The War, the Curse, and the Gospel
Introduction: The Righteous Verdict
We come now to the scene of the sentencing. The crime has been committed, the criminals have been apprehended, and the Judge has cross examined the defendants. Their defense was pathetic, a cascade of blame shifting. Adam blamed the woman, and by implication, God who gave her to him. The woman blamed the serpent. The serpent, for his part, had no one to blame. He was the originator of this mutiny. And so God, the righteous Judge, begins to pronounce the verdict and the sentence, starting with the serpent, the most guilty party.
We must understand that what happens here is not some unfortunate cosmic accident. This is a courtroom. God is rendering a legal verdict. These verses are not just descriptions of how things are going to be; they are judicial decrees that establish how things are going to be. The fall of man was a profound act of cosmic treason, and the consequences ripple out through all of creation. But in the midst of this declaration of judgment, this pronouncement of curses, God embeds the first glimmer of the gospel. He declares war, but in that declaration of war, He promises a victor. He announces enmity, but in that enmity, He promises a resolution. This is the foundation of all that is to come. Every subsequent chapter of the Bible is an outworking of the conflict and the promise established right here.
The modern world wants to dismiss this account as a primitive myth. But in doing so, they render the entire human condition unintelligible. Why is there such profound animosity in the world? Why is childbirth so painful? Why is the relationship between the sexes a battleground? Why is work a toilsome grind? Why do we die? The world has no coherent answers to these questions. They can describe the "what," but they cannot explain the "why." But the Bible explains it all with devastating clarity. There was a fall. There was a sin. And there are consequences. And unless we understand the bad news of these curses, we will never be able to understand or appreciate the glorious good news of their reversal in Jesus Christ.
The Text
And Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than any of the cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain and conception, In pain you will bear children; Your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In pain you will eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
(Genesis 3:14-19 LSB)
The Serpent's Humiliation and the First Gospel (vv. 14-15)
God begins with the serpent, and the curse has two parts: his personal humiliation and his perpetual conflict.
"And Yahweh God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than any of the cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;'" (Genesis 3:14)
The curse is pronounced directly on the serpent, the physical creature that Satan possessed and used as his instrument. This creature, which was likely beautiful and majestic before the fall, is now condemned to a state of perpetual humiliation. To go on one's belly is a sign of utter defeat and subjugation. To eat dust is a metaphor for the lowest possible debasement and shame. This is not just a change in locomotion; it is a visible, daily sermon on the consequences of rebellion against God. Every time we see a snake slithering in the dirt, we are meant to remember the shame of the devil and the ugliness of his rebellion.
But of course, the curse goes through the animal to the one who used it. Satan, who in his pride sought to ascend to the heavens, is cast down to the lowest place. He who offered wisdom and godlikeness is condemned to feed on the dust of death and defeat. This is the end of all prideful rebellion against the Most High.
Then, in verse 15, God declares a war that will define all of human history.
"'And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.'" (Genesis 3:15)
This verse is often called the protoevangelion, the first gospel. In the midst of judgment, God announces His plan of redemption. He declares a supernatural, divinely imposed hostility, an enmity, between two sides. This is not a natural dislike; God Himself puts it there. The battle lines are drawn. On one side, you have the serpent and his seed. This refers to Satan and all those who follow him in rebellion, both demonic and human. On the other side, you have the woman and her seed. This refers to Eve and her line of covenant keepers, those who trust in God's promise.
This establishes what theologians call the antithesis. There are two humanities, two covenants, two families running throughout history. There is the city of God and the city of man, the children of light and the children of darkness. This is not a racial or ethnic division; it is a spiritual and ethical one. You are either of the seed of the serpent or the seed of the woman. There is no neutral ground in this war.
And the verse climaxes with a prophecy of the war's outcome. There will be a singular "He," a specific male descendant from the seed of the woman, who will engage the serpent in mortal combat. The serpent will strike out and "bruise him on the heel." This is a painful but non-lethal wound. This points forward to the cross, where Satan would strike his blow against the Son of God. But in that very act, the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, would "bruise you on the head." A head wound is a death blow. It is a crushing, final, and decisive victory. At the cross, Christ defeated Satan, disarmed the principalities and powers, and triumphed over them. The war is declared, and the victor is announced, all in the same breath. This is the gospel in its seed form.
The Woman's Curse: Pain and Desire (v. 16)
Next, God turns to the woman. Her curse directly relates to her created purpose and her specific act of sin.
