Concept
Christologyalso The first gospel · Genesis 3:15Protoevangelium
The first promise of a Rescuer, spoken to the serpent in Eden: a woman's seed will crush his head.
#promise#messianic
- 15passages
- 119original words
- 1approved connection
- 240cross-references
- 1thread through it
The words behind it
Hebrew and Greek standing in the 15 passages listed below, not a lexicon of "protoevangelium" itself. The number on each word is how often it occurs in those passages; the connecting words the languages use everywhere are set aside so the words that carry meaning can be seen.
Hebrew65
55 more hebrew words ▾
Greek54
44 more greek words ▾
The passages
Every passage this site attaches to the concept, in canon order. Each row says where it came from.
Old Testament9
- Genesis 3:15listed key text
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on Genesis 3:152 voices
He has therefore, in His work of recapitulation, summed up all things, both waging war against our enemy, and crushing him who had at the beginning led us away captives in Adam, and trampled upon his head, as thou canst perceive in Genesis that God said to the serpent, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; He shall be on the watch for thy head, and thou on the watch for His heel."
Irenaeus· Against Heresies 5.21.1, 202Patristic
I will put enmity between thee and the woman - This has been generally supposed to apply to a certain enmity subsisting between men and serpents; but this is rather a fancy than a reality. It is yet to be discovered that the serpentine race have any peculiar enmity against mankind, nor is there any proof that men hate serpents more than they do other noxious animals.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Evangelical
- Genesis 4:25thread stop
And Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”
Commentary on Genesis 4:252 voices
(Verse 25) And he called his name Seth. For God has provided me another offspring in place of Abel, whom Cain killed. Seth, properly θέσις, that is, position, is called because God had set him in place of Abel. Finally, Aquila says: And he called his name Seth, saying: For God has placed another offspring for me.
Jerome· Hebrew Questions on Genesis, 420Patristic
And Adam knew his wife again,.... The Targum of Jonathan adds, at the end of a hundred and thirty years after Abel was killed, see Gen 5:3 but, according to Bishop Usher, Seth was born the same year, which is most probable.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)Reformed
- Genesis 9:26thread stop
He also declared: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.(opening verse of the passage)
- Genesis 12:3thread stop
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
Commentary on Genesis 12:32 voices
And I will bless them that bless thee,.... Not the priests only that should bless his children, the children of Israel, as the Targum of Jonathan, but all men of all nations, and of every age, that speak well of him, commend him for his faith and holiness, and tread in his steps, these are blessed with faithful Abraham, Gal 3:
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)Reformed
In thee - In thy posterity, in the Messiah, who shall spring from thee, shall all families of the earth be blessed; for as he shall take on him human nature from the posterity of Abraham, he shall taste death for every man, his Gospel shall be preached throughout the world, and innumerable blessings be derived on all mankind through his death and intercession.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Evangelical
- Genesis 15:5thread stop
And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on Genesis 15:52 voices
What is the meaning then of the expression "he brought him outside"? The prophet is as it were led out, so that he goes outside of the body and sees the limitations imposed by the flesh that is his garment and the infusion of the Holy Spirit who makes a kind of visible descent. We too must exit from the confinement of this our temporary dwelling.
Ambrose of Milan· On Abraham, 397Patristic
Look now toward heaven - It appears that this whole transaction took place in the evening; see on Gen 13:14 (note). Abram had either two visions, that recorded in Gen 15:1, and that in Gen 15:12, etc.; or what is mentioned in the beginning of this chapter is a part of the occurrences which took place after the sacrifice mentioned Gen 15:9, etc.: but it is more likely that there was a vision of that kind already described, and afterwards a second, in which he received the revelation mentioned Gen 15:13-
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Evangelical
- Genesis 22:18thread stop
And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Commentary on Genesis 22:181 voice
And in thy seed, etc. - We have the authority of St. Paul, Gal 3:8, Gal 3:16, Gal 3:18, to restrain this to our blessed Lord, who was The Seed through whom alone all God’s blessings of providence, mercy, grace, and glory, should be conveyed to the nations of the earth.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Evangelical
- Genesis 49:10thread stop
The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.
- 2 Samuel 7:12thread stop
And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on 2 Samuel 7:121 voice
However, the tribe of Judah did not fail until he came for whom it was reserved, who did not himself sit upon a material throne, for the kingdom of Judea had now been transferred to Herod, the son of Antipater, the Ascalonite, and to his sons, who divided Judea into four provinces when Pilate was governor and Tiberius held the power over the whole Roman province. But his indestructible kingdom he calls the throne of David on which the Lord sat. He himself is "the expectation of nations," not of the least part of the world.
Basil of Caesarea· LETTER 236, 379Patristic
- Isaiah 7:14thread stop
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.
Commentary on Isaiah 7:142 voices
And when He says, "Hear, O house of David," [Isaiah 7:13] He performed the part of one indicating that He whom God promised David that He would raise up from the fruit of his belly (ventris) an eternal King, is the same who was born of the Virgin, herself of the lineage of David.
