, ‘Thus shall be your seed’” (Rom. 4:17-18; cf. Gen. 17:5 and 15:5). We know that the term translated “world” here (kosmos) can refer to a multitude of people (rather than to a location), and that an “allotment” can refer to people rather than land (see, for example, Heb. 11:7; Titus 3:7; Ps. 2:8; Isa. 19:25). In accord with these facts, “the allotment of the world” referred to in Rom. 4:13 can be understood as the worldwide group of offspring that makes Abraham “the father of many nations.” That is, the “many nations” of which Abraham became “a father” (and which includes the nation of Israel) constitutes the “world” in view in Rom. 4:13. And according to Paul, the saints to whom he wrote (and who belonged to “all the ecclesias of the nations” referred to in Rom. 16:4) were among the “many nations” of whom it was promised that Abraham would become “a father.”

Now, it’s commonly believed among Christians that every believer in Paul’s day who could’ve been considered as being among “the entire seed” to whom “the promise” in view is being confirmed was a member of the company of saints that Paul referred to in his letters as “the body of Christ” (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:15-19; 10:16-17; 12:12-27; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4, 12-16; 5:23-24, 30; Col. 1:18, 24; 2:19; 3:15). However, I believe this commonly-held view is mistaken, and that what Paul wrote in v. 16 actually presupposes the existence of two separate companies of believers who could both be considered as being of the “seed” of Abraham (and who together comprised “the entire seed” referred to in v. 16). In this verse we read the following: 

“Therefore it is of faith that it may accord with grace, for the promise to be confirmed to the entire seed, not to those of the law only, but to those also of the faith of Abraham, who is father of us all...’”

Notice how Paul had two categories of Abraham’s “seed” in view to which the promise to Abraham was being confirmed: (1) “those of the law” and (2) “those also of the faith of Abraham.” Contextually, it’s clear that “those also of the faith of Abraham” are those who “are observing the elements of the faith in the footprints of our father Abraham, in uncircumcision” (v. 12). And this can be said of every member of the body of Christ. For just as Abraham’s faith while “in uncircumcision” was a faith that did not involve or require works in order for it to be “reckoned to him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:1-3, 19-22), so it is the case for all who have, through faith in the evangel of the Uncircumcision, become members of the body of Christ (Rom. 4:23-25; 5:1-2). But who, then, did Paul have in view as “those of the law?”

We know that the law to which Paul was referring here is that which God gave his covenant people, Israel (Exodus 19:4-8). And as I argued in part three of my study “God’s Covenant People” (http://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2018/09/gods-covenant-people-why-most-believing_83.html), the following words from Psalm 103:17-18 were just as true and applicable to Israel during the apostolic era as they were when the Psalm was first written: “Yet the benignity of Yahweh is from eon unto eon over those fearing Him, and His righteousness continues for the sons of sons, to those keeping His covenant and to those remembering His precepts, to do them.” Contrary to what most Christians believe, Israel’s covenant-based obligation to keep the precepts of the law given to them by God (as an expression of their faith in God) did not cease at any point in the first century; what changed was that, after the prophesied arrival of their Messiah, God’s covenant people had to also believe that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” in order to “have life eonian in his name” (John 20:31). In accord with this fact, we also know that the divine exhortation found in Mal. 4:4 (i.e., “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel”) will remain just as applicable to, and authoritative for, Israel during the future “day of the Lord” as it was in Malachi’s day (see, for example, Rev. 14:12; cf. Matt. 5:17-20; 19:16-17; 23:1-3); in fact, the very context in which this prophetic exhortation is found concerns this future period of time.

At the same time, we know that Paul couldn’t have had unbelieving Jews in mind when, in Rom. 4:16, he referred to those of Abraham’s seed who were “of the law” (for the promise of which Paul wrote is not being confirmed to them). But nor could Paul have been referring to circumcised members of the body of Christ. For no one in the body of Christ – whether uncircumcised or circumcised – can be considered as being “of the law.” Rather, according to Paul, all who are in the body of Christ have been “put to death to the law through the body of Christ,” and are thus “exempted from the law” (Rom. 7:1-6; cf. Rom. 6:14-15; Gal. 3:23-29; 5:1-10).[1] Thus, when Paul referred to certain believers as “those of the law” he had to have been referring to Jewish believers outside of the body of Christ (such as, I believe, the “tens of thousands” of believing, law-keeping Jews referred to by James in Acts 21:20).

In accord with this understanding of what Paul wrote in Rom. 4:16, the position for which I’m going to be arguing in the remainder of this article could be summarized as follows: In Paul’s day, there were two distinct companies of saints who, for different (but ultimately related) reasons, could both be referred to as “the seed of Abraham” (and who, together, comprised “the entire seed” to whom “the promise” referred to in Rom. 4:13 is being confirmed):

1. Those who were “of the law” – i.e., the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who constituted the chosen remnant within Israel (Romans 9:6-8; 11:5-7), and whom Paul referred to in Galatians 6:16 as “the Israel of God”; and

2. Those whom Paul referred to collectively as “the nations” (Rom. 1:13; 11:13, 25; 15:16, 18) and who constituted ”all the ecclesias of the nations” (Rom. 16:4) – i.e., the body of Christ.

