Seed: offspring
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The Greek noun sperma (seed, offspring, descendants) carries one of the most theologically dense histories of any word in the New Testament. Its biological meaning — seed, that which is sown and germinates — is part of the range, while in the canonical conversation it becomes inseparable from the covenantal use of the Hebrew zera' (seed/offspring), which runs broadly through the Old Testament as a carrier of God's.
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Full entry for σπέρμα (G4690) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Greek noun sperma (seed, offspring, descendants) carries one of the most theologically dense histories of any word in the New Testament. Its biological meaning — seed, that which is sown and germinates — is part of the range, while in the canonical conversation it becomes inseparable from the covenantal use of the Hebrew zera' (seed/offspring), which.
The BSB source-word alignment has 43 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include offspring (10), seed (10), descendants (9), children (4), seeds (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 13:24. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (9), Matthew (7), Galatians (5), Mark (5).
The Greek noun sperma (seed, offspring, descendants) carries one of the most theologically dense histories of any word in the New Testament. Its biological meaning — seed, that which is sown and germinates — is part of the range, while in the canonical conversation it becomes inseparable from the covenantal use of the Hebrew zera' (seed/offspring), which runs broadly through the Old Testament as a carrier of God's promise.
The word enters salvation history in Genesis 3:15, where enmity is placed between the serpent's seed and the woman's seed — a compressed prophecy that the whole biblical story subsequently unpacks. It becomes the medium of the Abrahamic promise (Gen. 12:7; 15:5; 22:17-18), the Davidic covenant (2 Sam. 7:12; Ps. 89:4), and the Isaianic Servant's vindication (Isa.
53:10). Paul's exegetical move in Galatians 3:16 is among the most striking in his letters: he notes that the Genesis promises say 'to your seed' (singular), not 'to your seeds' (plural), and identifies that singular seed as Christ. This is not grammatical pedantry but theological precision — Paul is saying that the Abrahamic promise-stream converges on one person, and that all who are in that one person inherit the promised blessing.
The seed defines the inheritance; the inheritance belongs to the seed; and those who are in the Seed by faith become seed themselves (Gal. 3:29).
The local NT index currently counts about 43 occurrences of sperma, carrying its biological meaning in agricultural parables (the parable of the sower) and its covenantal meaning in Paul's theological argumentation (Galatians, Romans) and the Johannine literature. Its most theologically concentrated use is in Paul's Galatians 3 argument and his Romans 4 and 9 discussions of who constitutes Abraham's true offspring.
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.
Paul's exegetical argument on the singular 'seed' in Genesis is the most concentrated christological reading of the Abrahamic promise in the NT. The Greek text of Genesis (LXX) uses sperma, which is grammatically singular even when collective, and Paul presses this grammatical singularity to make a christological point: the promise is focused through one representative Seed, not spread across many descendants.
This argument depends on the collective-to-singular dynamic that sperma in Greek (like zera' in Hebrew) makes possible.
And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
The Abrahamic promise in its most universal form: sperma (= Hebrew zera') carries the blessing for all nations. This is the text Paul has in view throughout Galatians 3. The promise is not Jewish ethnic expansion but universal blessing through one covenant-bearer — a universality fully delivered through the singular Seed who is Christ, in whom 'there is neither Jew nor Greek' (Gal. 3:28).
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
The protoevangelium — the first announcement of coming redemption — is structured around two seeds in conflict: the serpent's offspring and the woman's offspring. The trajectory from this point forward is the story of which seed will prevail, who the woman's champion-seed will be, and how the serpent's head will ultimately be crushed. Paul's christological reading of 'your seed, who is Christ' (Gal. 3:16) is the exegetical culmination of this storyline.
So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring.
Romans 9 uses sperma to distinguish between physical descent from Abraham and spiritual inheritance. Not all who descend from Abraham biologically are 'seed' in the covenantal sense: the promise-line runs through Isaac, not Ishmael; through Jacob, not Esau. Paul is establishing the principle that God's sovereign election determines who the true seed is — a principle that reaches its fullest expression in the identification of all believers as seed through union with Christ.
And the dragon was enraged at the woman and went to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.
Revelation's cosmic recasting of Genesis 3:15: the serpent (now identified as the dragon) makes war against the woman's remaining offspring — the church. The seed-conflict that began in the garden reaches its eschatological form here: the followers of Jesus are the woman's seed, and the dragon's enmity toward them is the continuation of Genesis 3:15's ancient hostility. sperma here embraces the whole body of Christ as participating in the identity of the one Seed.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Offspring or descendants, often used metaphorically for spiritual progeny or promised heirs in covenant theology.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 44 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
seed, offspring
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Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 6 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 43 lexical occurrence verses.
σπέρμα is built from this root:
Represents God’s regenerating work that produces a new moral orientation. 1 John 3:4-10
God’s abiding life within believers grounds their transformed behavior.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sperma is a word that helps hold the biblical story together as a unified narrative. The story begins with a seed-conflict (Gen. 3:15) and ends with the dragon's war against the seed (Rev. 12:17), and the spine running between those two poles is the question of which seed, whose offspring, will be the bearer of God's promise and the crusher of the enemy. The preacher who knows sperma will read the broad OT storyline differently: the genealogies are not filler — they trace the seed-line.
The covenant with Abraham is not an interruption of the Genesis narrative — it narrows and names the seed through which all nations will be blessed. The Davidic covenant is not a political arrangement — it designates the royal branch of the seed-line. And Isaiah 53:10 — 'he will see his offspring' — is the Servant's vindication spoken in seed-language. Paul's argument in Galatians 3:16 is not a grammatical trick; it is the culmination of this entire canonical trajectory: the promise is focused on one person, and all who are in that person inherit everything God promised to Abraham.
The preacher who traces sperma through the canon will preach with a sense of the whole Scripture as a unified story with a single protagonist.
Gal.3.16
Sperma is a neuter noun from speirō (to sow). Its collective function in Greek — like zera' in Hebrew — allows it to refer to a single seed, a specific offspring, or a whole line of descendants, and the context must determine which. Paul exploits this grammatical flexibility in Galatians 3:16 by arguing that the Genesis text uses the singular sperma rather than the plural spermasin, and that this singular focus has christological significance.
While some scholars argue that Paul's reasoning is midrashic rather than grammatically decisive (since sperma is a collective singular that typically refers to multiple offspring), Paul's move is not arbitrary: it fits a canonical pattern in which the promise consistently narrows to one representative heir (Isaac not Ishmael, Jacob not Esau, David's line, the Servant).
The sperma thread is arguably one of the most sustained theological themes in the whole Bible. Genesis 3:15 establishes the seed-conflict; Genesis 12, 15, 17, and 22 name Abraham as the bearer of the promise-seed; the patriarchal narratives trace the narrowing of the seed-line through Isaac and Jacob; the Davidic covenant (2 Sam. 7:12; Ps. 89:4) identifies the seed with the Davidic king; Isaiah 53:10 speaks of the Servant seeing his offspring after his suffering.
Paul's christological reading in Galatians 3:16 is not an innovation but the NT's christological naming of a pattern running through the OT: the singular Seed is Christ. Romans 4 extends this to argue that faith — not ethnic descent — is what makes someone part of Abraham's seed. Romans 9 shows that the promise-line works through selective lines (Isaac, not Ishmael; Jacob, not Esau), establishing divine election as the principle governing who belongs to the seed.
And Revelation 12 closes the seed-conflict by depicting the dragon's final war against the woman's offspring, the church — those who hold to Jesus' testimony and keep God's commands. The story that began with two seeds in Genesis 3 ends with the seed's final victory.
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