Saturday
Saturday
Special Grace and Common Grace
The LORD God said to the serpent, “… I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:14–15
Yesterday we looked at three glimpses of grace. But I have reserved for today what is often called the “protevangelium,” or the first proclamation of the gospel of grace, namely Genesis 3:15. It occurs in God’s judgment on the serpent and is in two parts.
Firstly, God announces that he will put enmity between the serpent and the woman, which will continue into the future as a hostility between the serpent’s family (cf. John 8:44) and Eve’s posterity (evidently meaning her spiritual seed).
Secondly, God foretells that this age-long conflict will culminate in suffering, though more for Satan than for Eve’s descendant, for a single champion is now in mind. God says, “He will crush your head,” dealing a lethal blow to the serpent, while “you will strike his heel.” That is, he will not escape injury himself.
This decisive though painful victory over the devil was won at the cross, when Jesus Christ disarmed and dethroned the principalities and powers and triumphed over them (Col. 2:15). It sets us free from Satanic bondage and is the most splendid act of God’s special grace.
Meanwhile, God’s common grace is extended to everybody. For example, Eve became pregnant, gave birth to Cain, and said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man” (Gen. 4:1). “With the help of the LORD”? But she and her husband had just been banished from him (3:22–24)! How could she claim his help in childbirth? The answer is that, although God’s special grace brings salvation to believers, his common grace is extended to all humankind in the provision of life and health and all things necessary for survival.
For further reading: Revelation 12:1–9