Naked

But the Lord God called to man, “Where are you?” He answered, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?” (Gen: 9 – 11)

God asked Adam a truly revealing question. We might think God should have asked, “How did know you were naked?” But, God had it more right than we can ever truly imagine in assigning the revelation of their nakedness to someone, through asking “who”. And, the “who” wasn’t the serpent, which leads us to a rather sobering and somewhat fearful revelation.

Until the moment that Adam and Eve together chose defiance, they had been both holy and righteous without ever even actually knowing what those two qualities were. By virtue of their perfect relationship with God, it simply was their reality, and one does not typically recognize and fully appreciate a thing until it is gone.

Naked is a powerful word which reaches all of us, because it is probably the closest we ever get to feeling completely and utterly vulnerable. We miss the real point if we jump to the conclusion that somehow Adam and Eve suddenly realized that they merely lacked clothing. Their sense of nakedness went much deeper than that. They had been sub-consciously cloaked in God’s righteousness. When they chose to disobey, it’s pretty safe to assume that a great majority of what set them apart as being created ‘in God’s image’ instantly passed away. For the first time in human history they experienced vulnerability. What they had done could not be undone, and they knew that God would not be pleased. Guilt, shame and doubt entered the human thought process. Adam and Eve suddenly realized that the love and safety they had known through God, was now forever compromised. They had no way of fully knowing if they would ‘surely die’, but they knew serious consequences were just ahead.

If we can imagine such a profound moment in our own lives, then suddenly it makes sense that Adam and Eve were not actually scrambling for clothes, but protection. When we were children, and perhaps even now, bed covers typically offer us a curiously illogical sense of protection and safety. Instantly that blissful reality had left Adam and Eve as if a light had been turned on in a dark room. They were far more than simply naked. They were in terrified – knowing that in moments God would learn of their unfortunate choice.

God was right to ask, “Who?” The serpent did not need to tell Adam and Eve that they were naked. They each told themselves they were in that moment of utter helplessness. The same inner being within all of us, that caused them reason that disobedience was for the moment desirable, told them they were now vulnerable – naked.

It is good for us to dwell on the fact that God assigns our sense of nakedness to “someone”, because it brings things into proper prospective. Like Adam and Eve, we are one fully responsible for our state. And once we fully accept that truth, Christ’s righteousness, as our eternal covering, makes perfect sense.

Jesus is our covering, and thereby our Savior.