Jim Cassidy | The Seed of Abraham: Christ in the Patriarchs and the Promise

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11d ago 40:04

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Dr. James Cassidy speaks at the Reformed Forum Annual Theology Conference, held at Lakeland Church in Gurnee, Illinois on September 27, 2025.

The lecture, titled "The Seed of Abraham, Christ in the patriarchs and the promise" by Dr. James Cassidy, addresses the common theological perception that New Testament authors, particularly the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3, give a "surprise ending" to the Old Testament, seemingly reading it against its original intent. Dr. Cassidy argues against this view by showing that the Abrahamic Covenant is fundamentally a covenant of grace, centered on Christ as the singular "offspring" of promise. He explains that the promise is both individual (Christ himself) and collective (all those redeemed through him from every nation), a subtlety Paul rightly handles without misinterpreting Genesis. Crucially, the address highlights that the subsequent giving of the Mosaic Law 430 years later did not and could not annul the original promise of justification by faith, thereby maintaining the primacy and immutability of God's covenant of grace.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Introduction
00:23 - Greetings and Reading of Galatians 3:15–20
02:20 - The "Surprise Ending" View of the New Testament Reading the Old Testament
04:13 - Three Parts of the Address: Paul's Theology, Eschatology, and Primacy of the New Testament Reading
04:35 - Part 1: Paul's Theology of Abraham's Offspring (Galatians 3)
05:25 - Argument from the Lesser to the Greater: Human vs. Divine Covenants
07:13 - Paul's Interpretation: Offspring is Singular (Christ) and not Plural (Ethnic Israel)
08:24 - The Grammatical Ambiguity of "Offspring" (Collective and Individual)
11:12 - The Individual and Collective Scope of the Offspring (Christ and the Church)
11:35 - The Law's Function: It Did Not Annul the Promise to Abraham
13:30 - The True Seed of Abraham is Christ and Those In Him
14:13 - Part 2: The Eschatology of Abraham's Promise
15:35 - The Delay in Fulfillment: Hope Against Hope (Romans 4)
18:24 - Abraham as the Archetypal Believer and the Nature of Saving Faith
20:18 - The Promised Land and the City Whose Builder is God (Heavenly Fulfillment)
22:15 - Christ is the Mediator of the Abrahamic Covenant
23:43 - The Abrahamic Covenant's Fulfillment in the New Covenant
25:27 - **Part 3:** The Primacy of the New Testament's Reading of the Old
26:40 - Reading the Old Testament Through the Lens of Christ
28:13 - The New Testament is the Proper Hermeneutical Key to the Old
30:17 - Application: Gospel Living and World Missions
32:00 - Conclusion and The Blessings to All Nations
35:55 - Final Exhortation

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