Who is a descendant of Abraham? It is generally understood that Jews are genealogical descendants of Abraham. In John Chapter 8, Jesus is having a discussion with a group of Jews who assert this point twice, something Jesus addresses in the chiasm below:

A—“We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone.” (John 8:33a)

B—“I know you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you.” (John 8:37)

A—“They answered and said to him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham.’” (John 8:39)

B—“But as it is, you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.’” (John 8:40)

In responding to the claims of the Jews conversing with him that they were Abraham’s descendants, Jesus did not affirm their claim outright. Rather, He conditioned their descendancy upon their actions. “Do the deeds of Abraham,” he replied, inasmuch as a son would do the deeds of his father. In the present case, Abraham, according to Jesus, would not have been disposed toward killing one bearing the truth of God’s Word.

Jews today, and most particularly, those of Israel, assert this descendance. Evangelical Christians enthusiastically reaffirm that claim. Could we rightfully assert, as did Jesus, that being a descendant of Abraham is conditioned by doing the deeds of Abraham?

Evangelicals who lend their unquestioning support to Israel, no matter how far their deeds may stray from the deeds of Abraham, are, I suspect, largely unfamiliar with the words of Jesus in John 8:37-40. And I further suspect that even if they knew those words, they would treat them as just another opinion. Israeli Jews, believing that the Messiah has yet to come, do not treat them at all.

How then do Israeli Jews and their Christian advocates justify that Jewish Israelis are Abraham’s descendants? Do they have a basis in Scripture by which they could establish who are Abraham’s descendants? Let’s begin with the Old Testament.

In Genesis 12:1, we find the call of the LORD to Abram:

“Go from your country,

And from your relatives

And from your father’s house,

To the land which I will show you;” (Gen. 12:1)

The call of Abram is connected to “land (eretz) which I will show you.”

Beginning in Genesis 12:7, we find the first of a series of promises connecting the inheritance of the land by Abram’s descendants:

And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” (Gen. 12:7)

Here follows reiterations of this promise made to Abram.

“Now raise your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward, and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever. (Gen. 13:14-15)

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.” (Gen. 15:18)

“And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Gen. 17:8)

“The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land’—He will send His angel ahead of you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.” (Gen. 24:7)

This promise was reiterated to Isaac.

“Live for a time in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen. 26:3-4)

It was reiterated to Jacob.

“May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, so that you may possess the land where you live as a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.” (Gen. 28:4)

“And he had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.  Then behold, the Lord was standing above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants.” (Gen. 28:13-14)

God said to him,

“Your name is Jacob;
You shall no longer be called Jacob,
But Israel shall be your name.”

So He called him Israel. God also said to him,

“I am God Almighty;
Be fruitful and multiply;
A nation and a multitude of nations shall come from you,
And kings shall come from you.

“And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac,
I will give to you,
And I will give the land to your descendants after you.” (Gen. 35:10-12)

Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’” (Gen. 48:3-4)

God reiterated this promise to Moses, 400 or more years later.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’” (Ex. 33:1)

There was a second promise of God to Abram regarding the multiplication of his descendants, first uttered in Genesis 15.

And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” (Gen. 15:5)

”Indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand, which is on the seashore.” (Gen. 22:17a)

To Isaac, the promise was reaffirmed.

“I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven.” (Gen. 26:4a)

And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants, for the sake of My servant Abraham.” (Gen. 26:24)

God reaffirmed this promise to, and by, Jacob.

“Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 28:14)

For You said, ‘I will assuredly make you prosper and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’” (Gen. 32:12)

“And He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a multitude of peoples.’”(Gen. 48:4)

Both promises regarding the giving of the land and the multiplication of the descendants were reiterated by Moses in his discussion with God following the incident of the Golden Calf.

“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” (Ex. 32:13)

The word translated as “descendants” is zera, the Hebrew word meaning seed. In every case above where we find zera, it is translated as a masculine plural—“descendants”. However, the word, zera, in Hebrew, is masculine singular.

There is a figure of speech called synecdoche (soon-ek-doh-kay) of a part. It refers to the use of a part to represent the whole, or to one as a representation of many. The word, zera, meaning seed, is singular but represents many seeds.

The word translated as “multiply” is rabah. It means to “make great, large or numerous.” Rab is the root of rabbi, or “great one”.

Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, apart from the six sons birthed by his second wife, Keturah. (Gen. 25:2) Ishmael would be blessed; his descendants would be rabah. He would be father to twelve princes. But the covenant of God with Abraham would run through Isaac, and hence the promises of the land and multiplication would apply to his descendants.

A—And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”

B—Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

A—And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

B—But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” (Gen. 17:18-21)

In the Matthean genealogy of Jesus, we read:

“Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers.” (Matthew 1:2)

Judah is considered the patriarch of the Jewish people. Judah in Hebrew is yehudah meaning “praised” but also translates as “Jew”. In both testaments, his lineage traces directly back to Abraham. The question is whether this lineage has an unbroken, biological linkage to the Jews of today. If answered in the affirmative, it would form the basis of the claim that present-day Jews are the descendants of Abraham and that the land of Israel today is the fulfillment of God’s promise of land to those same descendants.

