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.