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What is the seed of the serpent in Genesis?

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What is the seed of the serpent in Genesis?

Cain is NOT THE SEED OF THE serpent, AS CLAIMED by most people. This is because the Bible teaches that Adam and Eve were the BIOLOGICAL PARENTS of Cain, as recorded in Genesis 4:1.This scripture tells us this:

“Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, ‘I have acquired a man from the LORD.’”

When the Bible tells us that Adam ‘knew’ his wife Eve, it simply means that they had sexual intercourse that resulted in the conception and birth of Cain.

Most people err when they claim that Cain was the seed of the serpent in Genesis. This is because the claim lacks scriptural backing. I believe that scripture should form the basis of our belief system as Christians. The problem is that a good number of Christians do not set aside adequate time to examine the scriptures by themselves. As such, they easily get carried away by every wind of doctrine, according to the words found in Ephesians 4:14.

Back to our question: who or what is the seed of the serpent mentioned in Genesis? Is it Cain? If not, then what or who is it?

To get the correct answers to these questions, we examine what scripture has to say about them. Let us begin.

The doctrine of the seed of the serpent teaches that Cain was the product of a sexual relationship between the serpent and Eve. This doctrine uses scripture to back its claims, but we shall interrogate them in order to get to the truth.

The first instance in the scriptures where we encounter the expression ‘seed of the serpent’ is in Genesis 3:15; we thus read:

‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.’

Three important things arise from this passage:

Firstly, God institutes enmity between the woman and the serpent. Some Bible commentators intimate that, the verse may be taken to mean that before the fall of man, there used to exist a friendship between the woman and the serpent. I leave that to your judgment!

Secondly, we see God declaring the beginning of enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. This is evident to this day given the hostility that exists between man and serpents, or, if you like, snakes. While snakes bite men, men, on the other hand, will always snatch the earliest opportunity to crush their heads (literal translation).

Thirdly, most Bible scholars and commentators believe that the last bit of the passage refers to Christ as the Seed of the woman. The bruising on His heel happens when he gets crucified and subsequently dies. On the other hand, the serpent’s head gets bruised when Christ resurrects in power and authority, to the dismay of the powers, principalities, and rulers of the darkness of this age (figurative translation).

Why Cain is not the seed of the serpent

This section discusses scriptures that refute the teaching that Cain was the product of intimacy between Eve and the serpent.

It is important to understand that all creatures created by God in Genesis were expected to reproduce with their own kind in order to produce offspring that resembled them, that is, ‘offspring according to their kind’. According to biologists, species is the basic level of reproduction, meaning that only individuals belonging to the same species can freely interbreed and give birth to viable or fertile offspring. Since the serpent was a beast of the field (Genesis 4:1), it is not possible that it could have gone ahead to mate with Eve to produce Cain.

According to the serpent seed doctrine, the serpent had features comparable to those of Adam, including the ability to stand upright, talk, and walk. However, this teaching contradicts Genesis 2:20, which reads:

“So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not a helper comparable to him.”

After creating Eve, God brought her to Adam, who declared that she was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh because she was comparable to him. On the other hand, since the serpent and Eve were not comparable, there is no way they could have mated to bring forth an offspring.

Proponents of the serpent seed doctrine teach that the enmity pronounced by God (read Genesis 3:14–15) between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent implies enmity between ‘Cain (whom they claim to be the serpent’s seed) and Abel (Adams’ seed). They qualify this scripture with Genesis 4:8, where Cain kills Abel. To them, Cain actually bruises Abel’s head, while Abel bruises Cain’s heel.

This interpretation of scripture is not true because the Seed of the woman is Christ, not Abel. It is Christ who crushes the head of Satan (by taking over power and authority from Satan), while Satan bruises Christ’s heel (crucifixion and death on the cross). This is because the bruising of the head is a result of the spiritual conflict between Christ and Satan.

Nowhere in the Bible are we told that while Cain killed Abel, Abel, on the other hand, bruised his heel. So the serpent seed doctrine is again left wanting in this area.

To emphasize this point, Romans 16:20 reads: ‘And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.’

Revelation 20:2–3, 10, also reinforces this truth. We thus read:

‘He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, shut him up and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.’

Notice how the Bible describes Satan using the following terms: the dragon, the Devil, and the serpent of old.

Bible scholars thus believe that the serpent of old mentioned in Revelation 20:2 is the same serpent first encountered in Genesis 3.

So we can also conclude that this serpent mentioned in Genesis is the same as Satan, the Devil, and the serpent of old.

So then, what is the seed of the serpent?

To get the answer to this question, we shall consider several passages in the Bible.

In John 8:44, we thus read:

‘You are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand for the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.’

In this passage, Jesus is addressing the Pharisees, who were at the forefront of opposing the work of his ministry. He refers to them as being children of the devil NOT in the BIOLOGICAL sense but in the SPIRITUAL sense.

In this instance, we see Jesus using two attributes of the devil to describe the Pharisees, murderer and liar. This is because the Pharisees sought to kill Jesus by making false accusations against him. By stating that the Pharisees were of their father, the devil, Jesus meant that they were his offspring or seed by deeds.

Only the devil was there at the beginning in the Garden of Eden, and through deception, he led mankind into disobeying God. It was through this disobedience that sin and death entered the world.

By opposing the work of Christ during his three year ministry here on earth, the Pharisees were in essence acting as agents of wicked powers, which are constantly at work against the righteous.

In 1 John 3:7–10, we thus read:

‘Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.’

Here we see that the children (seed) of the devil are those who sin by practicing unrighteousness, while the children (seed) of God are those who practice righteousness.

In 1 John 3:10–12, we thus read:

‘In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning: that we should love one another, not as Cain did, who was of the wicked and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.’

So, we conclude that the seed (children) of the devil (that serpent of old) are those who practice unrighteous deeds or lawlessness and do not walk in love.

Thus, the expression seed of the serpent in Genesis does not represent biological seed genealogy, but instead implies individuals whose deeds are evil.

I hope the information was helpful. God bless you.

Related Post: What were the consequences of eating the forbidden fruit

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Source: https://www.biblegateway.com/

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