The Immaculate Conception is in Scripture: Gen. 3:15
By Luke Lancaster
In the beginning of time, God created the Heavens and the earth. The first chapters of Genesis indicate this. When God created man, He gave him a fatherly direction: to not eat of the tree of knowledge. Yet, the devil came and tempted the first man and woman, causing them to distrust what the Lord God had told them. When "Adam" and "Eve" sinned, they disobeyed their Father. According to Genesis 3, God punished humanity. He then looked at the serpent and said,
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, while you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
This was a prophecy uttered by God Himself. He promised that the darkness created by sin would be alleviated with a light that crushed the darkness. God would crush Satan one day. This would be done through a mysterious "woman" and her "seed." The woman's male-child would defeat Satan and his offspring one day.
What man crushed the head of the Devil if not Jesus Christ? It was He alone that conquered the Devil by offering Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. The offspring of the Devil, sin, would be totally eradicated by the blood of the Savior. This man would be at "enmity" or in total opposition to the Evil One. Jesus would be on one end of the battle field, and sin would be at the other end. However, Gen. 3:15 also mentions a "woman."
This "woman" would also be at "enmity" with the Devil. She would be totally separated from the Devil, and it would be her Son that crushed the head of the Devil. Well, who gave birth to Jesus? Mary. If Mary is at complete "enmity" with the Devil and sin, operating on the opposite end of the battle-field, then it would make sense that she never committed sin herself. For the opposition, sin, could not have power over her. She and her Son were fighting against Satan and sin, so both of them would be sinless.
Pope Pius XII says of this, “After the wretched fall of Adam, addressed the ... serpent in these words... 'I will put enmity....' But if at any time, the Blessed Virgin Mary, defiled in her conception with the hereditary stain of sin, had been devoid of divine grace, then at least, even though for a very brief moment of time, there would not have been that eternal enmity between her and the serpent ... but instead there would have been a certain subjection" (Fulgens Corona).
So, Genesis 3:15 could rightfully be interpreted:
"I [God] will put enmity [complete separation and hatred] between you [the Devil] and the woman [Mary], between your seed [sin] and her seed [Jesus]. He [Jesus] will crush your head [Devil], while you shall bruise His heel [through the crucifixion]."
This scene is spoken about here in the beginning of the Bible, yet also at the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation. See, Genesis spoke of the “woman” being at “enmity” (separation or hatred) from the Devil (the serpent), yet Revelation 12 also speaks of a “woman” (Rev. 12:1). This woman is wearing a crown (Rev. 12:1) and who is hated by a dragon (Rev. 12:3), which is actually “that ancient serpent” (Rev. 12:9). Hmmm, a woman and an ancient serpent? Sound familiar to Genesis 3? This woman also "gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne" (Rev. 12:5). Genesis 3 spoke of a male-child who was to crush the head of Satan, so this also seems to be a connection.
So, the prophecy of God in Genesis 3:15 is seen in Revelation 12. The woman is Mary, and her child is Jesus. This interpretation of Mary as the "woman" in Genesis 3:15 was recognized by the earliest Christians.
St. Irenaeus (2nd Century), “For this end did He put enmity between the serpent and the woman and her seed, they keeping it up mutually… until the seed did come appointed to tread down his head—which was born of Mary” (Against Heresies, book 3, chapter 23).
•St. Ephrem (4th Century), “The Lord said that he [Satan] had fallen from heaven (Luke 10, 18). That accursed one had exalted himself but he was cast down from h1s high place (Apoc. 12, 7-9) The foot of Mary trampled on him who had struck at Eve with the heel. Blessed IS He who laid him low by His birth” (dem, De Nalivitate Iesu Chrilti in carne, Hymnus 2, 31; Lamy, 2, 455-457).
•St. Ambrose (4th Century), “Mary conquered you {devil], inasmuch as she gave birth to the Conqueror, as much as she, without loss of virginity, brought forth Him who when crucified conquered you, and when dead made you subject to Himself. Today too you will be conquered, so that the Woman Will detect your ambushes ..Mary has been visited in order that she might liberate Eve” (De obitu Theodoni, 44, 41, PL 16, 1400-1401)
Mary and Jesus were promised to appear by God from the very beginning of time. If Mary and Jesus are at total odds to the Devil and sin, then both of them would be sinless. So, this is an indication of Mary's Immaculate Conception from Scripture.