Bible Lexicons

σπέρμα, σπέρματος, τό (σπείρω, which see), from Homer down, Hebrew זֶרַע , the seed (from which anything springs);

a. from which a plant germinates; α. properly, the seed i. e. the grain or kernel which contains within itself the germ of the future plant: plural, Matthew 13:32; Mark 4:31; 1 Corinthians 15:38 (Exodus 16:31; 1 Samuel 8:15); the singular is used collectively of the grains or kernels sown: Matthew 13:24, 27, 37; 2 Corinthians 9:10 (here L Tr σπόρος). β. metaphorically, a seed i. e. a residue. or a few survivors reserved as the germ of a new race (just as seed is kept from the harvest for the sowing), Romans 9:29 after Isaiah 1:9, where the Sept. for שַׂרִיד (so also Wis. 14:6; 1 Esdr. 8:85 (87); Josephus, Antiquities 11, 5, 3; 12, 7, 8; Plato, Tim., p. 23{c}).

b. the semen virile; α. properly: Leviticus 15:16-18; Leviticus 18:20f, etc.; (probably also Hebrews 11:11, cf. καταβολή 1, and see below); often in secular writings. By metonymy the product of this semen, seed, children, offspring, progeny; family, race, posterity (so in Greek chiefly in the tragic poets, cf. Passow, under the word, 2 b. ii., p. 1498 (Liddell and Scott, under the word, II. 3); and זֶרַע very often in the O. T. (cf. Winer's Grammar, 17, 30)); so in the singular, either of one, or collectively of many: Romans 9:7f; εἰς καταβολήν σπέρματος (see (above, and) καταβολή, 2) Hebrews 11:11; ἀνισταναι and ἐξανισταναι σπέρμα τίνι, Matthew 22:24; Mark 12:19; Luke 20:28 (Genesis 38:8); ἔχειν σπέρμα, Matthew 22:25; ἀφιέναι σπέρμα τίνι, Mark 12:20-22; τό σπέρμα τίνος, Luke 1:55; John 7:42; John 8:33, 37; Acts 3:25; Acts 7:5; Acts 13:23; Romans 1:3; (); ; 2 Corinthians 11:22; 2 Timothy 2:8; Hebrews 2:16; Hebrews 11:18; in plural: παῖς ἐκ βαιλικων σπερμάτων, of royal descent, Josephus, Antiquities 8, 7, 6; τῶν Αβραμιαίων σπερμάτων ἀπόγονοι, 4 Macc. 18:1; equivalent to tribes, races, ἄνθρωποι τέ καί ἀνθρώπων σπερμασι νομοθετουμεν τά νῦν, Plato, legg. 9, p. 853 c. By a rabbinical method of interpreting, opposed to the usage of the Hebrew זֶרַע , which signifies the offspring whether consisting of one person or many, Paul lays such stress on the singular number in Genesis 13:15; Genesis 17:8 as to make it denote but one of Abraham's posterity, and that the Messiah: Galatians 3:16, also Galatians 3:19; and yet, that the way in which Pard presses the singular here is not utterly at variance with the genius of the Jewish-Greek language is evident from Αβραμιαίων σπερμάτων ἀπόγονοι, 4 Macc. 18:1, where the plural is used of many descendants ((cf. Delitzsch, Br. a. d. Röm., p. 16 note 2; Lightfoot on Galatians, the passage cited)). τό σπέρμα (Ἀβραάμ) τό ἐκ τοῦ νόμου, the seed which is such according to the decision of the law, physical offspring (see νόμος, 2, p. 428{a}), τό ἐκ πίστεως Ἀβραάμ, those who are called Abraham's posterity on account of the faith by which they are akin to him (see πίστις, 1 b. ἆ., p. 513{b} and ἐκ, II. 7), Romans 4:16; add, ; ; Galatians 3:29; similarly, Christians are called, in Revelation 12:17, the σπέρμα of the church (which is likened to a mother, Galatians 4:26). β. whatever possesses vital force or life-giving power: τό σπέρμα τοῦ Θεοῦ ((but anarthrous)), the Holy Spirit, the divine energy operating within the soul by which we are regenerated or made the τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ, 1 John 3:9.