Q414 : Does the Old Testament reinforce Paul’s singular use of "seed" in Galatians 3:16?

Are there specific Old Testament precedents reinforcing Paul's singular use of seed in Galatians 3:16? I searched every way I could think of for a precedent supporting Paul's statement in v 16 that "seed" was Christ alone.

A414 : by Steve Lewis

When God cursed the serpent in the Garden of Eden, He said: “Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life; And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel" (Gen 3:14-15). This has often been called the “protoevangelium” because it represents the first recorded instance of the “good news” of God’s redemption for fallen mankind. One commentator provides these insights:

The “seed of the woman” is the Messiah Himself, making this the first messianic prophecy in the Bible. To refer to the Messiah as the seed of the woman goes contrary to the biblical norm, since in Scripture the seed is always traced after the male line. The genealogies throughout the Bible, including those in Genesis, always give the male line. However, with the Messiah this is going to be different. Moses does not explain why it is going to be different and why the Messiah will be reckoned after the seed of the woman. Only centuries later, in Isaiah 7:14, is it made clear that the Messiah will be conceived in the womb of a virgin. The Messiah will have no human father, so His lineage can only be traced through the mother.¹

This helps to explain why, after Eve gave birth to her firstborn son, she exclaimed: "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD" (Gen 4:1). Most translations include some helper text in italics, but the Hebrew literally says: “I have gotten a man: Jehovah.” This gives us insight into how Eve understood God’s promise from Gen 3:15. “It is important to retain exactly what the Hebrew reads, because the Hebrew shows that Eve’s understanding of Genesis 3:15 was that the Redeemer who would come of the seed of the woman was to be a God-Man…. [Eve] made the assumption that Cain was that God-Man. Eve’s interpretation of Cain’s birth is a good example of correct theology with the wrong application. Cain was not the God-Man, but the birth of Cain produced the initial hope.”² They believed God’s promise that one of their descendants would be the God-Man.

By the time Abel was born, Adam and Eve had experienced many of the consequences of their Fall, and they realized that “whatever Cain was, he was no God-Man”³ so they must wait for the Redeemer to be born in the future. But the proper expectation from the promise of Gen 3:15 is that there will be a Redeemer, a God-Man, the seed of the woman, who will provide salvation. This is how all believers from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the apostle Paul would have understood the Gen 3:15 promise. However, that does not negate any of the other unilateral covenant oaths given by God to Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the nation of Israel.

From our perspective in history today, we now know that the Gen 3:15 seed is the Lord Jesus Christ who came in the flesh through a virgin birth, lived a perfectly righteous life, and died a substitutionary death for the sins of all mankind. After three days He was resurrected and appeared to many witnesses over forty days before ascending to the right hand of God the Father. He is the seed promised in Gen 3:15, and He will return soon to fulfill all of His other covenant promises.