Part 6: The Seed of the Serpent
In our journey through the foundational doctrines of Genesis, we have covered Creation, the Doctrine of Man, and the Fall. Now, we turn our attention to one of the most enigmatic and crucial prophecies in Scripture, found in Genesis 3:15. This verse introduces a concept that has sparked much debate: the “Seed of the Serpent.”
Our text for today is Genesis 3:14-15:
Genesis 3:14–15 (NASB 2020): “Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all the livestock, And more than any animal of the field; On your belly you shall go, And dust you shall eat All the days of your life; And I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel.””
Background: The Issues
The concept of a “seed of the serpent” raises several challenging questions:
- Are not all humans descended from Adam and Eve?
- How can two different “kinds” (human and serpent) reproduce?
- If there is a “serpent seed” today, how are they to be identified physiologically?
These questions require careful biblical interpretation, going beyond superficial readings of the text.
The Serpent
First, let’s understand the identity and nature of the “serpent” in the Garden.
Was the serpent Satan himself?
Some references in Revelation directly link the “serpent of old” with the devil and Satan:
Revelation 12:9 (NASB 2020): “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
Revelation 20:2 (NASB 2020): “And he took hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;”
However, Genesis 3:1 clearly states that the serpent was an animal:
Genesis 3:1 (NASB 2020): “Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?””
The serpent belonged to the “animals of the field,” one of the three types of animals created on the sixth day (Genesis 1:24-25: livestock, crawling things, and animals of the earth). This “serpent” was:
- Distinct among wild animals: It was described as “more cunning” (‘arum, skillful, marked by deception).
- Capable of speech: It directly conversed with the woman.
- Did not originally move by its belly: The curse “on your belly you shall go” implies a physical transformation, indicating it previously moved differently, perhaps possessing legs.
Therefore, the serpent in the Garden was not Satan himself, but rather a creature used by the devil. Just as Satan entered Judas (Luke 22:3-4) or filled Ananias’s heart (Acts 5:3), he possessed or powerfully influenced this cunning animal.
Satan used the serpent to execute his evil scheme for several reasons:
- Usurpation of authority: Having failed to be above God’s angels, he now sought to gain authority over God’s earthly creation.
- To produce his own “people”: Spirit beings cannot reproduce, but Satan desired to have his own “children” or lineage, corrupting God’s design by using the “seed” of another creation.
- Corrupt and destroy God’s good creation: At the very least, Satan aimed to bring God’s creation to destruction along with himself and his evil hosts.
Thus, the serpent became Satan’s namesake and representation in the fall of man, embodying the cunning and destructive nature of the devil.
The “Seed”
Now we turn to the “seed” mentioned in Genesis 3:15: “I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant.” The Hebrew word zera and Greek sperma mean “seed,” “descendant,” or “offspring.” God explicitly identifies two distinct “seeds”: the serpent’s offspring and the woman’s Descendant.
Where are the serpent’s seed/descendants?
Cain was the first “seed” or offspring of the serpent.
Genesis 4:1–2 (NASB 2020): “Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have obtained a male child with the help of the Lord.” And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel.”
At first glance, one might naturally assume both Cain and Abel were biological children of Adam and Eve in the same manner. However, the subsequent narrative and later biblical commentary reveal a deeper truth regarding Cain:
1 John 3:10–12 (NASB 2020): “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother and sister. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we are to love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And for what reason did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.”
The phrase “who was of the evil one” signifies that Cain’s spiritual origin was not solely from Adam, but from the devil. Jesus echoed this to His opponents:
John 8:44 (NASB 2020): “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Furthermore, Cain’s genealogy is notably separated from Adam’s in Genesis:
- Genesis 5 records the genealogy of Adam through Seth to Noah’s children (Adam, Seth, Enosh, etc.).
- Genesis 4:16-24 records the genealogy of Cain (Cain, Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, Methushael, Lamech, etc.).
- Significantly, the Book of Chronicles, which meticulously records genealogies, does not include Cain in Adam’s line (1 Chronicles 1:1-10).
From two bloodlines to one:
Before the Flood, there were two distinct “bloodlines” of mankind:
- The Sethites: Descended from Seth, a son of Adam, representing the human lineage blessed by God.
- The Cainites: Descended from Cain, who was “of the evil one,” representing the corrupted lineage.
