Romans 16:20
‘The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet, shortly! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!’ Romans 16:20.
At Genesis 3:15, Calvin comments: “Men would…proudly triumph… (God) promise(d) them, in their posterity, victory over Satan…, so that they may contend against him with the assured confidence of victory…. To show that he (Satan) would be odious not only to one generation, God expressly says: ‘between you and the Seed of the woman’…. Victory is promised to the human race,
through a continual succession of ages….
“The human race which Satan was endeavouring to oppress, would at length be victorious…. The whole Church of God, under its Head (Jesus Christ), will gloriously exult over him (Satan). To this, the declaration of Paul refers, ‘The Lord shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly!’ (Romans 16:20).”
Calvin comments at Romans 16:20: “The expression…’The God of peace shall bruise Satan,’ is a promise to strengthen them…. He (Paul) exhorts them to fight against Satan without fear, and promises them a speedy victory…. He not only speaks of the last day when Satan will openly be trodden under foot, but…he promises that the Lord will subdue him and make him to be trodden under foot!’
Calvin also says in his Institutes I:14:18 & I:13:2: “This trial…is common to all the children of God. But as the promise of bruising Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15) applies alike to Christ and to all His members, I deny that believers can ever be oppressed or vanquished by him! They are often indeed thrown into alarm, but never so thoroughly as not to recover themselves. They fall by the
violence of the blows, but they get up again. They are wounded, but not mortally….
“Paul elsewhere shows that the promise above quoted, commences in this life where the struggle is carried on…. It is completed, after the struggle is ended. His words are, ‘The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly!’ (Romans 16:20). In our Head, indeed, this victory was always perfect…. But in us who are His members, it is now partially obtained and will be perfected when we shall have put off our mortal flesh…and shall have been filled with the energy of the Holy Spirit…. The Kingdom of Christ is raised up and established. That of Satan, falls…. Christ, by dying, overcame Satan!…
“Moses (Genesis 3:15)…says that the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent…. The words there used, refer not to Christ alone — but to the whole human race, since the victory was to be obtained for us by Christ…. The posterity of the woman, would overcome the devil…. Christ is a descendant of the human race. The purpose of God in thus addressing Eve, being to raise her hopes!”
God shall shortly crush Satan under your feet! Let us then go forth, and trample him down!