The chosen seed of Israel

I’ll begin my defense of the position summarized above with a consideration of the term “seed” as it’s used in 1 Chronicles 16:12-18. In this passage we read the following:

Remember His marvelous works that He has done, His miracles and the judgments of His mouth, O seed of Israel, His servants, sons of Jacob, His chosen ones. He is Yahweh, our Elohim; His judgments are in all the earth. Remember His covenant for the eon, the word he enjoined on a thousand generations, that He contracted with Abraham, and by His oath to Isaac. He ratified it to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as a covenant eonian, saying, “To you shall I give the land of Canaan, the region of your allotment.”

The Hebrew word translated “seed” in v. 13 is zera, and – as is the case here – is often used in a figurative sense to refer to an individual’s offspring or descendant(s). And just like the English term “seed,” zera can be understood either as a collective singular (i.e., denoting multiple seeds of the same kind) or as a unitary singular (denoting a single seed). For example, in Genesis 4:25 we find the word being used as a unitary singular:

And knowing is Adam Eve, his wife, again. And pregnant is she and bearing a son. And calling is she his name Seth, saying, “For set for me has the Elohim another seed instead of Abel, for Cain kills him.” 

Here, the expression “another seed” refers to a single individual (i.e., Seth).

In contrast with how the term is used in this and other similar verses, the term is clearly being used in 1 Chron. 16:12-18 as a collective singular, and refers to a plurality of offspring/descendants (i.e., those who are subsequently referred to in v. 13 as “His servants, sons of Jacob, His chosen ones”). In addition to its use in 1 Chron. 16:12, the following passages are, I believe, additional examples in which the term “seed” is being used as a collective singular to refer to the same plurality of offspring as those referred to in 1 Chron. 16:13 as the “seed of Israel”:

Genesis 12:5-7

And taking is Abram Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their goods which they got, and every soul which they make their own in Charan, and forth are they faring to go toward the land of Canaan. And coming are they to the land of Canaan. And passing is Abram into the land as far as the place of Shechem, as far as the high oak. And the Canaanite is then dwelling in the land. And appearing is Yahweh to Abram and is saying to him, “To your seed am I giving this land.”

Genesis 13:14-17

And Yahweh Elohim says to Abram after Lot was parted from him, “Lift your eyes, pray, and see. From the place where you now are, northward and toward the south-rim and eastward and seaward, for all the land which you are seeing, to you am I giving it, and to your seed, till the eon. And I make your seed as the soil of the land. Could a man count the soil of the land, moreover, then your seed shall be counted. Rise, walk in the land, its length and its width, for to you am I giving it, and to your seed, for the eon.”

Genesis 15:13, 18

And saying is He to Abram, “Knowing, yea, knowing are you that a sojourner is your seed to become in a land not theirs, and they are to serve them. Yet evil shall they do to them and humiliate them four hundred years…”

In that day Yahweh contracted a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your seed I give this land, from the stream of Egypt as far as the great stream, the stream Euphrates…”

Genesis 17:7-10

“And I set up My covenant between Me and you, and your seed after you, for their generations, for a covenant eonian, to become your Elohim and your seed’s after you. And I give to you and to your seed after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for a holding eonian. And I become their Elohim.” And saying is the Elohim to Abraham, “And you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you for their generations. This is My covenant, which you shall keep between Me and you and your seed after you for their generations: Circumcise to yourselves every male.”

Genesis 26:2-5

And appearing to him is Yahweh and saying, “You must not go down to Egypt. Tabernacle in the land of which I apprize you. Sojourn in this land, and I come to be with you and will bless you. For to you and to your seed will I give all these lands, and carry out will I the oath which I swore to Abraham, your father. And increase will I your seed as the stars of the heavens, and give will I to your seed all these lands. And blessed, in your seed, are all the nations of the earth, inasmuch as hearken did Abraham, your father, to My voice and kept My charge, My instructions, My statutes, and My laws.”

Genesis 28:13-14

And saying is He, “I am Yahweh, the Elohim of Abraham, your forefather, and the Elohim of Isaac. Do not fear. The land on which you are lying, to you will I give it, and to your seed. And become shall your seed as the soil of the land. And breach forth will you seaward and eastward and northward and toward the south-rim. And blessed, in you, are all the families of the ground, and in your seed.”

Genesis 35:12

“And the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to you am I giving it. Yours it is; and to your seed after you am I giving the land.”

