Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 29:2 (Summer 2025)
Article: “The Promise Of Her Victorious Seed”: Andrew Fuller’s Exposition Of Genesis 3
Author: Matthew P. Stewart

“The Promise Of Her Victorious Seed”: Andrew Fuller’s Exposition Of Genesis 3

Matthew P. Stewart

Matthew P. Stewart serves as vice president of academic affairs and professor of historical and theological studies at Cross Theological Seminary in Rogers, Arkansas. He earned his MDiv and ThM from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, where he is also finishing his PhD in historical and theological studies. In addition to editing two volumes in The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller (De Gruyter Brill), he has published articles and book reviews in Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, Studies in Puritanism and Piety, The Journal of Andrew Fuller Studies, Themelios, and a unit for The Gospel Project. He and his wife, Courtney, have seven children, and they are members of Cross Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Ideas have consequences. While this is true in virtually every realm, it is especially true in the sphere of biblical interpretation. To understand the story of the Bible, one has to start where every good story starts: in the beginning. The Book of Genesis sets the trajectory for the overall metanarrative of Scripture. How one interprets the beginning of the story, then, has massive ramifications for his understanding of God, Christ, sin, and redemption. More specifically, the dramatic scenes that unfold in Genesis 3 have more far-reaching implications for one’s theology than perhaps any other single chapter in Scripture.

The world in which the Baptist pastor-theologian Andrew Fuller (1754–1815) inhabited during the latter end of the long-eighteenth century was one of dramatic change. From revolutions in America and France to revolutions in industry and science, the world was advancing rapidly. Such was the case in the world of biblical interpretation as well, with the rise of historical criticism.

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Nearly two millennia of largely unchallenged exegesis concerning mankind’s origins as described in Genesis 1–3 came under scrutiny, leading many to dismiss the literal interpretation of the Bible’s first chapters as the fanciful machinations of the uneducated.1 Inevitably, this dismissal led to questions about the deity of Christ and whether or not humans were sinners in need of atonement.

In the midst of these dramatic times, Fuller preached a series of sermons through Genesis at Kettering Baptist Church, which were later adapted and published as a commentary. While his apologetic and polemical works have received much attention, his exegetical works have received relatively little.You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
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