Thread by @davidngibbo

A few theological reflections on the proto-evangelium in Genesis 3:15, in advance of my first time ever preaching on it @trinityIPC

The rich history of Christological interpretation has some surprises; Calvin is hard pressed to see any connection to Christ other than in Christ’s headship over the church (and this upsets me!)

Luther is better: “This text embraces and contains within itself everything everything noble and glorious that is to be found anywhere else in the Scriptures”

Wenham is very judicious; Motyer In ‘Look to the Rock’ gently pushes beyond him; Kidner is elegant and economic; Victor Hamilton very useful; Bavinck rich; Brueggemann is useless

Before sweating over ‘offspring’ and ‘crushing’, the narrative flow shines a spotlight on astonishing grace in the face of astounding rebellion.

In his Psalms commentary, Kidner says: “This was the nerve the serpent touched in Eden, to make even paradise appear an insult.”

To such affront, how will God respond?

In the aftermath of divine curse there is grace on every hand: the serpent is only cursed, not questioned, like Adam and Eve, and all of history now unfolds with God already having spoken the decisive word against evil: your head will be bruised.

This shifts the Christian response to the problem of evil from ‘why?’ or ‘how?’, to ‘when will it end and by whom?’

We have a promise of future triumph.

My sermon has two points:

1. Here is a promise of war—yet full of grace (v15a)

2. Here is a promise of death—yet full of triumph (v15b)

It is beautiful that part of the curse on the serpent is grace for Eve: she stands with the snake and against God, but he actively reclaims her to his side: “I will put enmity between you ...”

East of Eden, all human hatred of evil is graciously given.

Bavinck: God graciously annuals the covenant Eve made with evil, brings the seed of the woman—humanity, that is—back to his side and though that race will suffer much it will eventually triumph ...

Bavinck sees here the road the human race will pass through from now on: suffering to glory, struggle to victory, through the cross to a crown, through humiliation to exaltation.

Here is the path of entrance to the kingdom of heaven.

This leads me to see three levels of fulfilment in the promise of war and triumph to Eve’s offspring:

(i) humanity as a whole, while totally depraved, will have the grace of enmity; we are not as bad as Adam and Eve’s rebellion could have left us

(ii) The offspring ‘splits’ even with Cain and Abel; there will soon be the lines of promise and rejection, the offspring of the serpent will soon rear its head through the offspring of Eve against the offspring of Eve in the line of promise ...

Pharaoh, Amalekites, Philistines, Herod to name a few ... behind them all “that ancient serpent” (Rev 12), attacks on literal offspring and many receive decisive blows to literal heads (Sisera, Goliath, Abimelech) ... the war between God’s people and the serpent yet continues

(iii) The offspring narrows within the line of promise to the Christ ... 1 John 3:8 “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” ... throughout the Gospels his binding in conflict becomes becomes bruising in conquest ... the Man dies at Golgotha, the skull

The difference between ‘heel’ and ‘head’ seems more than merely physical, to bruise one is to damage the very source of life ... so that more is promised in Gen 3.15 than merely unending conflict; rather triumph seems in view from the beginning?

Yet if symmetry of consequence is demanded from the striking of heel and head, Heb 2:14 sees the destruction of the devil’s power over death as happening only *through death.

Both offspring die, but in different ways: one draws death down upon himself, submits to it as penal force, and so draws its sting for all his offspring ... the serpent no longer commands the fear of death, his head is crushed, his power broken, death’s sting is drawn.

You’ll be glad to know—but not half as glad as the good people @trinityIPC — the sermon *attempts to put this all rather more accessibly!

The question driving my sermon is:

Do we love Jesus for his warfare?
#advent