Notice that, in each of these passages, the “seed” or offspring in view are being promised a certain geographical territory (i.e., the land of Canaan, the exact boundaries of which are specified in greater detail in Numbers 34:1-15). It’s also clear from verses such as Genesis 13:14-17 that the offspring to which God promised the land of Canaan as an eonian allotment should be understood as a reference to a plurality of people who descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and who belong to “the twelve tribes of Israel” (i.e., the “seed of Israel” referred to in 1 Chron. 16:13). That is, the very same seed referred to in, for example, Genesis 17:7-10 (and to whom God promised “the land of Canaan for a holding eonian”) belong to the twelve-tribed people who were commanded by God to keep the covenant of circumcision referred to in Gen. 17:9-14 (cf. Acts 7:8) throughout their generations, and to whom the law was later given (Exodus 19; Lev. 26:46; Rom. 9:4).

The enjoyment of the eonian allotment of the land by the “seed of Israel” to whom God promised it is referred to as a future reality elsewhere in the prophets. For example, in the book of Ezekiel we read the following:

Thus says the Lord God: “When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and manifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob.” Ezekiel 28:25

“For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.” Ezekiel 36:24

Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.” Ezekiel 37:21

Amos’ prophecy also concludes with a reference to the land promised to Abraham’s offspring. In Amos 9:13-15 we read the following:

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says Yahweh your God.

And in Joel 3:2, we read that God’s judgment upon the nations during the day of the Lord will be, in part, due to this promised land being divided or “apportioned”:

I will also convene all the nations and bring them down to the Vale of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there concerning My people, and My allotment, Israel, whom they disperse among the nations, and My land which they apportion.

References to the Jewish seed of Abraham in Hebrews and Romans

In Hebrews 2:14-17 we read the following:

Since, then, the little children have participated in blood and flesh, He also was very nigh by partaking of the same, that, through death, He should be discarding him who has the might of death, that is, the Adversary, and should be clearing those whoever, in fear of death, were through their entire life liable to slavery. For assuredly it is not taking hold of messengers, but it is taking hold of the seed of Abraham. Whence He ought, in all things, to be made like the brethren, that He may be becoming a merciful and faithful Chief Priest in that which is toward God, to make a propitiatory shelter for the sins of the people.

We have good reason to believe that the author of the letter to the Hebrews was addressing believers who, with regard to ethnicity/lineage, were Jewish. The very fact that the letter was written to people who identified as “Hebrews” can be understood as clear evidence of this fact. We never once find the term “Hebrew” used in Scripture to refer to Gentiles (nor was it used, as far as I know, in this way in any ancient, extra-biblical writings). Instead, “Hebrews” is the original name of Judeans. Concerning this fact, ancient Jewish historian Josephus wrote: “Sala was the son of Arphaxad; and his son was Heber, from whom they originally called the Jews Hebrews” (Josephus' Antiquities of Jews Book 1, Chapter 6, Paragraph 4). It was after the Hebrews came back to Judea from Babylon that they became known as “Judeans” (or “Jews”). In accord with this fact, Paul – when referring to his own Jewish ethnicity – referred to himself as being ”of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews...” (Phil. 3:5).

The ethnic identity of the recipients of the letter to the Hebrews is further confirmed from the fact that the recipients of the letter are implied to be those who were descendants of “the fathers” to whom God spoke “in the prophets” (Heb. 1:1). We further read that the recipients of this letter belonged to “the people of God” (Heb. 4:9). What we read in Hebrews 10:28-30 and 11:25 makes it clear that this is a reference to God’s covenant people, Israel (and not to believers among the nations). In these verses we read the following:

Anyone repudiating Moses’ law is dying without pity on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, are you supposing, will he be counted worthy who tramples on the Son of God, and deems the blood of the covenant by which he is hallowed contaminating, and outrages the spirit of grace? For we are acquainted with Him Who is saying, Mine is vengeance! I will repay! the Lord is saying, and again, “The Lord will be judging His people.”

By faith Moses, becoming great, disowns the term “son of Pharaoh’s daughter,” preferring rather to be maltreated with the people of God than to have a temporary enjoyment of sin…

With regard to the first passage, the implication is that the recipients of this letter belonged to the same group of people who are in view in the verse that the author was quoting (which is Deut. 32:36). And in the second verse, “the people of God” with whom Moses preferred to be maltreated is another clear reference to Israel. Thus, when the author of the letter to the Hebrews referred to the recipients of his letter as belonging to “the people of God,” he was referring to the people to whom God was referring when he identified himself as “Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews” (Ex. 3:18; 5:1; 7:16). We can, therefore, reasonably conclude that the expression “the seed of Abraham” in Heb. 2:16 refers to those who belong to the same promised offspring of Abraham referred to in, for example, Genesis 13:14-17 and 17:7-10.

For part two, click here: http://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-seed-of-abraham-part-two.html

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[1] This doesn’t mean that there is no grace at all involved in the salvation of those believers who are “of the law.” Grace is an essential element in the salvation for God’s covenant people (for example, the very fact that not all of Israel had been “calloused” is itself an expression of God’s grace). However, when the contrast is between being “under grace” and “under law,” the expression “under grace” means grace only. Concerning the role that God’s grace plays in the salvation of those in the body of Christ and believers outside of the body of Christ, see the following two-part article: http://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-response-to-l-ray-smiths-criticism-of.html