The Spirit of Prophecy Podcast

Abraham’s Seed or Descendants

A Child’s Simple Question

When I was a little boy, my dad was doing family devotions, and I vividly remember a specific instance. He was reading from Genesis 22, where Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac, and I remember him talking about what God said in verses 16-18.

Gen 22:16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

Gen 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

Gen 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

I remember my dad talking about how God blessed Isaac because of Abraham in chapter 26:4-5.

Gen 26:4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

Gen 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

The Disappointment of Being a “Gentile Dog”

I distinctly remember, as a 6- or 7-year-old boy, asking my dad if maybe we descended from Abraham and Isaac because our family was very blessed. I remember asking if he thought we might be related to Abraham, and he said, “I don’t know. I guess it is possible, but probably not because we are gentiles and we most likely descend from Japheth.” It was a huge disappointment. I learned later, after reading some books and hearing some preaching on dispensationalism, that I was just a stinking Gentile dog. The blessing of Abraham doesn’t belong to me; it belongs exclusively to the Jews, and I need to be a blessing to them if I want to be blessed.

I moved on from the disappointment, though, and was content to be a saved “Gentile dog.” While I didn’t personally know any Jews who I could bless, I always hoped that maybe someday, I would get an opportunity to bless one so that I could also receive an extra blessing from God.

Now let’s fast-forward a dozen or so years after learning about dispensationalism, and imagine my surprise when I found out that I was actually pretty close to the truth as a 6- or 7-year-old boy about my connection to Abraham. It is an absolute shame that people are not being taught the truth about Abraham’s Seed in churches today. What a great truth this is, and it really isn’t that complicated at all. Why do so many get this simple truth wrong? How is it possible to be this inconsistent in their teaching?

The Inconsistency of Dispensational Teaching

Dispensationalists will apply the blessings to all of Abraham’s descendants, but then they will say that Ishmael and the sons of Keturah don’t count. They will say it only applies to Isaac and his descendants, but then they will say that Esau doesn’t count and it only applies to Jacob and his descendants. I need someone to explain why all the descendants didn’t apply to Abraham and Isaac, but then it magically did when we get to Jacob. You can never be consistent when you are in error.

Now, I will concede that if all we had was the book of Genesis, mistaking Abraham’s Seed for Abraham’s descendants would be an honest mistake. It sure looks like it is talking about descendants, or at least it could be applied to descendants. The thing is, though, this isn’t really up for debate because we have Paul’s commentary on Genesis 12 that he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

Gen 12:7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

Gal 3:16 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.

It is an indisputable fact that “the seed” the promises were made to was a singular seed, and that seed was Christ. Why does everyone say descendants, though? Paul literally specified that the seed was singular, yet theologians apply it to “descendants” plural. Where did this come from? How did this idea that is so contrary to clear Scripture become so mainstream? Why is it that even though this is spelled out on the pages of Scripture, people refuse to repent of this bad teaching?

The Scofield Reference Bible and Its Lasting Damage

One of the biggest reasons is the Scofield Reference Bible. Look at Scofield’s notes on Genesis 12.

The Fourth Dispensation: Promise. For Abraham, and his descendants it is evident that the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 15:18) made a great change. They became distinctively the heirs of promise. That covenant is wholly gracious and unconditional. The descendants of Abraham had but to abide in their own land to inherit every blessing.

Scofield’s notes would definitely help instill this false idea in the minds of theologians.

Modern Bibles vs. the King James

Another thing that hasn’t helped the cause is modern versions of the Bible. (Let me just add that I am unapologetically KJV only.)

NIV 12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[a] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

ESV 12:7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

The Living Bible 12:7 Then Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, “I am going to give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there to commemorate Jehovah’s visit.

The Message 12:7 God appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children.” Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.

NASB 12:7 And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.

NKJV 12:7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your [a]descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Even the NKJV got it wrong. I looked up this reference in several Bibles, and what is interesting is that all the ones that got it wrong were the ones that came after Scofield. Let’s look at some Pre-Scofield Bibles.

ASV 12:7 And Jehovah appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto Jehovah, who appeared unto him.

The ASV got it right, but the NASB went with Scofield.

Darby 12:7 And Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there he built an altar to Jehovah who had appeared to him.

Even John Nelson Darby, the father of dispensationalism, got this one right.

The High Cost of Error

It definitely appears that Scofield’s notes caused this idea of the seed being plural instead of singular. If you see the word “seed” and you think descendants, you didn’t get that idea from reading your KJV. You got it from commentaries and other versions. I don’t believe we will fully know the extent of the damage done by Scofield and his notes until he stands before God on Judgment Day. I am not going to take the time to give any history on Scofield in this article. There are many great resources out there where you can learn the truth about Scofield and the type of person he was. However, the best source for learning about the depravity of Scofield can be found in his notes inside of some King James Bibles. May God be merciful to all who have ever given away a Scofield Bible in ignorance of what is contained in the notes.