Seed
Deceptively small, seeds contain the pure potential for life. A tiny seed can transform into a beautiful flower, a towering tree, or life-giving food. Given the right environment, seeds are self-sustaining: the plants that grow from seeds produce more seeds to continue the reproductive cycle. Seeds have formed the foundation of agriculture since the very first seeds were sown in the Garden of Eden, when God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: plants bearing seeds, each according to its own type, and fruit trees bearing fruit with seeds, each according to its own type” (Gen. 1:11). As a picture of generation, fertility, and potential, seed imagery abounds through both the Old and New Testaments.
Human Seeds
One of the central uses of the seed image throughout Scripture denotes human ancestry and heritage. The Hebrew word translated as “descendant” literally means “seed.” Specifically, Christ is referred to as the “seed of David.” This connection stresses Jesus’ royal lineage and messianic claim (Rom. 1:3). Similarly, God promised Abraham that his offspring or seed would be blessed and inherit the Promised Land (Gen. 12:7). As direct descendants of Abraham, the Jewish people are called the “seed of Abraham.” In Galatians, the promise of God’s salvation is extended to Gentiles: “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants and heirs, as God promised” (3:29).
In Jesus’ parable of the soils, the seed of the gospel falls on five different kinds of soil, representing five different heart responses.
The image of the seed appears in several parables in Matthew 13. Jesus uses the seed as a picture of cultivating the spiritual life. Seeds planted in four different soils (hard, rocky, thorny, and fertile) describe four different responses to the gospel. The seed planted in fertile soil, Jesus tells the disciples, is someone who has a willingness to understand and apply the Word of God. Like a seed that needs care to grow, only an open response to God’s truth creates the perfect conditions for the spiritual life to grow. In another parable, Jesus pictures Christians themselves as seeds and warns against phony believers who are sown among them. God will allow the false and true believers to “grow” together until the end of the age, when they will be separated (Matt. 13:24–30).
The Seed of Faith
The size of a seed is also used to illustrate the unique power of faith. Although a seed appears tiny, it contains a hidden potential to produce a large plant. So too, even though a believer’s faith is as “small as a mustard seed,” it is enough to powerfully change the world (Matt. 13:31–32; 17:20; Mark 4:30–32; Luke 17:6). We may feel like our faith is small or just beginning to grow, but even in those early stages God can do powerful things through us as he helps us to grow.
Paul reminds us that ministers of the gospel have different roles; some plant seeds, some water, and some harvest the growth.
Paul continued this symbol of seeds of faith when he discussed the process of evangelism. “I planted, and Apollos watered, but God made it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is important because only God makes it grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have the same goal, and each will receive a reward for his own work. We are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field” (1 Cor. 3:6–9). Sharing the gospel with others can be thought of as planting a seed of faith. Just as with plants, we never know when it will germinate and what it will become, but we can faithfully do our part, trusting God for the outcome. Indeed, the kingdom of heaven itself is compared to a seed that grows into a huge tree. It starts small, but as each person spreads the good news of the gospel to others, the kingdom grows exponentially into a living organism. Such a promise should give us hope that God can cultivate a good work in us no matter how confident we feel about ourselves.
Key Verse
Jesus used another illustration. He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone planted in a field. It’s one of the smallest seeds. However, when it has grown, it is taller than the garden plants. It becomes a tree that is large enough for birds to nest in its branches.” (Matt. 13:31–32)