you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” God does not owe the Serpent mercy. All he owes him, or us, is justice. In this case he chooses to give the Serpent justice. The serpent will have no hope of redemption: He is cursed by God. This implies no diminishment of God’s ultimate goodness. Rather, it is a display of the beauty of his justice, which is an important facet of his goodness. God always humbles those who exalt themselves. The Serpent has exalted himself. He has tried to obstruct plan to fill the earth with his glory God’s by making man in his own image, and ultimately, to fill the earth with his own perverse image/glory. Therefore, the Serpent will be humbled. He will eat dust and travel on his belly for the remainder of his days. God curses the Serpent another way. 16 will put enmity between you “I and the woman, and between your offspring and her From this point offspring.” on, all human society will be divided into two groups—the of the “Offspring not believe, are cursed; and the Serpent,” of the who, because they do “Offspring Woman,” who, because they believe the gospel, are blessed. The promise is that the of the will culminate in the Messiah who will crush the “offspring woman” Serpents head by submitting to crucifixion. (We will return to this theme in a few minutes). 17 And to Adam he said, you have listened to the voice of your “Because wife and have eaten of the tree of which I shall not eat of commanded you, ‘You cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of it,’ your life.” The ground is a synonym for the earth or the cosmos. That is how Paul understood this curse. It was a curse on the earth extending to the entire Cosmos.
you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” God does not owe the Serpent mercy. All he owes him, or us, is justice. In this case he chooses to give the Serpent justice. The serpent will have no hope of redemption: He is cursed by God. This implies no diminishment of God’s ultimate goodness. Rather, it is a display of the beauty of his justice, which is an important facet of his goodness. God always humbles those who exalt themselves. The Serpent has exalted himself. He has tried to obstruct God’s plan to fill the earth with his glory by making man in his own image, and ultimately, to fill the earth with his own perverse image/glory. Therefore, the Serpent will be humbled. He will eat dust and travel on his belly for the remainder of his days. God curses the Serpent another way. 16 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.” From this point on, all human society will be divided into two groups—the “Offspring of the Serpent,” who, because they do not believe, are cursed; and the “Offspring of the Woman,” who, because they believe the gospel, are blessed. The promise is that the “offspring of the woman” will culminate in the Messiah who will crush the Serpents head by submitting to crucifixion. (We will return to this theme in a few minutes). 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.” The ground is a synonym for the earth or the cosmos. That is how Paul understood this curse. It was a curse on the earth extending to the entire Cosmos.