choice” (Lev. 22:18, LXX) or “that which is chosen,” hence “a body of men separating themselves from others and following their own tenets [a sect or party].” This term is applied to the adherents of the two prominent branches of Judaism, the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Acts 5:17; 15:5; 26:5) Non-Christians also called Christianity a “sect” or “the sect of the Nazarenes,” possibly viewing it as a faction of Judaism.—Acts 24:5, 14; 28:22.

The founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, prayed that unity might prevail among his followers (John 17:21), and the apostles were vitally interested in preserving the oneness of the Christian congregation. (1 Cor. 1:10; Jude 17-19) Disunity in belief could give rise to fierce disputing, dissension and even enmity. (Compare Acts 23:7-10.) So sects were to be avoided, being among the works of the flesh. (Gal. 5:19-21) Christians were warned against becoming promoters of sects or of being led astray by false teachers. (Acts 20:28; 2 Tim. 2:17, 18; 2 Pet. 2:1) In his letter to Titus, the apostle Paul directed that, after being admonished twice, a man who continued promoting a sect be rejected, evidently meaning that he be expelled from the congregation. (Titus 3:10) Those who refused to become involved in creating divisions within the congregation or in supporting a particular faction would distinguish themselves by their faithful course and give evidence of having God’s approval. This is apparently what Paul meant when telling the Corinthians: “There must also be sects among you, that the persons approved may also become manifest among you.”—1 Cor. 11:19.

SECU

(Seʹcu) [possibly, lookout place, or, outlook].

Apparently the name of a site with a great cistern where Saul inquired as to the whereabouts of David and Samuel. (1 Sam. 19:21, 22) Secu was near Ramah, but its exact location is now unknown. Instead of the proper name “Secu,” some scholars, following certain Greek and Latin manuscripts, prefer such expressions as “the threshing-floor on the bare hill [height].”—JB, AT.

SECUNDUS

(Se·cunʹdus) [second].

A Thessalonian Christian who accompanied Paul through Macedonia into Asia Minor on the return leg of the apostle’s third missionary journey, in the spring of 56 C.E. How far Secundus went with Paul is not stated.—Acts 20:3-5.

SEDITION

[Gr., staʹsis, a standing up or standing off, uprising, such as a popular commotion, an insurrection, sedition, uproar (Mark 15:7; Luke 23:19, 25); or, in a more private sense, dissension, controversy, sometimes embracing the idea of violence (Acts 15:2; 23:7, 10)].

It was a capital offense under Roman law to engage in sedition or to promote or take part in a riot. Thus the city recorder was alerting the riotous mob in Ephesus of their peril when he said: “We are really in danger of being charged with sedition over today’s affair, no single cause existing that will permit us to render a reason for this disorderly mob.” (Acts 19:40) And Tertullus’ accusation before Roman Governor Felix that Paul was “stirring up seditions among all the Jews” was a very serious one. If found guilty, Paul would have been punished with death.—Acts 24:5.

SEED

[Heb., zeʹraʽ; Gr., sperʹma].

The Hebrew and Greek words appear many times in the Scriptures, with the following uses or applications: (a) agricultural and botanical, (b) physiological, (c) metaphorical for “offspring.”

AGRICULTURAL, BOTANICAL

Israel’s economy was primarily agricultural, hence much is said about sowing, planting and harvesting, and “seed” is mentioned frequently, the first instance being in the record of earth’s third creative day. Jehovah commanded: “Let the earth cause grass to shoot forth, vegetation bearing seed, fruit trees yielding fruit according to their kinds, the seed of which is in it, upon the earth.” (Gen. 1:11, 12, 29) Here the Creator revealed his purpose to clothe the earth with vegetation by reproduction through seed, keeping the various created kinds separate, so that each brings forth “according to its kind” through its own distinctive seed.

PHYSIOLOGICAL

The Hebrew term zeʹraʽ is used in a physiological sense at Leviticus 15:16-18; 18:20, with reference to an emission of semen. At Leviticus 12:2 the causative form of the verb za·raʽʹ, (“to cause to sow”) is rendered in many translations by the English expressions “conceive” or “conceive seed.” At Numbers 5:28 a passive form of za·raʽʹ appears with zeʹraʽ and is rendered “made pregnant with semen” (NW); “sown with seed” (Yg); “conceive seed” (AV).

