God’s Word for You

Genesis 3:15a Enmity

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, September 18, 2026

15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman,

The devil and the serpent he used do not get a private hearing for their punishment. Adam and Eve are there to listen to all of it as well. This foreshadows the punishments God will hand out on Judgment Day, which will likewise be proclaimed in the hearing of everyone by Christ, according to his human nature, the Judge over all (John 5:27).

Here, this detail reveals to us the truth of the old theological proverb, “Before there was a Christ, there was a benefit in Christ” (Christus profuit, antequam fuit). That is to say, Adam and Eve did not know Christ by the name Christ, but now in the Garden they were hearing the gospel of the forgiveness of sins through Christ for the first time.

God begins with the word “enmity,” which is hostility or hatred. Curiously, the Hebrew word we translate as “enmity” is “eba” (אֵיבָה), but in Hebrew when the letter “b” (beth) is not lengthened, is softens to the “v” sound, and so the word is pronounced “eva.” And “Eva” or “Eve” will also become the woman’s name (חַוָּה), although from another root, but with the happy accident that it will be “Life” or “Mother of all the Living” as far as she and her husband and we, their descendants, are concerned, but for Satan, her very name would carry the echo of the word “enmity, hatred, hostility,” forever.

This seems like a strange beginning to the gospel, but this hostility had not been there before. Eve had been willing to listen to Satan, curious about Satan’s words, welcoming to Satan’s ideas. This had to stop. God does not command her or her husband to be hostile to Satan. That would be another command that they could fail at. No, God does not invite them to be hostile. He places hostility between Satan and mankind.

Enmity had existed, but in a different place. When this couple sinned, they didn’t realize it but they had become hostile enemies of God. Paul explains by saying, “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so” (Romans 8:7). Adam had even been hostile toward his wife. He blamed her for his sin. This was a useless quagmire, a sloppy, muddy, mess of misdirected malice.

If man was to be helped by God, it would not be through another law, another command. A hundred years or more ago, traffic cops stood at intersections, putting up a hand to stop traffic going one way and motioning with the other hand to give cars or horses permission to proceed. God does something like that here. First, up goes the hand to stop what was going on. No more listening to the devil with no discrimination. There is going to be enmity, hostility and mistrust, between Eve and Satan, and between those who follow after them (your seed and her seed—more about that later in the verse). Then comes the true bliss of the gospel as the Lord motions with the other hand: Here he comes, the Seed of the woman.

This enmity is not a one-way emotion. Satan hates us. He wants to kill us and he wants to snatch our souls away from God’s love and drag us down into hell with him. When Jesus descended from the Mount of Transfiguration, a frantic father begged for help with his demon-possessed son. “It has often thrown him into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if you can do something in any way, help us! Have compassion on us!” (Mark 9:22). The dust-eating old demon tips his hand because he is still crafty and clever, but his enmity, the enmity God set there, gets the better of him, and he shows himself for what he truly is: a liar and a murderer (John 8:44).

For Satan, this announcement of his judgment meant his defeat. Professor Jeske points out, “All he could do was listen. God did not invite him to respond.” This hatred was not the end of his judgment, though, not even the half of it. It was about to get much worse for him, which means that this was about to get much better for Adam and Eve. One hand of the Cop went up, but the other hand of the Cop beckoned to the poorly-dressed couple standing there. There was hope for them. There was a promise. There was “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” And this promise, which we shall listen to next without any delay, meant their total and everlasting salvation. There was hope and joy; life and love; forgiveness, and peace.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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