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A New Set of Clothes
As we know all too well, Adam and Eve failed their test, even one as simple as that. To call the results tragic would, of course, be the greatest understatement in human history. Tragic hardly conveys the horrible results of our parents’ disobedience.
Read Genesis 3:6–11. What was the first thing that happened to Adam and Eve (which is exactly what Satan in verse 5 said would happen) after they fell, and what does that mean? What did it imply the results of their transgression were?
Their eyes were opened, just as Satan said they would be, only now they were seeing the world and reality differently than they ever had before. All through those verses, the theme of their nakedness reoccurs. It’s the controlling motif in the section. Their fall from innocence, their transgression, and their new relationship to God and to each other are all expressed in the theme of their now knowing that they are naked.
Notice, too, the Lord’s question to them: “Who told you that you were naked?” (vs. 11, NIV). It implies that in their innocence they never realized their nakedness, that it just seemed a natural way to be, and so they didn’t give it any thought. Now, though, not only did they think about it, they were dominated by the shame that it brought.
What is the significance of Adam and Eve’s response to their nakedness?
Imagine Adam and Eve hiding behind some bushes, looking at themselves with mouths agape and attempting to cover themselves before the Lord. Looking at the possibilities for coverings, they must have decided that the fig leaves were the best. Thus, here we have the first lesson in salvation by works, in humans attempting to solve the problem of sin by their own works and deeds. As pathetic as their attempts were then, they are no more so than ours are today.
| WEDNESDAY | April 13 |
As we know all too well, Adam and Eve failed their test, even one as simple as that. To call the results tragic would, of course, be the greatest understatement in human history. Tragic hardly conveys the horrible results of our parents’ disobedience.
Read Genesis 3:6–11. What was the first thing that happened to Adam and Eve (which is exactly what Satan in verse 5 said would happen) after they fell, and what does that mean? What did it imply the results of their transgression were?
Their eyes were opened, just as Satan said they would be, only now they were seeing the world and reality differently than they ever had before. All through those verses, the theme of their nakedness reoccurs. It’s the controlling motif in the section. Their fall from innocence, their transgression, and their new relationship to God and to each other are all expressed in the theme of their now knowing that they are naked.
Notice, too, the Lord’s question to them: “Who told you that you were naked?” (vs. 11, NIV). It implies that in their innocence they never realized their nakedness, that it just seemed a natural way to be, and so they didn’t give it any thought. Now, though, not only did they think about it, they were dominated by the shame that it brought.
What is the significance of Adam and Eve’s response to their nakedness?
Imagine Adam and Eve hiding behind some bushes, looking at themselves with mouths agape and attempting to cover themselves before the Lord. Looking at the possibilities for coverings, they must have decided that the fig leaves were the best. Thus, here we have the first lesson in salvation by works, in humans attempting to solve the problem of sin by their own works and deeds. As pathetic as their attempts were then, they are no more so than ours are today.
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