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After writing my last article, I couldn’t stop pondering this idea of always fighting the curse and how it infiltrates our daily lives. It’s hard to believe how great the impact has been on us now even though it began so long ago when mankind first let their desires tell them that something other than what God’s provisions could do a better job of fulfilling them. This was the first time Satan used this strategy to deceive mankind, but it wasn’t the last time he would use it. In fact he continues to use this strategy even now.

In the previous part of this article series, I focused mostly on the fact that believers who are fighting the curse are in the right place and can glorify God in this battle between good and evil, knowing that the eternal hope of fellowship with God has been secured. But today I would like you to consider how an unbeliever is also fighting the curse.

You see, all mankind was cursed from the sin of Adam but there are some key distinctions laid out in scripture for us between the experience of a believer versus an unbeliever in their fight. Today I’d like to explore the animosity that characterizes the lives of all humans since the curse began.

In Genesis 3:15, God said to Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her Seed. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel”. We have to remember when we read this passage that God is speaking to Satan and so this is speaking of a spiritual battle that the curse places on Satan. But this passage has duel meaning because God says that the enmity will be on two fronts. The first is between the serpent and the woman, and the second is between Satan’s seed and the Seed of the woman. It’s important that we understand that the enmity between Satan and the woman is an act of mercy on God’s part for Eve and consequences for Satan. If God had allowed things to continue as they were when the woman ate of the forbidden fruit, she would still be under the impression that Satan was her friend, and her sin would lead to joy and peace. No food can do that, and nothing from Satan can do that, even though Satan tries to convince us otherwise. This act of mercy is driven home to us by the second part of this verse that is a declaration of the spiritual battle that would be ongoing from that time forward. When God said there would be enmity between Satan’s seed and the woman’s seed, he is not talking about physical offspring. First, Satan does not have children, he is a fallen angel and if God were talking about the physical offspring of humans, it would have been described as the seed of man not woman. Because of this and other scriptures that support we know that God is speaking of angels and people who follow Satan, and the seed of woman refers to Jesus Christ, who was “born of a virgin” and will include those who follow Him. This spiritual battle, while it is ongoing, has an outcome that has already been secured by the death and resurrection of Christ. This is foretold in this verse by Satan “bruising Jesus’ heel, and Jesus bruising Satan’s head, which indicates a fatal wound. Galatians 4:4-5 says it this way, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

So how does this impact the believer versus the unbeliever in this ongoing conflict? Well, if you have not repented of your sin and accepted Christ’s sacrifice for your sin to follow Him as Lord of your life, it means that you are an enemy of Him rather than a son of God. It also means you are a friend to Satan and sin, which unfortunately leads to defeat. In this current life, being comfortable with sin often leads to self-destruction and misery because as we said in the last section, anything from Satan will not fulfill those who were created in God’s image.

Since we know how this victory will end, as believers we have help in this battle against Satan and evil, we also have hope because our victory has been secured. Colossians 2:15 says that Christ “disarmed principalities and powers, and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it”.

In speaking about the unbeliever in Rom. 3:13-18, Paul says, “Their throat is an open tomb, with their tongues they have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

If you are not a believer and you are reading this article, I want to point out to you that the difference between the believer and unbeliever has nothing to do with the person’s goodness or worthiness. The difference is made by Jesus alone, who secures our hope, who shepherds our way, and placed His righteousness on us when He took our sin upon Him and endured our wrath. As long as you have breath, you have opportunity to move to the victorious position of a believer. Rom. 5:8-10 says, “God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life.”

Even though becoming a follower of Jesus doesn’t remove our fight against all of the hardships brought on by the curse, it does bring peace, hope, and purpose.