John Calvin Commentary Genesis 3:15

"and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." — Genesis 3:15 (ASV)

I will put enmity. I interpret this simply to mean that there would always be hostile strife between the human race and serpents, which is now apparent; for, by a secret feeling of nature, man abhors them. It is regarded as a prodigy that some men take pleasure in them; and whenever the sight of a serpent inspires us with horror, the memory of our fall is renewed.

With this I combine in one continuous discourse what immediately follows: It shall wound thy head, and thou shalt wound its heel. For he declares that there will be such hatred that on both sides they will be troublesome to each other; the serpent will be vexatious towards men, and men will be intent on the destruction of serpents.

Meanwhile, we see that the Lord acts mercifully in chastising man, whom He does not allow Satan to touch except in the heel; while He subjects the head of the serpent to be wounded by him. For in the terms head and heel there is a distinction between the superior and the inferior.

And thus God leaves some remains of dominion to man; because He so places the mutual disposition to injure each other, that their condition would not be equal, but man would be superior in the conflict. Jerome, in rendering the first member of the sentence, Thou shalt bruise the head, and the second, Thou shalt be ensnared in the heel, does it without reason, for the same verb is repeated by Moses; the difference is to be noted only in the head and the heel, as I have just said.

Yet the Hebrew verb, whether derived from שוף (shooph), or from שפה (shapha), some interpret as bruise or strike; others, as bite. I have, however, no doubt that Moses wished to allude to the name of the serpent, which is called in Hebrew שפיפון (shipiphon), from שפה (shapha), or שוף (shooph).

We must now make a transition from the serpent to the author of this mischief himself; and that not only in the way of comparison, for there truly is a literal anagogy, because God has not vented His anger on the outward instrument in such a way as to spare the devil, with whom all the blame lay.

That this may appear more certainly to us, it is worthwhile first to observe that the Lord spoke not for the sake of the serpent but for the sake of man; for what purpose could it serve to thunder against the serpent in unintelligible words? Therefore, regard was had for men, both that they might be affected with a greater dread of sin, seeing how highly displeasing it is to God, and that from this they might take consolation for their misery, because they would perceive that God is still propitious to them.

But now it is obvious to all how slender and insignificant the argument for a good hope would be, if mention were made here only of a serpent; because then nothing would be provided for, except the fading and transient life of the body. Meanwhile, men would remain the slaves of Satan, who would proudly triumph over them and trample on their heads.

Therefore, that God might revive the fainting minds of men and restore them when oppressed by despair, it became necessary to promise them victory over Satan in their posterity, through whose wiles they had been ruined. This, then, was the only salutary medicine which could recover the lost and restore life to the dead.

I therefore conclude that God here chiefly assails Satan under the name of the serpent and hurls against him the lightning of His judgment. This He does for a twofold reason: first, that men may learn to beware of Satan as a most deadly enemy; then, that they may contend against him with the assured confidence of victory.

Now, though not all dissent in their minds from Satan—indeed, a great part adheres to him too familiarly—yet, in reality, Satan is their enemy. Nor do even those whom he soothes by his flatteries cease to dread him. Because he knows that the minds of men are set against him, he craftily insinuates himself by indirect methods and thus deceives them under a disguised form. In short, it is ingrained in us by nature to flee from Satan as our adversary.

And, in order to show that he would be odious not to one generation only, God expressly says, between thee and the seed of the woman, as widely, indeed, as the human race will be propagated. He mentions the woman for this reason: because, as she had yielded to the subtlety of the devils and, being first deceived, had drawn her husband into sharing her ruin, so she had a particular need for consolation.

It shall bruise. This passage provides too clear a proof of the great ignorance, dullness, and carelessness which have prevailed among all the learned men of the Papacy. The feminine gender has crept in instead of the masculine or neuter. There has been no one among them who would consult the Hebrew or Greek codices, or who would even compare the Latin copies with each other. Therefore, by a common error, this most corrupt reading has been received. Then, a profane exposition of it has been invented, by applying to the mother of Christ what is said concerning her seed.

There is, indeed, no ambiguity in the words here used by Moses; but I do not agree with others regarding their meaning, for other interpreters interpret the seed as Christ, without controversy, as if it were said that someone would arise from the seed of the woman who would wound the serpent’s head.

I would gladly give my support to their opinion, but I regard the word seed as too violently distorted by them; for who will concede that a collective noun is to be understood of one man only? Further, as the perpetuity of the contest is noted, so victory is promised to the human race through a continual succession of ages.

I explain, therefore, the seed to mean the posterity of the woman generally. But since experience teaches that by no means all the sons of Adam arise as conquerors of the devil, we must necessarily come to one head, so that we may find to whom the victory belongs. So Paul, from the seed of Abraham, leads us to Christ, because many were degenerate sons, and a considerable part adulterous through unbelief; from which it follows that the unity of the body flows from the head. Therefore, the sense will be (in my judgment) that the human race, which Satan was endeavoring to oppress, would at last be victorious.

In the meantime, we must keep in mind that method of conquering which the Scripture describes. Satan has, in all ages, led the sons of men captive at his will, and, to this day, retains his lamentable triumph over them, and for that reason is called the prince of the world (John 12:31). But because one stronger than he has descended from heaven, who will subdue him, it therefore comes to pass that, in the same manner, the whole Church of God, under its Head, will gloriously exult over him. To this the declaration of Paul refers:

The Lord shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly,
(Romans 16:20).

By which words he signifies that the power of bruising Satan is imparted to faithful men, and thus the blessing is the common property of the whole Church; but he, at the same time, admonishes us that it only has its commencement in this world, because God crowns no one but well-tried wrestlers.