Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #26 of Genesis, chapter 2 and we are going to read Genesis 2:25:

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

For only a short time there was a time when there was no sin in the world and, therefore, no shame. This is what God is telling us here: “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” Man had nothing to be ashamed about. He had never offended God or transgressed His Law, so man lived righteously and he lived in a good and honest way without shame before God. God also ties together the fact that the man and his wife were naked with being “not ashamed.”

Even today in the time of the end of the world and over 13,000 years after God created the world and after the fall of man into sin, people cover themselves. Today man is going deeper into sin and the depths of wickedness. As part of the expression of the increased wickedness, we find there is nakedness everywhere and pornography is all over the internet. We find there are nude beaches. We see it in the style of people’s dress, as they want to expose more of their nakedness. That is because man has a conscience and he knows it is wrong to sin and to be involved in sexual fornication, adultery and perversion and, yet, his conscience is seared and he is more and more bold and arrogant as he exposes his sin more and more. The whole situation with gay marriage is open rebellion against God, but it is also the exposing of a sin that had long been said to be “in the closet.” It was a hidden sin, but now it has come to the light and the “nakedness” of that particular sin is being revealed and showcased and men and women are saying, “We are not ashamed of being a homosexual. We are not ashamed of this sin.” Others say, “We are not ashamed to live together.” Others say, “We are not ashamed of divorce and remarriage.” Others say, “We are not ashamed to turn Sunday into a day for football instead of a day of worship.” On and on it goes, with sin after sin. Man is not ashamed to lie. They might be troubled that they got caught, but they are not ashamed. Today people are proud to be a “good liar.” The commandments of God have been turned upside down – what is wrong is right and what is evil is good. It is a matter of man’s sins being exposed and naked before God because “nakedness” in the Bible identifies with man’s sin, as it says in Genesis 3:6-7:

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

The very first thing that Adam and Eve realized as soon as they had sinned was that they were physically naked. They had no clothes. They had no covering. They were bare and without any garments. They were naked. We would have to wonder why this would be their first thought. It was not the climate. The climate would have been perfectly suited for them and the weather was good and perfect, just like all the rest of creation. God had not yet cursed the earth in response to their sin. Yet, immediately, the first thing they think of after sinning against God is that they are naked. Then they went about to sew fig leaves together and made aprons to cover themselves. It says in Genesis 3:10-11:

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

Who told them they were naked? They had no understanding of being naked before they fell into sin. It was natural and it was good. There was no shame. There was no sin. There was nothing brazen about it. Today if someone exposes themselves by walking around naked, we think, “They are doing something wrong.” And they are, but in the Garden of Eden they were not doing anything wrong by walking around without clothes. They did not have a single thought at any time that there was something wrong with it until they sinned by disobeying God. Then it was the first thing they thought about and their first reaction to sin: “Let us find something to cover us because we are naked.” The reason is that it was as though their sin is exposed to God and that is what “nakedness” pictures in the Bible – it is someone whose sin is open before God. It says in Isaiah 20:2-4:

At the same time spake JEHOVAH by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And JEHOVAH said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

First of all, we are astounded that God would have His prophet Isaiah walk naked and barefoot for three years. That is a long stretch of time to be without clothing and, certainly, it was a humbling thing for Isaiah. Yet, in obedience to the Word of God, he did so in order to illustrate what God wanted him to illustrate. It was to show that the Egyptians and Ethiopians would be taken captive and they would walk naked and barefoot to their shame. This has spiritual meaning that we will not get into here, but we do see that God ties together being “naked and barefoot” with the shame of Egypt. To be barefoot is to have your feet naked and without a covering. If you are naked, there is shame.

But, at the time Adam and Eve were brought together by God they were naked and without shame because there was no sin, initially. It says in Hebrews 4:13:

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

You see, as soon as sin entered into the world and Adam and Eve disobeyed God, in that moment all things were naked and opened unto the eyes of God. The next thing we know, God is calling for Adam and asking, “What have you done?” Adam said he was naked and afraid and hid himself. God knew all about it. He had seen their sin and He asked, “Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” But, they did eat of that tree. They broke the Law of God and transgressed against God and this brought sin into their lives and now God could see their sin and they felt naked before God. They felt the awareness of being naked and their response was, “I must clothe myself because I have sinned.” It was at a subconscious level for Adam, but on a deeper level it was a reflex reaction to want to cover sin, so they sewed fig leaves together and attempted to cover their sin and rebellion against God.

