Can you explain what is meant by “your seed” [in Genesis 3:15]? ~ Marvin Towell
Notice the verse: “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel’” (Genesis 3:15 NKJV). All students of the Bible as far as I am aware acknowledge that this verse is the first biblical prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, though to discern that, knowledge of other Messianic prophecies is a must (e.g., Galatians 4:4).
In the context of Genesis 3:15, Satan, who had appeared to Eve in the form of a snake, was addressed as well as was the woman addressed by God. The Seed of woman is a reference to Jesus Christ. However, the question remains, who is the seed of Satan, indicated by the words, “your seed”? The Presbyterian commentator, Albert Barnes, answered this question in a fine way. “The spiritual agent in the temptation of man cannot have literally any seed. But the seed of the serpent is that portion of the human family that continues to be his moral offspring, and follows the first transgression without repentance or refuge in the mercy of God.”
Our Lord identified the seed of Satan as his spiritual offspring: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do…” (John 8:44 NKJV). Likewise, the apostle John makes the correlation between unrighteous souls and they being the spiritual offspring of Satan: “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning…In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:8, 9 NKJV). The seed of Satan are the followers of Satan (Coffman).
Works Cited
Barnes’ Notes. CD-ROM. Seattle: Biblesoft, 1997.
James Burton Coffman Commentary. CD-ROM. Abilene: ACU.
