Read part 1 here. Read part 2 here. Read part 3 here.
Since the fall of humankind in Genesis, there have been two lines: one of death, and another of life. Even though sin came in and, with it, ushered in death for mankind, God’s judgment in Gen. 3:14-19 ushered in a salvation, too. Seemingly, God’s judgment was a curse; actually, it was a message of salvation: that the seed of the woman will bruise the serpent’s head. In response, Adam named his wife “the mother of all living”!
And yet for those who don’t receive the judgment as their salvation, the line of death continues. This is the source of all the striving, conflict, evil and physical values we see in our world today. Eve heard the message of life just as Adam did and was meant to be victorious, and yet through her, human life claims a different source and a value from God in “acquiring a man” (4:1). This kind of continuation is a very physical one. From the first generation, the result of “Cain” is jealousy, striving, and murder. This physical fruit of man, no matter how good our intentions are, is always tied closely to the earth, defiled and disqualified because of the old serpent. Until today, Eve’s pain has continued to multiply through mankind (3:16), producing striving, independent, calculating human beings. That is why the world is as deeply fallen as it is today.
There is, however, another life, the “original” life we as human beings were meant to have. In the face of degradation, evil, conflict, and war, this life deep inside of us makes us question, “Is this really how we should live?” The New Testament indeed shows us a new seed that came forth: a new birth to transfer us from the curse of death to a reigning life. It is in the gospels that we find Mary as a true mother, a fulfillment of Eve, to bear and conceive Christ. Here, a different conceiving took place without man’s effort – a conception through the Spirit. Unlike the first seed of Eve, Cain, who was “acquired” by Eve through her own effort, this seed, our Lord Jesus Christ, was wholly divine. The source of Christ was not from man at all, but rather God Himself.
As the church today, the true Eve – the real mother of all living, we should have a reaction as Mary did, not to “acquire” for ourselves, but to exult in a life not produced through our own effort. Through this seed, we are regenerated and recovered unto the line of life. As believers, we all have two births: our physical one, and our spiritual one. Once we were the fallen seed of man, and now we are all brothers and sisters out of the seed of the woman. As believers living a corporate life in the church, we are the continuation of that very specific line of life. The church is the real “mother,” a host and abode for bringing forth the fulfillment of that seed, the Man-child, to bruise the head of the serpent.
(Above is part 4 of a series compiled from notes of fellowship taken from gatherings on 4/24/24 and 4/28/24, not reviewed by the speaker.)