METAPHORICAL USE

In the majority of instances in which the word zeʹraʽ appears in the Bible it is used with reference to offspring or posterity. Animal offspring are designated by this term at Genesis 7:3. Human offspring (of Noah) are referred to at Genesis 9:9; those of the woman Hagar at Genesis 16:10. God commanded Abram and his natural “seed” to be circumcised as a sign of the covenant God was making with them.—Gen. 17:7-11.

The Greek word sperʹma is used in the same applications as the Hebrew zeʹraʽ. (Compare Matthew 13:24; 1 Corinthians 15:38; Hebrews 11:11; John 7:42.) Jesus Christ used the related word spoʹros, “thing sown,” to symbolize the word of God.—Luke 8:11.

A SACRED SECRET

At the time God judged Adam and Eve he spoke a prophecy that gave hope to their offspring, saying to the serpent: “I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.” (Gen. 3:15) From the beginning, the identity of the promised “seed” was a sacred secret of God.

This prophetic statement revealed that there would be a deliverer who would destroy the one really represented by the serpent, namely, the great serpent and enemy of God, Satan the Devil. (Rev. 12:9) it also indicated that the Devil would have a “seed.” It would require time for the two seeds to be brought forth and for enmity to develop between them.

The ‘seed of the serpent’

We note that when the Bible speaks of “seed” in a symbolic sense it does not refer to literal children or offspring but to those who follow the pattern of their symbolic “father,” having his spirit or disposition. Adam and Eve’s first son Cain is an example of one of the serpent’s offspring. The apostle John writes enlighteningly on this point: “The children of God and the children of the Devil are evident by this fact: Everyone who does not carry on righteousness does not originate with God, neither does he who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should have love for one another; not like Cain, who originated with the wicked one and slaughtered his brother. And for the sake of what did he slaughter him? Because his own works were wicked, but those of his brother were righteous.”—1 John 3:10-12; compare John 8:44.

Thus the seed of the serpent throughout the centuries consisted of those who had the spirit of the Devil, who hated God and fought God’s people, and included particularly the religious persons claiming to serve God, but who were actually false, hypocrites. Jesus identified the Jewish religious leaders of his day as a part of the serpent’s seed, saying to them: “Serpents, offspring [Gr., gen·neʹma·ta, “generated ones”] of vipers, how are you to flee from the judgment of Gehenna?”—Matt. 23.33, Kingdom Interlinear Translation.

There was a gradual revelation of features of God’s secret concerning the promised “seed” of the woman. The questions to be answered were: Would the seed be heavenly or earthly? If spiritual or heavenly, would it nevertheless run an earthly course? Would the seed be one or many? How would it destroy the serpent and liberate mankind?

As already shown, the serpent to whom Jehovah was directing his words recorded at Genesis 3:15 was not the animal on the ground. Obviously, it could not understand an issue such as was involved here, a challenge of Jehovah’s sovereignty. Therefore, as later developments revealed, God was speaking to an intelligent individual, his archenemy Satan the Devil. The book of Job enlightens us on this matter, as there we find Satan presenting his accusation against Job’s integrity to Jehovah in order to support his challenge against God’s sovereignty. (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-5) The ‘father,’ then, of the seed of the serpent would be, not a literal animal serpent, but an angelic, spirit ‘father,’ Satan the Devil.

“Seed of the woman” spiritual

Accordingly, regardless of how faithful men of old may have viewed the matter, it becomes clear, in the light of the Christian Scriptures, that the promised ‘seed of the woman’ would have to be more than human in order to ‘bruise in the head’ this spiritual enemy, this angelic person, the Devil. The “seed” would have to be a mighty spirit person. How would he be provided, and who would be his ‘mother,’ the “woman”?

The next recorded mention of the promised “seed” came over two thousand years later, to faithful Abraham. Abraham was of the line of Shem and in an earlier prophecy Noah had spoken of Jehovah as “Shem’s God.” (Gen. 9:26) This indicated God’s favor on Shem. In Abraham’s time the “seed” of promise was foretold to come through Abraham. (Gen. 15:5; 22:15-18) Priest Melchizedek’s blessing on Abraham gave additional confirmation of this. (Gen. 14:18-20) While God’s statement to Abraham revealed that Abraham would have offspring, it also disclosed that the prophetically promised “seed” of deliverance would indeed run an earthly course (as demonstrated in the paragraphs that follow).

