Genesis 3:15 occurs immediately after the fall, as God pronounces judgment upon the serpent. In the midst of that judgment comes a promise: hostility will exist between the serpent and the woman and between their offspring, and the woman's offspring will ultimately triumph. Christians have traditionally called this passage the Protoevangelium, or "first gospel," seeing in it the Bible's earliest anticipation of the coming Redeemer.

The passage does not explicitly predict a virgin birth, but its distinctive reference to the offspring of the woman has long been understood by Christians as consistent with the later revelation concerning Christ's birth. Matthew 1:18 records that Mary conceived Jesus through the Holy Spirit before she and Joseph came together, while Galatians 4:4 emphasizes that, at the appointed time, God sent His Son, "born of a woman." Thus Genesis begins a theme that develops throughout Scripture: the promised deliverer would enter the human family through a woman and ultimately overcome the evil introduced by the serpent.