Genesis 3:15 Commentary and Bible Study

Then comes a statement which is so profound, for it has not only a literal meaning, but also has a deep spiritual sense. Yes, there will be hostility even in general terms between Satan, and the woman, and woman’s seed, that is to say, all her seed by faith – believers. Mankind will be divided into two parties of people – the devil’s seed, and the seed of the faithful, and there will always be hostility and antagonism between them. But this is also a statement about Christ. It is cast deliberately so that we should recognise the spiritual sense. Notice the transition in the verse. ‘I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed’, and then, ‘it [singular] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.’ In that last phrase, the serpent, that is to say, Satan speaking through the serpent, is directly addressed. The verse starts off with the seed of the serpent, but then the serpent is directly addressed. Now, the way that is expressed in the Hebrew and in the English, is extremely significant, because suddenly Satan is directly addressed. From that casting of the language, we understand that we are to take very seriously the long-term spiritual sense of these words.It is about 3 things. First, the literal – snakes will generally speaking be repellent to most people. There will be a kind of hostility. Snakes are responsible, and have been historically, for a lot of trouble and a lot of death. So, yes, even literally, there will be a significant hostility between the seed of the serpent and people. But that is not the most important sense, but evidently that is true. There will also be hostility between believers and unbelievers – the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The Lord Jesus Christ said to the Pharisees that they were children of the devil. He spoke in terms of Satan’s seed or the serpent’s seed. Christians and non-Christians have a different Lord, different tastes, different aims, different delights, and different enemies. But then thirdly and most specifically, it refers to the great battle between the devil, the enemy of souls and Christ, who is ultimately the seed of the woman, who will bruise the serpent’s head and bring redemption. From this point on, the whole of the Old Testament is really about the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. If you look for an organising principle for the whole Bible, a cable of sense that runs right through the Bible from beginning to end, it starts here and it is the great conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. That is the grid that you put on all Bible interpretation, whether the history books, whether the prophetic books, through the New Testament. Christ will go to Calvary’s cross, and in so doing, will crush the serpent’s head bringing about his final destruction. But in doing this Satan will bruise his heel and he will pay a great price himself in atoning for the sins of his people.The same victory that Christ gains over the serpent will be given also to the Lord’s people. ^‘And the God of peace’, says Paul, ‘will soon crush Satan under your feet’ (Romans 16:20). An allusion to this final victory is also found in Christ’s words to the disciples (Luke 10:18-19).