Pastor Stam's Recently Discovered Series - Part 2 Abraham and the Hebrew Nation

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Pastor Stam's Recently Discovered Series - Part 2
Abraham and the Hebrew Nation

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

(This is the second of a series of articles that first appeared in 1950 in Truth magazine, published by Milwaukee Bible Institute/Worldwide Grace Testimony, now the Grace Gospel Fellowship. These articles have never before appeared in the Searchlight.)

To get the clearest understanding of God’s purpose concerning Abraham and his seed, let us first imagine ourselves in the position of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and read carefully and prayerfully some of the promises made to them.

THE PROMISES TO ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB

“And I will make of thee a great nation…and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:2,3).

“…Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:

“For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

“And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered” (Gen. 13:14-16).

“…Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be” (Gen. 15:5).

“And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God” (Gen. 17:8).

“…In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.

“And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…” (Gen. 22:17,18).

“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. 26:4).

“And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 28:14).

A PERPLEXING PROBLEM

A simple reading of the above passages must convince the unbiased reader that the Hebrew fathers to whom these promises were originally made could understand them in no other way than that God was to bless and multiply their offspring, give both them and their offspring the land of Canaan and make them a blessing to all the world.

But approximately two millenniums later Paul, by the Spirit, wrote concerning these promises:

“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” (Gal. 3:16).

This statement from the pen of Paul has caused theologians no end of trouble. Elmer Barnes says of it:

“Now no one ever probably read this passage without feeling a difficulty, and without asking himself whether this argument is sound, and is worthy of a man of candour, and especially of an inspired man. Some of the difficulties in the passage are these. (1). The promise referred to the posterity of Abraham at large, without any particular reference to an individual. It is to his seed; his descendants; to all his seed or posterity. Such would be the fair and natural interpretation should it be read by hundreds or thousands of persons who had never heard of the interpretation here put upon it by Paul. (2). The argument of the apostle seems to proceed on the supposition that the word “seed” i.e. posterity, here cannot refer to more than one person. If it had, says he, it would have been in the plural number. But the fact is, that the word is often used to denote posterity at large; to refer to descendants without limitation, just as the word posterity is with us; and it is a fact, moreover, that the word is not used in the plural at all to denote a posterity, the singular form being constantly employed for that purpose….Indeed the plural form of the word is never used except in this place in Galatians. The difficulty, therefore, is that the remark here of Paul appears to be a trick argument, or a quibble more worthy of a trifling Jewish Rabbi, than a grave reasoner or an inspired man. I have stated this difficulty freely just as I suppose it has struck hundreds of minds, because I do not wish to shrink from the difficulty in examining the Bible, but to see whether it can be fairly met.”

This difficulty, stated so candidly by Barnes, has induced many to adopt a system of interpretation which is called the “spiritualization” of the Scriptures. Under this system, for example, the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are reconciled with Galatians 3:16 by giving the former a “spiritual” interpretation, thus changing their obvious meaning altogether. By Abraham’s seed the Church, the Body of Christ, was meant; Canaan refers to heaven, etc.

One outstanding Bible teacher who partially adopts this system boldly states that Galatians 3:16 is “a very simple and direct exegesis of the text in Genesis” and contends that the promises in Genesis predicted the coming of Christ, Abraham’s single Seed! Still, wavering a little, he also says: “In regard to the prophecies of Abraham’s seed, it does seem to me that the Old Testament leaves plenty of room for Paul’s interpretation!”

But one thing should be clearly understood: that if Paul’s words in Galatians 3:16 are an exegesis or interpretation of the text in Genesis then Genesis does not teach the blessing of the world through the nation Israel.

RECOGNIZE THE MYSTERY OR ALTER PROPHECY?

But why change any part of the Word of God to make it harmonize with another? It is all perfectly harmonious as it is. The key to the difficulty is to be found, not in the alteration of prophecy but in a recognition of the mystery revealed through Paul.