And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. Gen. 3:15
And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Rom. 16:20
We live in a world of pain and suffering. There is inequity and injustice all around us. The strong oppress the weak, sickness afflicts children, and good people get hurt. It is little surprise that the question is often asked, “If there is a loving God, why does He allow suffering?” It’s a good question and one that is deserving of a good answer. Indeed, some philosophers of religion suggest that this is the strongest argument that can be raised against Christianity. But it is also a question that Christianity is able to answer. Looking in the opening chapters of Genesis, it is clear that the Fall in the Garden of Eden explains much of what we think of as normal in our experience. In short, the Fall explains it all.
In Genesis 3:14-24, we have a very concentrated portion of instruction in the Bible. This is the main section of the Bible which details the Fall. But while the consequences of sin are prominent in this passage, we also see a covenant which God makes with man. While most of the verses detail the curse that came on mankind for Adam’s sin, God also makes an unconditional covenant, promising to send a redeemer. Amazingly, before pronouncing the curse, God describes the means by which forgiveness will come! Because of this promise, this passage is considered a covenant, and is usually referred to as the Adamic Covenant.
Judgment on Satan
In Genesis 3:11-13, God asks Adam if he has disobeyed, giving Adam a chance to confess his sin. But instead of confessing, Adam blames Eve. Then God asks Eve, also giving her a chance to confess, but she blames the serpent. So in pronouncing a curse, God goes in the order in which humanity ascribed blame, starting with the serpent and working His way up to mankind’s federal head.
From Genesis 3:14, it would seem that the serpent originally walked, but his curse was to be the lowest of created beings. The ability to walk was taken away from him, and he was condemned to slither in the dust of the ground. We also see in verse 15 that there is enmity between humanity and the serpent. This is a fear and loathing which continues to this day.
The enmity is not only between the serpent and the woman (representing humanity) but also between the serpent and the Seed of the woman—the Lord Jesus Christ. The One who is always the delight of the Father and who always delights to do the will of the Father is shown here to be completely opposed to the usurper. It is also interesting to note that the Lord Jesus Christ is declared to be the Seed of the woman. Though under the headship of Adam, the woman bears her own responsibility for sinning in the Garden, yet the hope is put before her that her seed would be the means of defeating Satan.
At the end of verse 15, we see the promise which defines this covenant. We read, “He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” In other words, the serpent would strike the Messiah with a small blow, but the Messiah would strike the serpent with a debilitating blow. It is heart-rending for a Christian to read about what the Lord Jesus suffered on the cross on our behalf. While it was the will of the Father, it seemed to be Satan’s moment of triumph over Christ.
Yet this blow pales in comparison to what the Lord Jesus has done to Satan in crushing his head. This passage in Genesis 3 not only gives us the first hint that a Redeemer would be provided, but also tells us of the ultimate triumph over evil. This is God’s unconditional promise to mankind and a reminder that the Lord Jesus Christ is at the center of all of the Father’s plans.
Judgment of Eve
Nonetheless, sin has inevitable consequences for individuals and for humanity as a whole, and starting in verse 16, we see how the Fall has affected humanity ever since. We don’t know what God’s original plan was for childbearing, but the first consequence of sin for humanity was great pain in childbirth. Anyone who has experienced or observed children being born can attest to the seriousness of this curse.
There is much controversy over the curse given at the end of verse 16: “Yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Some will say that this refers to a woman having physical desire for her husband, an unlikely interpretation for it seems likely that God purposed both sexes to enjoy the physical act of marriage.
Others will say that this verse refers to Adam’s headship, so that concepts of headship do not apply to Christians as a redeemed people. This, too, is an untenable interpretation, for headship is in part based on creation order before the Fall (see 1 Cor. 11:8). But attempts to precisely identify this curse miss the greater point: this verse shows that there would be discord in the marriage relationship. The first man and the first woman lived in initial harmony; but after the Fall, differences in personality, opinion, and priority manifested themselves; and in particular this is displayed in regards to the overall concept and practical exercise of headship.
Judgment of Adam
Having dealt with the serpent and the woman, God now pronounces a curse on the man. As the federal head of humanity, the curse laid upon Adam is imputed to all Adam’s descendants. In Genesis 3: 17-18, we see a curse on the soil. No longer would it yield rich crops with little effort; it would now be filled with weeds. It would require toilsome effort to put bread on the table, a fact that every bread-winner can now attest to! While employment is a blessing, the fact that work is now toilsome is included in the curse. We also see in verse 19 the entry of death into the world. From today’s vantage point, we can scarcely imagine a world without death, yet this was the original design of God. So we have the entry of sin and corruption into the world, and an answer to the question of why God allows suffering: it was not His original intention, but it is a consequence of sin. The world was created perfect, and now it is broken. Pain, suffering, and death are the result of man’s sin, not God’s plan.
If this were the end of the story, it would be grim indeed; but in verse 20, we see the first sacrifice of an animal. Blood was shed to deal with the consequences of sin, prefiguring the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus. So we must not lose sight of the fact that this passage is not just dealing with the fact and the consequences of the Fall. It is also a wonderful, unconditional covenant by which God promises to provide a Redeemer who would deal with sin once and for all.