σπέρμα: Difference between revisions

|txtha=σπέρματος, τό ([[σπείρω]], [[which]] [[see]]), from Homer down, [[Hebrew]] זֶרַע, the [[seed]] (from [[which]] [[anything]] springs);<br /><b class="num">a.</b> from [[which]] a [[plant]] germinates; α. [[properly]], the [[seed]] i. e. the [[grain]] or [[kernel]] [[which]] contains [[within]] itself the [[germ]] of the [[future]] [[plant]]: plural, L Tr [[σπόρος]]). β. [[metaphorically]], a [[seed]] i. e. a [[residue]]. or a [[few]] survivors [[reserved]] as the [[germ]] of a [[new]] [[race]] ([[just]] as [[seed]] is kept from the [[harvest]] for the [[sowing]]), Sept. for שַׂרִיד (so [[also]] Josephus, Antiquities 11,5, 3; 12,7, 8; [[Plato]], Tim., p. 23{c}).<br /><b class="num">b.</b> the semen [[virile]]; α. [[properly]]: [[καταβολή]] 1, and [[see]] [[below]]); [[often]] in [[secular]] writings. By metonymy the [[product]] of [[this]] semen, [[seed]], children, [[offspring]], [[progeny]]; [[family]], [[race]], [[posterity]] (so in Greek [[chiefly]] in the [[tragic]] poets, cf. Passow, [[under]] the [[word]], 2b. ii., p. 1498 (Liddell and Scott, [[under]] the [[word]], II:3); and זֶרַע [[very]] [[often]] in the O. T. (cf. Winer's Grammar, 17,30)); so in the [[singular]], [[either]] of [[one]], or [[collectively]] of [[many]]: εἰς καταβολήν σπέρματος ([[see]] ([[above]], and) [[καταβολή]], 2) ἀνισταναι and ἐξανισταναι [[σπέρμα]] τίνι, ἔχειν [[σπέρμα]], ἀφιέναι [[σπέρμα]] τίνι, τό [[σπέρμα]] τίνος, [[παῖς]] ἐκ βαιλικων σπερμάτων, of [[royal]] [[descent]], Josephus, Antiquities 8,7, 6; τῶν Αβραμιαίων σπερμάτων ἀπόγονοι, tribes, races, ἄνθρωποι τέ καί ἀνθρώπων σπερμασι νομοθετουμεν τά [[νῦν]], [[Plato]], legg. 9, p. 853c. By a rabbinical [[method]] of interpreting, opposed to the [[usage]] of the [[Hebrew]] זֶרַע, [[which]] signifies the [[offspring]] [[whether]] consisting of [[one]] [[person]] or [[many]], Paul lays [[such]] [[stress]] on the [[singular]] [[number]] in Αβραμιαίων σπερμάτων ἀπόγονοι, Lightfoot on Galatians, the [[passage]] cited)). τό [[σπέρμα]] ([[Ἀβραάμ]]) τό ἐκ τοῦ νόμου, the [[seed]] [[which]] is [[such]] according to the [[decision]] of the [[law]], [[physical]] [[offspring]] ([[see]] [[νόμος]], 2, p. 428{a}), τό ἐκ πίστεως [[Ἀβραάμ]], those [[who]] are called Abraham's [[posterity]] on [[account]] of the [[faith]] by [[which]] [[they]] are [[akin]] to him ([[see]] [[πίστις]], 1b. ἆ., p. 513{b} and ἐκ, II:7), [[σπέρμα]] of the [[church]] ([[which]] is likened to a [[mother]], β. [[whatever]] possesses [[vital]] [[force]] or [[life-giving]] [[power]]: τό [[σπέρμα]] τοῦ Θεοῦ ([[but]] anarthrous)), the [[Holy Spirit]], the [[divine]] [[energy]] operating [[within]] the [[soul]] by [[which]] we are regenerated or made the τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ, 1 John 3:9.