"To the woman He said, 'I will greatly multiply Your pain and conception, In pain you will bear children; Your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.'" (Genesis 3:16)
The woman was created to be a "helper," to work alongside the man in filling and subduing the earth. This glorious calling of bringing forth life is now marred by pain. God says He will multiply her "pain and conception." The process of bearing children, from conception to delivery, will be filled with sorrow and travail. This is a direct consequence of her sin. She was the first to listen to the lies of the serpent, and so the bringing forth of the promised seed will be marked by agony.
But the curse extends beyond physical pain into the realm of her relationship with her husband. "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." This is a difficult phrase, but the context of the fall and a parallel passage in Genesis 4:7 give us the key. This is not speaking of a romantic or sexual desire. The word for "desire" here implies a desire to control, to contend with, or to master. Just as sin desired to master Cain, so the woman, as a result of the fall, would have a sinful desire to usurp the headship of her husband. She took the lead in the transgression, and now a sinful struggle for leadership will characterize the relationship between the sexes.
And the result? "He will rule over you." This is not the institution of headship; headship was established in creation before the fall. Adam was created first, and the woman was made from him and for him. Rather, this is a description of how that headship will now function in a fallen world. It will no longer be the frictionless, joyful, complementary dance it was meant to be. It will now be a "rule," often exercised in a harsh, domineering way by sinful men, and often resisted and resented by sinful women. The battle of the sexes is not a modern invention; it is an ancient curse.
The Man's Curse: Toil and Death (vv. 17-19)
Finally, God addresses Adam. As the federal head of the human race, his sin has the most far-reaching consequences.
"Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, "You shall not eat from it"; Cursed is the ground because of you; In pain you will eat of it All the days of your life.'" (Genesis 3:17)
God begins by stating the reason for the curse: Adam abdicated his headship. He "listened to the voice of his wife" instead of obeying the clear command of God. He was passive when he should have been leading, silent when he should have been speaking truth. Because of this failure, the curse falls not directly on Adam, but on the sphere of his dominion: the ground.
Adam was created to be a gardener, to work and keep the Garden. This work was originally a joy, a creative and fruitful partnership with a cooperative creation. Now, that work becomes toil. The ground itself is cursed. It will no longer yield its fruit easily. It will resist him. His work will be characterized by "pain" or "toil."
"Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread," (Genesis 3:18-19a)
The curse manifests as "thorns and thistles." The creation itself is now disordered because its king has rebelled. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that the whole creation was subjected to futility and groans in bondage, waiting for the redemption of the sons of God. This is where that groaning began. Man's labor will now be a frustrating battle against a hostile environment. He will eat, but it will be by "the sweat of your face." The easy provision of the Garden is gone, replaced by a life of hard, sweaty, back-breaking labor just to survive.
And this toil has a deadline. It will continue until the final, ultimate curse is realized.
"Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:19b)
This is the sentence of death that God warned of. Adam was formed from the dust, and because of his sin, he will return to the dust. Physical death enters the human experience. Man was not created to die. He was created for fellowship with God, but sin separates him from God, the source of life. And so, the process of decay and dissolution begins, culminating in the grave. This is the wages of sin. This is the final enemy.
The Curses Reversed
This is a bleak picture. The world is at war. Childbirth is painful. Marriage is a struggle. Work is a grind. And it all ends in death. This is the world we live in. But this is not the end of the story. The entire Bible is the story of how God reverses these curses through the work of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
The serpent's curse is reversed by the seed of the woman, Jesus. On the cross, He crushed the serpent's head, and He has given us authority to tread on serpents and scorpions (Luke 10:19). The God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet (Romans 16:20).
The woman's curse is reversed in the gospel. Though there is still physical pain, through faith in Christ, a woman is saved "through childbearing" (1 Timothy 2:15), not by the act itself, but by embracing her God-given role in faith, love, and holiness. The battle of the sexes is resolved in the church, where husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church, and wives joyfully submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33). The enmity is replaced by harmony.
The man's curse is reversed. The ground that was cursed for Adam's sake is redeemed by Christ. The crown of thorns that He wore was our curse, the thistles of our rebellion, which He took upon His own head. Because of His work, our labor is no longer futile toil. "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58). The sweat and toil are sanctified, and our work becomes a means of glorifying God and building His kingdom.
And finally, the curse of death is reversed. Jesus, the last Adam, returned to the dust for us. He entered the grave. But the grave could not hold Him. He rose again, defeating death and becoming the firstfruits of the resurrection. "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22). Because He lives, we who are in Him will live also. The dust is not our final destiny. A glorified, resurrected body is. The curses are great, but the grace of God in Jesus Christ is greater still.