"… Christ's words to the Pharisees, leading them back to the beginning, show that even though now we are tainted by sin, it is important to remember the state of original innocence. We need to compare our present sinfulness with the way God meant things to be.
"When sin entered the world, God responded with a plan of redemption. The first whisper of his promise is found in … Genesis 3:15 …
"And I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.""… Christian theologians have viewed this text as a foreshadowing of the Gospel … From Genesis 3:15 onward, man lives in the hope of redemption.
"… We are all participants in the history of human sinfulness, both by the original sin we have inherited and by the personal sins we commit. But we are also called to participate in the history of salvation …. We may be shut off from the state of original innocence, but we are open to the mystery of redemption.
"In his Letter to the Romans, Paul expresses our situation this way: 'We ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies' (Rom. 8:23).
"We can't lose sight of this hope as we follow the words of Christ, which direct our attention back to the beginning."
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