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

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