The Pharisees, in spite of their physical descent from Abraham, did not originate (ek)

from God--but they did originate (ek) from Satan. We can surely understand why Christ

was not popular with the religious leaders of His day! And we may say that this doctrine

is not popular today either. Some professing Christians flatly reject it because it does not

square with their ideas, but we would remind them that this doctrine comes from One

Who said "I am the Truth" (John 14: 6) and Christians are not at liberty to disagree with

The doctrine of the two seeds is also clearly taught by the Lord in the parable of the

tares (Matt. 13: 24-30), and it was this one out of all the other parables that the disciples

asked the Lord to explain (verse 36). It should be noted that the Lord disclaims any

connection with the tares. They did not emanate from Him. "An enemy has done this",

He said (Matt. 13: 27, 28). "The tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy

that sowed them is the devil" (verses 38, 39) the Lord declared. One thing is perfectly

clear; tares remain tares right to the end of the age, when they are gathered together by

angels and destroyed in a "furnace of fire" (verses 40-42). Not a single tare is changed

into true wheat, nor does the true wheat ever becomes tares. They represent two totally

different classes, the true wheat, the children of the kingdom, and the tares, the children

of Satan introduced by him in his attempt to thwart and overthrow the kingdom purposes

of God. Similar teaching is given by the Lord Jesus when He said "Every plant, which

My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up" (Matt. 15: 13). Not all those

who are in the garden of mankind are planted by God. Satan has introduced his weeds

and they will surely be eradicated before God's kingdom becomes a glorious reality.

One may ask the question, as the true seed of God are born into this world as sinners

(as Romans clearly testifies), can they not be regarded as "tares" before they are saved

and justified? The answer is definitely "no". They come under the dominion of sin and

death certainly, and need the redeeming work of Christ to remove this condition, but

never are they regarded as originating from Satan and being the children of the devil.

Nor, as stated before, do we find a single tare in the above parable, changing into true

wheat. They remain Satan's seed right to the end, when they are "rooted up" and

destroyed. They are outwardly human, but inwardly the seed of the devil. Such is the

sinister picture which the Word of God portrays whether we like it or not. We must

therefore take great care that we do not mix or confuse these two companies or our

conclusions will be wide off the mark of truth. Physical connection with Abraham does

not constitute them the true seed, as the Apostle Paul demonstrates in Rom. 9::

Ishmael and Esau were "children of the flesh", but that does not constitute them the

true seed. The true seed are the children of promise who originate from God. They are

"in Isaac" if true Israelites, and "in Christ" in the wider application of the figure.