Genealogies

There are wildly conflicting estimates of the number of genealogies in the Bible. The redactors of the ESV say there are 25 “genealogical lists” in the Bible whereas others have estimated that there are between 250 to 300 genealogies in the Scriptures. The longest continuous set of genealogies is found in the book of 1 Chronicles spanning the first five chapters.

In the New Testament, it is generally agreed among scholars that there are only two genealogies of note, both pertaining to Jesus. In Matthew Chapter 1, the genealogy begins with Abraham, then to Isaac the child of promise, flowing from there from father to son, and ending with Jesus. In Luke Chapter 3, the genealogy is in a reverse chronology, beginning with Jesus, and flowing from son to father, going through Isaac, then to Abraham and ending with Adam.

 

Paul’s Letter to the Galatians

In chapter three of this letter, Paul makes reference to the descendants of Abraham. After quoting Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” we find the following chiasm.

A1—Know then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. v. 7

B—God. . .announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” v. 8

A2—So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the believer. v. 9

In A1, those who are of faith “are children of Abraham”. In A2, they are blessed as the people of God through faith. A1/A2 forms a synthetic parallelism as A2 expands on A1.

Verses 3:7 and 3:9 point to verse 3:8, the central message of the chiasm. Verse 3:8 quotes the Old Testament, “All nations will be blessed through you.” This exact phrase appears in two places, Genesis 22:18 and Genesis 26:4. Which one is Paul quoting?

In 22:18, God is speaking directly to Abraham, whereas in 26:4, God reiterated his earlier “oath” to Abraham, who had already died, while speaking directly to Isaac. This observation alone would favor Paul’s quote as coming from 22:18.

What if, though, there was another reason? Both instances of God’s covenant promise occur in the context of Abraham’s obedience. 22:18 follows Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son. “In your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Verse 26:4’s identical promise to Isaac is immediately followed by the reason for it, Abraham’s obedience. “All the nations of the earth shall be blessed because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My Laws.”

The promise issued to Abraham and subsequently to his son, Isaac, was conditioned by Abraham’s obedience. We may hear an echo of Jesus’ statement to a group of Jews in John 8, an exchange highlighted earlier. However, we’re not dealing with John’s point of view, but rather with Paul’s. His exhortation to the Galatians was, as we will see below, motivated by something other than a call to obedience. Since Abraham’s obedience is clearly connected to both 22:18 and 26:4, it doesn’t explain why Paul would favor quoting one over the other.

We need to look more deeply. And that leads us to the literary structure to which verse Genesis 22:18 belongs.

A1—“By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,  22:16

B1—“indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand, which is on the seashore; 22:17a

C—“and your seed shall possess the gate of their (his) enemies. 22:17b

B2—“And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 22:18a

A2—“because you have obeyed My voice.” 22:18b

A1 references Abraham’s obedient act of not withholding his son, synonymously paralleling Abraham obeying God’s voice in A2.

The blessing of God upon Abraham in B1–multiplying his seed—synonymously parallels the blessing of the seed upon all the nations of the Earth in B2.

At the center, item C, we find “and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.” Why is this the central point?

As previously discussed, the Hebrew for seed, zera, is masculine singular. This corresponds to “their enemies” which, in the Hebrew, is more properly translated as his enemies. The pronoun, his, is also masculine singular. I would like to suggest that his is an allusion to what Paul will soon consider to be the masculine singular seed of Abraham. This tensing gives great weight to Paul’s choice of quoting 22:18 over 26:4.

A few verses later, we find the following literary arrangement. (Gal. 3:15-17)

A—Brothers, I speak in human terms: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified (kuroo meaning confirm), no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. (Covenant promises held intact between men) v.15

B—Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. (To whom the promises were given) v. 16a

C—He does not say, “And to seeds,” as one would in referring to many, but rather as in referring to one, (One seed) v. 16b

B—“And to your seed,” that is, Christ. (Explains who the seed is) v. 16c

A—What I am saying is this: the Law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified (prokuroo meaning confirmed previously) by God, so as to nullify the promise. (Covenant promises held intact between God and man) v. 17

Paul, disturbed by efforts to compel Torah observance among the Galatian gentiles, explained that the giving of the Torah 430 years after the establishment of the Abrahamic covenant, and obedience to its instructions, did not invalidate the earlier covenant and the promises contained within it. We know, from our exposition above, that the promises consisted of multiplication of descendants and land inheritance. For Paul, the promises of God to Abraham were not conditioned by Torah observance. That is the meaning of the synthetic parallelism in item A.

Within that, there is a potentially perplexing discussion of to whom the promises were given. Who is the seed of Abraham? We would ordinarily understand that the “seed” was the physical offspring of Abraham, starting with Isaac, then to Jacob, then to Judah and his brothers, and continuing across multiple generations, even into the present, right?

