How does Jesus fulfill the Protoevangelium (First Gospel) in Genesis 3:15?

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Gospel means "good news." Understood rightly, this bit of news to Adam and Eve was certainly good news. The snake - the epitome of sin - had tricked Adam and Eve. Because of the snake (and their own sinful actions, of course) they were being kicked out of the garden. By trying to become like God, they had become like the snake - sinful and evil.

But God promises to put enmity between them and the snake. He would pull them apart from their wretched connection to sin and death. How?

A savior. A promise. Importantly, not Adam. Adam and Eve weren't going to get themselves out of this mess. Their offspring would. An offspring who would be born through the humiliating and painful process that God had just described to Eve a few verses back (the curse of the pain of childbirth). An offspring who would be injured by the snake (crushed on the heel) but who would, ultimately, crush the head of the snake.

What makes this the first gospel is of course the gold mine of promise beneath the metaphorical literary layer. The offspring of Eve would destroy the snake who brought Adam and Eve to sin and death, and in doing so separate them from that sin and death. He would undergo pain in the process, but it would be a trivial wound (on the heel) versus the mortal blow on the head.

Jesus was Eve's offspring, naturally. He was born to a virgin, was the son of a carpenter, born in lowly Bethlehem, placed in a manger, and raised in despicable Nazareth. He was born in a state of humility.

He was despised. He was beaten. He was killed on a Roman cross, the death for traitors and murderers. He temporarily went through Hell for his people. Satan had indeed bruised his heel, but that death had paid for the sins of his people.

And when Christ rose from the dead on the third day, he conquered death. He conquered the very thing Satan had brought into the world and brought back Adam and Eve to himself.

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Cor. 15:22

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Metaphorically speaking (and as Bruggeman says, "One cannot over-interpret these chapters of Genesis"), the serpent is the forces of Evil (Satan, the Accuser), and the woman & man are symbolic of mankind. In the battle for mankind, evil is going to lose.

I will put enmity between you {the serpent} and the woman

There will be hatred between evil and mankind.

and between your offspring and her offspring;

This will be a battle that will occur over many, many generations.

he {mankind's offspring} shall bruise your {the serpent's} head

Someone, a descendant of Eve, shall defeat the forces of evil.

and you shall bruise his heel.

But this victory will only come with injury.

This verse is basically a requirement for Jesus' humanity - the one who would defeat evil will be reckoned through a woman. The defeat of the Evil One will be preordained by God but will not be solely carried out through him as a deus ex machina. Instead, mankind will be able to exact revenge on the evil introduced by the serpent - hence Jesus would become a man, dwell among us, and defeat the scheme of the wicked one.

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Searching the internet for the first time, nobody seems to be echoing Schlatter, who blessedly died in Germany before Hitler assaulted the world. Schlatter saw Romans 16:20 as a possible echo of the Genesis verse. The God of peace will trample Satan beneath your feet shortly--a glorious and wonderful promise from Sentman Paul who before had seen sinner Adam as a type of righteous Anointed. Yours very truly, Vincent Shaw Flack

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