From: Genesis 3:9-15, 20
Temptation and the First Sin (Continuation)
[9] But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
[10] And he said, "I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was
afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." [11] He said, "Who told you
that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to
eat?" [12] The man said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave
me fruit of the tree, and I ate." [13] Then the Lord God said to the woman,
"What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent beguiled me,
and I ate." [14] The Lord said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly
you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. [15] I will
put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he
shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."
[20] The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all
living.
Commentary:
3:7-13. This passage begins the description of the effects of the original
sin. Man and woman have come to know evil, and it shows, initially, in a
most direct way--in their own bodies. The inner harmony described in
Genesis 2:25 is broken, and concupiscence rears its head. Their friendship
with God is also broken, and they flee from his presence, to avoid their
nakedness being seen. As if his Creator could not see them! The harmony
between man and woman is also fractured: he puts the blame on her, and she
puts it on the serpent. But all three share in the responsibility, and
therefore all three are going to pay the penalty.
"The harmony in which they found themselves, thanks to original justice, is
now destroyed: the control of the soul's spiritual faculties over the body
is shattered: the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions (cf.
Gen 3:7-16), their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination.
Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and
hostile to man (cf. Gen 3:17, 19). Because of man, creation is now subject
'to its bondage to decay' (Rom 8:21). Finally, the consequence explicitly
foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will 'return to the
ground' (Gen 3:19), for out of it he was taken. 'Death makes its entrance
into human history' (cf. Roman 5:12)" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church",
400).
3:14-15. The punishment God imposes on the serpent includes confrontation
between woman and the serpent, between mankind and evil, with the promise
that man will come out on top. That is why this passage is called the
"Proto-gospel": it is the first announcement to mankind of the good news of
the Redeemer-Messiah. Clearly, a bruise to the head is deadly, whereas a
bruise to the heel is curable.
As the Second Vatican Council teaches, "God, who creates and conserves all
things by his Word, (cf. In 1:3), provides men with constant evidence of
himself in created realities (cf. Rom 1:19-20). And furthermore, wishing to
open up the way to heavenly salvation, by promising redemption (cf. Gen
3:15); and he has never ceased to take care of the human race. For he wishes
to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in
well-doing (cf. Rom 2:6-7)" ("Dei Verbum", 3).
Victory over the devil will be brought about by a descendant of the woman,
the Messiah. The Church has always read these verses as being messianic,
referring to Jesus Christ; and it was seen in the woman the mother of the
promised Savior; the Virgin Mary is the new Eve. "The earliest documents, as
they are read in the Church and are understood in the light of a further and
full revelation, bring the figure of a woman, Mother of the Redeemer, into a
gradually clearer light. Considered in this light, she is already
prophetically foreshadowed in the promise of victory over the serpent which
was given to our first parents after their fall into sin (cf. Gen 3:15)
[...]. Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert with Irenaeus in
their preaching: 'the knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's
obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by
her faith' (St Irenaeus, "Adv. haer." 3, 22, 4) Comparing Mary with Eve,
they call her 'Mother of the living' (St Epiphanius, "Adv. haer. Panarium"
78, 18) and frequently claim: 'death through Eve, life through Mary' (St
Jerome, "Epistula" 22, 21; etc.)" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 55-56).
So, woman is going to have a key role in that victory over the devil. In his
Latin translation of the Bible, the "Vulgate", St Jerome in fact reads the
relevant passage as "she [the woman] shall bruise your head". That woman is
the Blessed Virgin, the new Eve and the mother of the Redeemer, who shares
(by anticipation and pre-eminently) in the victory of her Son. Sin never
left its mark on her, and the Church proclaims her as the Immaculate
Conception.
St Thomas explains that the reason why God did not prevent the first man
from sinning was because 'God allows evils to be done in order to draw forth
some greater good. Thus St Paul says, 'Where sin increased, grace abounded
all the more' (Rom 5:20); and the "Exultet" sings, '0 happy fault,...which
gained for us so great a Redeemer'" ("Summa Theologiae", 3, 1, 3 and 3; cf.
"Catechism of the Catholic Church", 412).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.