But Paul says no. The seed is Christ, the Messiah, according to the synthetic parallelism of item B.

And the center of the structure reinforces this. The seed, Abraham’s zera, is singular, not plural. “He does not say ‘And to seeds’, as to many, but to one.” All the Old Testament examples above referring to Abraham’s seed are in masculine singular.

But how could this be?

Virtually every translation of the Bible translates zera as “descendants” in the plural. That couldn’t be wrong, could it?

And is it not the case that Jews, in the plural, are the inheritors of the promises, the land, specifically the land of Israel? Surely that land is inherited by many Jews rather than just one Jew, Jesus the Christ, right?

In a plain reading of the text of Galatians 3:16, the word, seed, cannot be reconciled with the translation, descendants. What explains Paul’s construction is that the words, seed and Christ, are figures of speech. Both are synecdoche, meaning that though they plainly read as one, they refer to many. The part represents the whole. Christ here is not simply Jesus Himself, but includes those who are in Christ.

Who, then, are the many? Paul explains this at the end of the chapter.

A1—For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. v. 26

B1—For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. v. 27

B2—There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. v. 28

A2—And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. v. 29

In A, “sons of God” in verse 26 parallels “Abraham’s descendants” in verse 29. Here, Paul reveals that his reference to seed as singular, Christ, was in fact, a figure of speech, a synecdoche, the use of “one” meaning a greater whole.

Additionally, one becomes a son of God, and by extension, a descendant of Abraham “through faith in Christ Jesus”. This parallels the part of verse 29 that states that those who “belong to Christ” are Abraham’s descendants, his seed, his zera.

In B1, being “baptized into Christ” is likened to being “clothed” with Christ. How so? In baptism, one is fully immersed in water, submerging under the water’s surface, in effect, disappearing. The word translated as “clothed” is enduo, based on the root, duo, meaning to “plunge in” or “sink”. The one who sinks under water during baptism is likened to the one who “sinks”, or in effect, submerges himself into clothing. This is the same word Paul uses in Ephesians 6:11, “putting on (enduo) the armor of God.”

And when people are baptized “into Christ”, all distinctions between people disappear. That is the point of v. 28 (B2). ”There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female.” All identities submerge. All are one in Christ Jesus.

The many become one. This is ultimately Abraham’s seed, heirs to the promises given to Abraham by God. They are those who believe in Christ (v. 26) who are, in turn, those who “belong to Christ” (v. 29).

There are only two genealogies in the New Testament. The first, in Matthew 1, runs from Abraham to Jesus. The second, in Luke 3, begins with Jesus and runs in reverse chronology back to Adam. In either case, there is no genealogy that extends beyond Jesus. There is no biological, genealogical record beyond Jesus in Scripture. Abraham’s descendants are joined to Jesus, and are one with Jesus, through faith, not biology.

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Question: where does this leave Jews who claim to be the biological descendants of Abraham, but neither believe in Christ nor belong to Christ?

As a Jew myself, I have not been able to trace my lineage back further than my great grandparents. In no case have I personally known any other Jew—and I have known many throughout my lifetime—who could trace his or her lineage back to the person of Abraham.

The New Testament does not testify to any other genealogy that extends beyond that of Jesus the Messiah. We do not know the genealogies of the descendants of the disciples, nor of the descendants of the Apostle Paul. The NT does not testify to the genealogies of non-believing Jews either.

All physical genealogies in the New Testament point to Jesus and end with Jesus. There is no separate set of physical genealogies pertaining solely to Jews extending beyond Jesus and connected to Jews living presently in the state of Israel.

In Matthew Chapter 1, the genealogy of Jesus begins with Abraham. What Paul contends in Galatians 3 is that there is a genealogy extending beyond Jesus, one that is not physical, but rather one based on having joined with Jesus through faith in Jesus who, in turn, belong to Jesus, a spiritual descendancy.

Evangelicals have departed from Paul’s conclusion in Galatians 3. They reflexively claim, brimming with fervor and confidence, that Jews are the physical descendants of Abraham and for that reason must be supported, even at the point of a sword or the barrel of a gun, in their efforts to occupy and rule the land of Israel, land they claim was promised to them by God. This physical descendancy extending into the present is something on which the New Testament is completely silent. There is no single Jew that I personally who can factually establish an unbroken lineage back to Abraham. Even if there was an isolated case, or even a handful of cases–and I have yet to see it–could an entire nation of over seven million Jews each establish the same?

Presently, the answer is painfully obvious. No.

In Paul’s view, there are no separate lines of descendants of Abraham, one for Jews and another for Gentiles. All descendants of Abraham transit through the messiah, physically from Abram to Jesus, and spiritually from Jesus to the present day believers and beyond. Once both Jews and Gentiles come to a common faith in Jesus, all distinctions between them are submerged, meaning in effect, they disappear. “There is neither Jew nor Greek,” declared Paul. Those who belong to Jesus, who through faith are in Christ, establish an unbroken lineage to a shared patriarch, Abraham.