In Psalm 25 God speaks of “shame” and He says in Psalm 25:2-3:

O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.

Based upon the use of the word “ashamed” in our verse in Genesis, chapter 2, it says they were naked and not ashamed, because they had not sinned. But later in Isaiah, chapter 20 God speaks of those that are naked “to their shame,” because this was after man had fallen into sin. Nakedness is a shame for mankind because it is equivalent to their sins being exposed and being naked and open unto the eyes of God. Therefore, it says in Psalm 25:3, regarding the child of God: “Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed.” But of the wicked it says: “Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.” May their sins be open in God’s sight. This is fairly consistently how the word “shame” or “ashamed” is used in the Bible.

It says in Psalm 119:5-6:

O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

When I have respect unto all God’s commandments, I will not be ashamed because it is when I transgress God’s commandments that shame enters in. So, what is the solution? It is to respect all of God’s commandments and keep the Law of God perfectly in every part of the Word of God. You cannot transgress on one point, because that is what Adam and Eve did. They transgressed in one point, but God says in the Book of James that if you transgress in one point of the Law, you are guilty of all. It only took one transgression or one act of disobedience to bring death to Adam and Eve and death to the entire human race. That is all that was required. Of course, they only had one Law at that time, but the principal is that they failed on one point of the Law.

It says in Psalm 119:80:

Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.

Now we are getting a better understanding of salvation. When God gives someone a new heart and new spirit, their heart is perfect, once again. There is no sin in the new born again heart God gives to the one He has saved, according to the Book of 1John. That makes for a sound heart in God’s statutes. If your heart is without sin, it means your heart is obedient in all of God’s statutes or commandments. There is active obedience coming forth from the heart of man and an ongoing desire to do the will of God and, therefore, there is no shame: “Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.” It is a restoration of the soul, as it says in Psalm 23:

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Man had a perfect soul at the beginning of creation. We were all in Adam and he was our figurehead, but then he sinned and our souls died: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” We became dead in trespasses and sins in Adam, but according to God’s magnificent salvation plan He predestinated certain ones to become saved. If, by God’s grace we are one of those predestinated individuals, we are one of those souls that have been born again and experienced the first resurrection, as it says in Revelation, chapter 20. Now we have that perfect soul and perfect heart and we are sound in the statutes of God. We have been restored to a right relationship with God and now we are without sin and without shame. As Adam and his bride, the woman, were naked and not ashamed before God, so the Lord Jesus Christ, the bridegroom, takes His bride by cleansing them from all sin and restoring their souls as He gives them a new heart and a new spirit. They are washed in a way that is described in Ezekiel 36:25-27:

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

The child of God is cleansed. All sin and iniquity is gone. It has been paid for and now God views that person in their marriage relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. God looks at every aspect of that individual – in soul and body – and God cannot find any sin; all is naked and open to His eyes and God finds not one spot or blemish anywhere in that individual because all of the sins that they would ever commit were laid upon Christ and He washed them white as snow. Now they are holy before God. They have been washed with water by the Word and as it says of the eternal church, the bride of Christ, in Ephesians 5:26-27:

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

In that same passage God relates marriage to the mystery of Christ and his church, the eternal church that is the bride of Christ.

So, Adam and his wife came together and they were naked and there was no shame and God’s people have no shame. Of course, there may be some shame with someone that is still living on this earth and he has fallen into a sin and he could have shame about that. The child of God can feel shame in regard to sin, but, ultimately, before God their sins are gone – all sin is gone. There is no shame of any kind in this glorious union between the Lord Jesus Christ and His eternal bride.

Let us just look at one last verse before we close in 2Timothy 1:12:

For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

“I am not ashamed.” The child of God is not ashamed because we know whom we have believed and we know that through the faith of Christ we have that tremendous and wonderful gift that God has given us by forgiving us and pardoning us. There is no more condemnation. He has removed all sin and iniquity through the fires of hell or death and the wrath of God was poured out on the Lord Jesus in our place, leaving us without the slightest iniquity. There is not a single transgression whereby we have to run and seek some other kind of covering. Christ is our covering and we have nothing to hide from or to fear from God in regard to our sins because of what Jesus did for our sakes.