Genesis 3:15, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.", is sometimes called the protoevangelion. It is generally considered by
Christians to be the first
prophecy of the life of
Christ. The words are spoken by "the
LORD God" to the
serpent who tempted
Eve in the
Garden of Eden. Christians interpret this to be a warning to
Satan that, one day, a descendant of Eve would come. Satan would wound him, but he would utterly defeat Satan. This was fulfilled, says this interpretation, when Christ was killed, presumably by some effort of Satan's (See
John 13:2: "And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;"), and Christ, rising from the dead, conquered Satan in his apparent moment of triumph.
Paul refers to this verse in Romans 16:20: "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen."
The word "protoevangelion" means "first good news" or "first gospel."
Spelling and biblical cross references provided by the Cleveland Bible Commentary, at http://www.christiancommunitychurch.us/clevelandcommentary/Gen03.html .