the-fall
+ NewThe Fall and Original Sin — Genesis 3 and Romans 5
Gen 3:1-7 narrates the first disobedience: the serpent's question, the forbidden fruit, and the eyes that are opened to shame. The harmony of creation fractures in a single act. Augustine's reading of original sin became the West's standard: Adam's guilt and corruption pass to all his offspring. He found its warrant in Rom 5:12, "sin came into the world through one man." Aquinas refined it as the loss of original righteousness. The curse of 3:15-19 sets up the whole drama of redemption, and the Adam of this chapter is the representative head whose trespass Rom 5:18 contrasts with Christ's obedience. The fall is answered by the second Adam.
The Protoevangelium — Genesis 3:15
Gen 3:15, the protoevangelium, promises enmity between the serpent and the woman's offspring: "he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." In the midst of the curse, the first gospel is spoken. Irenaeus read the seed of the woman as Christ, who recapitulates and reverses Adam's defeat, and Calvin saw here the fountainhead of all covenant promise. The bruised heel anticipates the cross; the crushed head, the resurrection. The promised seed is traced through the Abrahamic covenant of Gen 15:5 and fulfilled in the woman's son of Gal 4:4. The serpent's final defeat is sealed in Rev 12:9.