Irenaeus· Against Heresies (Book III, Chapter 21), Section 5, 202Patristic
For the one and the same Spirit of God, who proclaimed by the prophets what and of what sort the advent of the Lord should be, did by these elders give a just interpretation of what had been truly prophesied; and He did Himself, by the apostles, announce that the fulness of the times of the adoption had arrived, that the kingdom of heaven had drawn nigh, and that He was dwelling within those that believe on Him who was born Emmanuel of the Virgin.
Irenaeus· Against Heresies (Book III, Chapter 21), Section 4, 202Patristic
New Testament6
- Matthew 1:1thread stop
This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
- Romans 16:20listed key text
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on Romans 16:202 voices
"And the God of peace shall crush Satan under your feet speedily." The question is asked in this passage what Satan he meant, who was to be crushed swiftly by God beneath the feet of those to whom he writes.
Origen of Alexandria· COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS, 253Patristic
The God of peace - Who neither sends nor favors such disturbers of the tranquillity of his Church. Shall bruise Satan - Shall give you the dominion over the great adversary of your souls, and over all his agents who, through his influence, endeavor to destroy your peace and subvert your minds. Several critics suppose that the word Satan is a sort of collective term here, by which all opposers and adversaries are meant; and especially those false teachers to whom he refers above.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Evangelical
- Galatians 3:16thread stop
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.
Commentary on Galatians 3:161 voice
(V. 15 seqq.) Brothers, I speak in human terms: yet no one rejects or adds to a man's covenant, which has been confirmed. The promises were made to Abraham and to his seed. It does not say, 'and to seeds,' referring to many, but referring to one, 'and to your seed,' who is Christ. Now I say this: the covenant, which was confirmed by God, the law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate the promise, so as to abolish it.
Jerome· Commentary on Galatians, 420Patristic
- Galatians 4:4listed key text
But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,(opening verse of the passage)
- 1 John 3:8listed key text
The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.(opening verse of the passage)
Commentary on 1 John 3:81 voice
Insofar as we commit sins, we have not yet put off the generation of the devil, even if we are thought to believe in Jesus. Everyone who is not of the devil does not commit sin.
Origen of Alexandria· COMMENTARY ON JOHN 20.103-4, 253Patristic
- Revelation 12:9listed key text
And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.(opening verse of the passage)
Approved connections
1 link an editor approved, each with the reason it was kept.
- first mentionGenesis 3:15
The church has long called this verse the protoevangelium, the first gospel. The promise structure of all Scripture begins here.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (public domain)Puritan
Voices on these passages
Commentary matched to the verses above, each named with its source: the full pool sits on each verse page.
He has therefore, in His work of recapitulation, summed up all things, both waging war against our enemy, and crushing him who had at the beginning led us away captives in Adam, and trampled upon his head, as thou canst perceive in Genesis that God said to the serpent, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; He shall be on the watch for thy head, and thou on the watch for His heel."
Irenaeus· Against Heresies 5.21.1Patristic
Genesis 3:15
(Verse 25) And he called his name Seth. For God has provided me another offspring in place of Abel, whom Cain killed. Seth, properly θέσις, that is, position, is called because God had set him in place of Abel. Finally, Aquila says: And he called his name Seth, saying: For God has placed another offspring for me.
Jerome· Hebrew Questions on GenesisPatristic
Genesis 4:25
And I will bless them that bless thee,.... Not the priests only that should bless his children, the children of Israel, as the Targum of Jonathan, but all men of all nations, and of every age, that speak well of him, commend him for his faith and holiness, and tread in his steps, these are blessed with faithful Abraham, Gal 3:
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)Reformed
Genesis 12:3
Study it deeper
6 moves a student can make from here. Every one opens a tool on this site.
Trace one word to every place it stands
A word page lists every verse that word occurs in, with its definition and its range of meaning. Start with the roots that occur most under the passages above.
Walk out from the passages
The passages above carry 240 cross-references between them, links from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, the great 1830s reference work, together with the reader-voted index at OpenBible.info. The most-linked destinations:
Read it in both testaments
Set the earliest passage beside the New Testament one and ask what changed and what did not, the shape of protoevangelium before Christ and after him.
Read the whole chapter around it
A verse quoted alone can mean almost anything. Open Genesis 3 in the reader, where the Hebrew or Greek sits under every line.
See everywhere else it appears
The search page is a doorway: it returns verses, word studies, people, places and studies for one term at once.
Walk it stop by stop
A thread takes the passages in order and stops at each one with commentary, so the idea unfolds instead of arriving all at once.
Where this comes from
Genesis 3:15 is God's first word after the fall, and it is not spoken to Adam: it is spoken against the serpent. One descendant of the woman will take a wound to the heel and answer it with a crushed head.
Every later promise narrows this one: through Abraham's line, through Judah, through David, to a single Man on a single hill. Paul closes the arc with the same verb: "the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" (Romans 16:20).