Seed abides

In my commentary on the Johannine epistles ( The Epistles of John Through New Eyes: From Behind the Veil ), I followed many commentators in interpreting the “abiding seed” of 1 John 3:9 as a reference to something within the believer. If we take the sperma as Jesus, then believers are incapable of sinning because Jesus abides in them.

Nothing wrong with that theologically, but Robert Yarbrough ( 1, 2, and 3 John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) , 195 ) thinks otherwise: “seed” is “not a reference to some growth-inducing agent from God . . . that enters and transforms believers. Nor is it the message they have received, their anointing, or the Holy Spirit. It is rather a term denoting believers’ status as God’s offspring . . . . John uses sperma here as tantamount to tekna . . . in the same sense that Paul toggled between sperma and tekna in Rom. 9:6-8. ‘Descendants’ is an established lexical meaning of sperma in the LXX.” Thus, “John assumes that God’s ‘seed,’ his true descendants, reflect his character i their actions. The abide in him.”

Thanks to Pastor Jimmy Gill for this reference.