One person foretold

In speaking of the offspring of Abraham and others, both the Hebrew and Greek terms are in the singular form, usually referring to such offspring in a collective sense. There seems to be one strong reason why the collective term zeʹraʽ, “seed,” rather than the strictly plural word ba·nimʹ, “children” (singular ben), was used so often with respect to Abraham’s posterity. The apostle Paul points to this fact in explaining that when God spoke of the blessings to come through Abraham’s seed he had primary reference to one person, namely, Christ. Paul says: “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. It [or, he] says, not: ‘And to seeds [Gr., sperʹma·sin].’ as in the case of many such, but as in the case of one: ‘And to your seed [Gr., sperʹma·ti],’ who is Christ.”—Gal. 3:16, NW, 1950 ed., ftn.

Some scholars have objected to Paul’s statement regarding the singular and plural use of “seed.” They point out that in Hebrew the word for “seed” (zeʹraʽ), when used for posterity, never changes its form, in this use resembling our English word “sheep.” Also, the accompanying verbs and adjectives do not in themselves indicate the singularity or plurality intended by the word for “seed.” While this is so, there is another factor that demonstrates that Paul’s explanation was accurate grammatically as well as doctrinally. Explaining this factor, M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia (Vol. IX, p. 506) states: “In connection with pronouns, the construction is entirely different from both the preceding [that is, the verbs and adjectives used with the word “seed”]. A singular pronoun [used with zeʹraʽ] marks an individual, an only one, or one out of many; while a plural pronoun represents all the descendants. This rule is followed invariably by the Sept[uagint]. . . . Peter understood this construction, for we find him inferring a singular seed from Gen. xxii, 17, 18, when speaking to native Jews in the city of Jerusalem before Paul’s conversion (Acts iii, 26), as David had set the example a thousand years before (Psa. lxxii, 17).”

Additionally this reference work says: “The distinction made by Paul is not between one seed and another, but between the one seed and the many; and if we consider him quoting the same passage with Peter [cited earlier], his argument is fairly sustained by the pronoun ‘his [not their] enemies.’ Seed with a pronoun singular is exactly equivalent to son.”

Using an English illustration, the expression “my offspring” could refer to one or many. But if after such expression the offspring should be referred to as “he” it would be apparent that a single child or descendant was meant.

The promise to Abraham that all the families of the earth would bless themselves in his “seed,” could not have included all of Abraham’s offspring as his “seed” since the offspring of his son Ishmael and also those of his sons by Keturah were not used to bless humankind. The seed of blessing was through Isaac. “It is by means of Isaac that what will be called your seed will be,” said Jehovah. (Gen. 21:12; Heb. 11:18) This promise was subsequently narrowed down yet more when, of Isaac’s two sons Jacob and Esau, Jacob was specially blessed. (Gen. 25:23, 31-34; 27:18-29, 37; 28:14) Further, Jacob limited the matter by showing that the gathering of the people would be to Shiloh (“the one whose it is”) of the tribe of Judah. (Gen. 49:10) Then, of all Judah, the coming seed was restricted to the line of David. (2 Sam. 7:12-16) This narrowing down was noted by the Jews in the first century C.E., who actually looked for one person to come as the Messiah or Christ, as deliverer (John 1:25; 7:41, 42), even though they also thought that they, as Abraham’s offspring or seed, would be the favored people, and, as such, God’s children.—John 8:39-41.

An enlargement

After Jehovah’s angel prevented Abraham from actually sacrificing his son Isaac, the angel called out to Abraham: “‘By myself I do swear,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘that by reason of the fact that you have done this thing and you have not withheld your son, your only one, I shall surely bless you and I shall surely multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the grains of sand that are on the seashore; and your seed will take possession of the gate of his enemies. And by means of your seed all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves.’”—Gen. 22:16-18.

If this promise of God was to have fulfillment in a spiritual seed, then it would indicate that others would be added to the one primary seed. And the apostle Paul explains that this is true. He argues that Abraham was given the inheritance by promise and not by law. The Law was merely added to make transgressions manifest “until the seed should arrive.” (Gal. 3:19) It follows, then, that the promise was sure to all his seed, “not only to that which adheres to the Law, but also to that which adheres to the faith of Abraham.” (Rom. 4:16) The words of Jesus Christ to Jews who opposed him: “If you are Abraham’s children, do the works of Abraham,” indicate that, not those descending through the flesh, but those having the faith of Abraham, are accounted by God as Abraham’s seed. (John 8:39) The apostle makes it very specific when he says: “Moreover, if you belong to Christ, you are really Abraham’s seed, heirs with reference to a promise.”—Gal. 3:29; Rom. 9:7, 8.

Consequently, God’s promise, “I shall surely multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like