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1 John 3:9 – Seed
Interpretations given of what John means by sperma here include: nature, descendant, Holy Spirit, word of God. I lean towards this last interpretation (1 Peter 1:23) because of John’s emphasis on the revealed word they’ve had “from the beginning.” This seed would therefore be equivalent to the anointing of chapter two.
Why did John use this language? According to Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Clement of Alexandria, the gnositcs taught that “once the Gnostic had been reborn or enlightened the divine nature or seed remained in him and became a power in him making him spiritual by nature.” (J.W. Roberts, The Letters of John, p.86). Just as John accommodated language and ideas on other occasion from the Gnostics, so he does again.
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