Ángel
Manuel Rodríguez
Is
Genesis 3:15 a promise of Christ's victory over Satan? Recently I heard
someone say that it has nothing to do with it.
Christians have for centuries called
Genesis 3:15 the protoevangelium—that is to say, the "first
good news"—found in the Bible. The passage has been interpreted as
a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, through whom the serpent, Satan,
was to be destroyed.
Today
many scholars tend to reject the Messianic interpretation or any other
interpretation that makes reference to Christian theology, arguing that
the Christian view is found for the first time in the writings of Irenaeus
(c. 115-202) and therefore is not biblical. Second, it is said that the
term seed refers to the descendants of the woman and
not to a particular descendant. Let's look
at the biblical evidence:
1.
The Serpent Is a Symbol of Evil. The context of Genesis 3:15 clearly
indicates that the serpent is a symbol of evil and rebellion against God.
It misrepresents and contradicts God in
an effort to persuade Adam and Eve to break away from the Lord, offering
an unreal, alternate existence apart from Him. This power is identified
in the New Testament as Christ's archenemy, Satan (Rev. 12:9). In the
Garden of Eden this evil power defeated Adam and Eve and extended its
dominion over the descendants of the woman.
2.
Victory Over the Serpent. The contrast between the serpent and its
descendants and the seed of the woman suggests a final victory over the
serpent. The serpent will "strike" the heel
of the woman's seed, but the woman's seed will "crush" the head of the
serpent. The Hebrew verb (sûp, "bruise, strike, crush")
is the same in both cases, suggesting that the seriousness
of the assault depends on the part of the body that receives the wound.
The attack against the woman's seed is not permanent, but the fact that
the woman's seed aims at the head of the serpent indicates that the intention
is to bring this evil power to a permanent end.
3.
The Meaning of "Seed." The Hebrew noun zerac is
usually employed as a collective noun to designate "offspring, posterity"
in the sense of descendants as a single group. However, it can be used
to refer to a single descendant (e.g., 2 Sam. 7:12, 13). In Genesis 3:15
we find both usages present. We read about the descendants of the woman
and the descendants of the serpent/Satan, but at the same time mention
is made of a male descendant of the woman (hû') who will
crush "your [singular] head," that is to say, the serpent's head. Whenever
"seed" denotes a particular descendant, the pronoun that follows it is
in the singular.
The
Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX), suggests
that the translators understood the passage to be a promise of a future
descendant. In this particular case they understood "seed" not in its
collective sense but rather as designating a single descendant. Some have
found in the LXX, rather than in Irenaeus, the first Messianic interpretation
of Genesis 3:15.
4.
Allusions in the New Testament. There are at least two allusions
to Genesis 3:15 in the New Testament. The first one is Revelation 12.
There we find similar terminology and the concept of a conflict between
the woman and the dragon and her child and the dragon. The dragon is explicitly
identified with the "ancient serpent" (NIV), an obvious reference to Genesis
3. The "seed" of the woman defeats the serpent, determining its future
extinction (Rev. 20). According to Revelation 12, what was announced in
Genesis 3:15 is now being fulfilled in the flow of history. The seed of
the woman has crushed the head of the serpent and the consummation of
that victory is rapidly approaching.
The
victory of the descendant of the woman assures the future victory
of her descendants over the dragon. This is what Romans 16:20,
the second allusion to Genesis 3:15, states: "The God of peace will soon
crush Satan under your feet" (NIV). This wonderful hope was first announced
to the human race in the Garden of Eden.
11/11/99
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