Teacher: Chancellor Roger J. Magnuson

Topic: Looking at the first redemptive promise in Genesis 3, describe the Biblical account of enmity between “two seeds, ” giving special attention to: early characteristics of two seeds evident in the lives of Cain and his tribe and giving special attention to its cultural and religious ramifications, describe its working out in the New Testament by elaborating on John 8:44 and the concept of the divine seed in 1 John 3.

The most important question you can silently ask yourself about another person is: “Who’s your daddy?” In the determining of other people, you ultimately have to make the conclusion about who is their spiritual daddy. Many people in the church claim a parentage they don’t have: they ascribe to God their fatherhood, when they are in no sense children of God. When you counsel or encounter people, you need to discern who their father is. As it can be said, “Who’s your daddy?” It can also be said, “Who’s your mommy?” All of us have one of two mamas and daddies. No matter what a person’s racial heritage, he is in one of two lineages: he is either of the serpent, the fallen race; or of the woman.

Great Disjunction—a disjunction is an either-or, while a conjunction is a both-and. When Adam and Eve sinned, there was a great disjunction. As soon as they rebelled, a great set of divisions happened. They had once had the same interests and pursued the same objectives and were collaborating in tending the garden; but now they had subjected themselves to their lower nature. Now there was a division between God and man. Now man cowers at the idea of meeting God; he is alienated from his maker.

• Forms—
• Man and God—Now man, who has a separate interest from God, cowers before God.
• Work and Play—Now there is a great separation between work and fun; working had been fun, but now there was a great disjunction between play and work.
• Secular and Sacred—Work and worship were in the same action; no disjunction between the sacred and secular, as will they again be together in heaven. Each action was holy.
• Man and Paradise—Edenfit perfectly with man. But with sin, man was thrown out ofParadise, never to reenter.
• Man and Woman—Disjunction between man and woman, their spirits were as one, they were genuinely one flesh. But sin destroyed the unity: man would now be harsh to his wife, while the wife would struggle to be in charge.
• God’s and Satan’s seeds—The only really meaningful disjunction is that between the redeemed and the unredeemed, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, saved and unsaved. So, the ultimate dividing question is, “Who’s your daddy?” This disjunction happens very quickly in Genesis 3. Cain and Abel are very different, one seed of serpent, other seed of serpent.
• Families—Cain and Abel are identical in their genetic inheritance; nonetheless, they are of very different families. They have different characters: one is the seed of the woman, the other is the seed of the serpent. When Cain murders his brother, we see that he is not of Abel’s godly family. Their offerings are different: Cain offers the fruits of his own hand, while Abel offers what God really wants. Lamech, the offspring of Cain is violent.
• Focus—The focus of the seed of the serpent is on the things of this world; they are highly secular and will be prominent in worldly things: warfare, formation of great cities, etc. Art, music, business, will be a principle focus of theirs. But in God’s children, you see a primary interest in seeking God: Enoch walked with God, his descendants “began to call upon the name of the Lord,” they made altars to God. When we reach Genesis 6, we have only one family still representing the seed of the woman (Noah’s), while the rest of the world was desperately wicked. (If you want the poster child for the seed of the serpent, take Herod the Idumaean, the Edomite. As the Edomites of old rejoiced to see the seed of Israel destroyed, so Herod rejoiced to see the children destroyed as he sought to kill Jesus Christ.Edomis a nation with which “God is angry forever.”Petra,Edom’s city, was a city built high in a mountain, proud, highly cultured, totally at war with more spiritual Israel.)
• Fulfillment—the true fulfillment of the seed of the woman is not found here, but hereafter; it is found in the spiritual life. The seed of the serpent has fulfillment on earth, and has no time for the opiate of religion. Hell is the last course in the devil’s meal, and heaven is the final dessert for the Christian.

Great Distinguishing Characteristics—“Who’s your daddy?” Jesus asked that to the Jews. They answered, “We are of our father Abraham;” they rejoiced to say that they were of his seed. In Hebron, we see the great mausoleum with the tombs of the fathers: there are two sarcophagi there with purple coverings reading “Abraham our Father” and “Sarah our Mother,” written in three languages: Hebrew, Arabic, and English. Among millions of princes who walked the earth, Abraham is considered the father of the world. The Jews wanted a prestigious daddy, but Jesus replied, “Nope, you in fact are of your father the devil.” Though they were religious leaders: Jesus used no “friendship evangelism.” He called it like it was, for Jesus with His perfect knowledge knew there were no tertium quids, no hermaphrodites, no hybrids; only two seeds.

• Seed of the Serpent—“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44) Murder and Lying are the family characteristics passed down from Satan to his children. The apple does not fall far from the tree. Chip off the old block. One has to do with the realm of action and activity, a horizontal type; and one has to do with the ideational, the incorporeal element of man. One in the area of love or hate, the other in the area of truth or falsehood. And when those two planes come together, they are an undeniable, irrefutable proof of fatherhood. By looking at l John, we can know which seed we are part of. We can know that someone who kills someone else is a murderer, and there is no way he has eternal life in him. The elements of murder are two: the act, actusreus, (plunging the knife into someone), but also the mens rea, the intent of hate. You may kill without a hateful intent, but in war for example. But if you have a murderous intent, God sees! To Him, that is a murder. You did not kill, but you murdered. The mental thought process of adultery is considered the same as doing it. God taps into our brains and He sees the intent of the heart. Second, lying is the chief characteristic of Satan: and the Bible says, “Who is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is come in the flesh? Therefore, a denial of Jesus coming in the flesh is the chief sign of someone who’s a child of Satan.
• Seed of the Woman—Love and truth are the reigning characteristics. If you don’t understand the truth, how can you be saved? Love itself is not enough; but on the other hand, if you make great sacrifices, but have no charity, this also, profits you absolutely nothing! In the true seed of woman, both characteristics come together.
• Truth—The seed of the woman is born into God’s family by this very thing: believing in and accepting the truth of Jesus Christ.
• Love—God is love: if you are His child, you will take on his veryDNA(as the seed, Gr. “spermos,” of God) and look more like Him as you grow spiritually. You can have storge, philia and eros without God, but only His seed has agape love.

Dealing with these two different seeds will be the context of our whole ministry life. “A person who is born of God cannot sin.” Does John really believe you can get to such a holy state that you cannot sin? There are two kinds of sin: sin and sin unto death. Denying the saving power of Jesus (sinning against truth), and having a cold-hearted hatred (sinning against love) is the sin unto death. If you are born of God, these are two sins you, by nature, cannot commit. On the other hand, the seed of the serpent automatically commit these sins, for they can never have true love or complete truth.

Great Denouement–

• Conflict—Jesus said, “I come not to bring peace, but a sword? Anyone who wants to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. “Is this vile world a friend of grace, to help us on to God?” Not in its ways, not in it’s appetites, not at all! The world is not our friend, and ultimately, the world doesn’t even want to be witnessed to. They are convicted by the lifestyle of love and by our standards: and frankly, they do not like us. Christians are meant to be separate and, like the speckled bird, will be picked on by the rest of the world. There is a great war waging.
• Conquest—Ultimately, the seemingly defenseless seed of the woman will be triumphant through her Captain, the perfect Man, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the only important thing in life is to make sure you are part of the seed of the woman, for the day is coming for the seed of woman when there will be an eternal and heavenly victory party for the greatest conquest of the ages.