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completely reconciled, but we have never read an article advocating that doctrine which
referred to II Pet. 2:, for it is entirely against such a teaching.
We turn from the evil and the false to consider the good and the true, and assemble the
references to the Divine promises which are the background of the chosen seed, as we
have seen in Rom. 9:
"Now to Abraham and his SEED were the promises made, He saith not, And to
SEEDS, as to many; but as of one, And to thy SEED, which is Christ" (Gal. 3: 16).
The Apostle does not make a general reference to the O.T.; the fact that he goes out
of his way to commence his quotation with `and' compels us to look for a similar
reference in the book of Genesis. One such is found in Gen. 13: 15. There, the context
enlarges upon the number of the seed, likening them to the dust of the earth, so that if a
man can number the dust of the earth, then the seed promised to Abraham should also be
numbered. At first this appears to contradict the emphasis placed on `seed' as over
against `seeds, as of many' but a moment's reflection will establish the truth, brought
forward in this self same chapter, that all the seed, of whatever calling, are looked upon
as in Christ. They are only the seed because they are viewed in Him, the True Seed. So
in Gal. 3: 29, the Apostle confirms the view saying "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise".
Again in this same chapter, the law is said to have been given `till the seed should
come to whom the promise was made', or as it is said a few verses later "Wherefore the
law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ" (Gal. 3: 19, 24). It is the exclusive
privilege of the true seed to be able to look up to God and cry "Abba, Father". In the
fourth chapter Paul develops a lengthy argument, the pith of which is the essential
distinction between the two seeds; the one, the son of the bondwoman, cannot be heir
with the son of the freewoman, and must be `cast out' (Gal. 4: 22-31). To the contrasted
liberty all the true seed are called upon to stand fast (Gal. 5: 1). In the epistle to the
Romans, attention is focused upon the birth of Isaac as the true seed and child of promise.
Sarah, destined to be the mother of this child, is by nature barren, making a definite
interposition by God essential and so emphasizing that the seed is not the mere natural
progeny but, being promised, are `reckoned for a seed'. In Rom. 4:, the `deadness' of
both Abraham and Sarah is stressed in order that we might learn the lesson that:
"It is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be SURE TO
ALL THE SEED" (Rom. 4: 16).
The miraculous element in the birth of Isaac is again stressed in the epistle to the
Hebrews. First we read:
"Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was
delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful Who had
promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the
stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable"
(Heb. 11: 11, 12).