These two bloodlines intermarried, leading to widespread wickedness:
Genesis 6:1–5 (NASB 2020): “Now it came about, when mankind began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose… Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.”
After the Flood, a singular human “bloodline” emerged, descended from Noah and his family. The New Testament affirms this:
Acts 17:26 (NASB 2020): “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”
The NKJV renders “from one man” as “from one blood,” emphasizing a singular lineage. While Adam’s lineage continued through Noah, it was now mixed, having absorbed elements of the Cainite line through the intermarriage prior to the flood. The distinct “Cainite bloodline” as a separate, unmixed entity was lost in the post-Flood world.
God now views all humans on the same level: they are all “sons of Adam” in their physical descent, fallen in nature (due to original sin), and condemned to destruction apart from His grace.
The offspring of the serpent in the time of Christ:
In the New Testament, the “offspring of the serpent” are identified not by physical lineage, but by spiritual disposition and behavior. John the Baptist and Jesus both confronted religious leaders with this shocking designation:
Matthew 3:5–9 (NASB 2020): (John the Baptist to the Pharisees and Sadducees) “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance; and do not assume that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you that God is able, from these stones, to raise up children for Abraham.”
Matthew 12:34–35 (NASB 2020): (Jesus to the Pharisees) “You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, express any good things? For the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart.”
Matthew 23:31–33 (NASB 2020): (Jesus to the scribes and Pharisees) “So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You snakes, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?”
The distinction of the “serpent’s offspring” is no longer physiological but spiritual: they are those who are religious, yet fundamentally unrepentant and hostile to God’s truth. Like Cain, who was unrepentant even after God offered him a chance to correct his wrong, these individuals demonstrate a nature “of the evil one.” Paul similarly calls unrepentant individuals “sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1-2; Ephesians 5:3-8).
One bloodline, but two different spiritual origins:
Jesus directly addressed this spiritual fatherhood in John 8:
John 8:39–45 (NASB 2020): “They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham… You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born as a result of sexual immorality; we have one Father: God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me… You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him… But because I say the truth, you do not believe Me.”
Here, Jesus distinguishes between biological descent from Abraham and true spiritual sonship. The Jews claimed God as their Father, but their actions and spiritual rejection of Christ revealed their true spiritual father: the devil.
The Prophecy: Bruising the Head and the Heel
Genesis 3:15 contains two pivotal prophecies:
- The enmity between the serpent and the woman, and their offspring.This enmity manifested first in Cain and Abel. Cain, as the offspring “of the evil one,” murdered Abel, who represented the pure “descendant of the woman” in that initial conflict. This spiritual battle continued throughout history, culminating in the ultimate confrontation between Jesus (the true Seed of the woman) and the “offspring of the serpent” in His day (the unrepentant, unbelieving religious leaders).
- “He [the Seed of the woman] shall bruise you on the head, and you [the serpent] shall bruise Him on the heel.”
- “He shall bruise you on the head…”: The Seed of the woman (Christ) will deliver a crushing blow to the serpent’s head. The “head” here signifies the core of sin, which brings the sting of death to all humanity (1 Corinthians 15:56). Christ’s victory over sin and death on the cross is this decisive head-crushing blow.
- “And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”: The serpent (Satan) would “hurt” or wound the Seed of the woman. This refers to the suffering and crucifixion of Christ. Just as a snake typically strikes the heel, this wound was painful and aimed at incapacitating, but ultimately not fatal for the Deliverer. The image of a Roman nail hammered through a heel bone (as seen in archaeological discoveries of crucifixion victims) starkly illustrates the nature of this “bruising” – a profound, physical suffering inflicted upon the Messiah.
Conclusion
The “offspring of the serpent” continue to exist today. They are not identifiable by physical characteristics, but by their spiritual nature: they are those who, despite hearing the Gospel and experiencing God’s patient love, refuse to repent and persist in disobeying God’s will. They embody the same unbelief, pride, and hostility to God’s truth that characterized Cain and the religious leaders who rejected Christ.
Conversely, the “children of God” are those who are born not through Adam’s lineage into condemnation, but through faith in Jesus Christ, the true Seed of the woman.
Ephesians 2:4–8 (NASB 2020): “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;”
The prophecy of the Seed of the Serpent, therefore, is not merely a historical account but a spiritual reality that defines the ongoing conflict between those who reject God and those who, through Christ’s triumphant work, are made alive and called to walk as children of light.
