Please explain Galatians 3:16.
Galatians 3:16 reads, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ” (NKJV). What a marvelous verse! I say this because if we were to read all of the promises that were given to Abraham we would conclude that they were given to “Abraham and his SEEDS (plural),” which means “Abraham and his DESCENDANTS.” I will quote a few verses to prove this point:
“Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To YOUR DESCENDANTS I will give this land’…..For all the land which you see I give to YOU AND YOUR DESCENDANTS forever…..The LORD God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To YOUR DESCENDANTS I give this land’” (Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 24:7).
So, how can we explain this? It is actually quite easy, for even though the promises included all of Abraham’s descendants, yet the truth is all of the promises were to be FULFILLED IN ONE SEED, the Lord Jesus Christ. I like what one commentator said on this verse, “The stress on SEED, not SEEDS, was made simply to remind the readers that the faithful in Israel had always recognized that blessing would ultimately come through a single individual, the Messiah.” Paul goes on in verse 19 to reemphasize this truth, “What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, TILL THE SEED SHOULD COME TO WHOM THE PROMISE WAS MADE.” Christ was truly the promised SEED who would come through the line of Abraham. This is brought out clearly in the very first verse of the New Testament, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the SON OF ABRAHAM” (Matthew 1:1).
This SEED was spoken of long before Abraham was born, yet in a different way. After the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden, God told the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). The moment sin entered into the world God announced that there would be a DELIVERER (i.e. savior) who would be born of a woman who would effectively deliver a crushing blow to Satan (bruising his head) while He Himself would suffer in the process (His heel would be bruised). This is the first “gospel message” that foretold the Devil’s defeat by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. We had seen that this same SEED will bring blessing to Abraham and his descendants; here we learn that this SEED will bring blessing to the whole world by providing salvation through His atoning sufferings and death. In time that blessed SEED was born of a woman named Mary. An angel appeared to both Mary and Joseph to announce this blessed news. “And the angel said her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus….An angel appeared…saying, ‘Joseph…do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins’” (Luke 1:30-31 and Matthew 1:20-21).
But one must BELIEVE the good news of the “woman’s Seed” in order to receive the blessing of salvation. John 1:12 declares, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name.” Has my reader received Him? In other words, have you “believed in His name?” Jesus means “savior,” and thus to “believe in His name” is to believe on Him as your Savior! If you have not, we would plead with you, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). (315.5) (DO)