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Commentary on "A Garment of Innocence"
Day 5: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - A New Set of Clothes
Overview
Today's lesson discusses the results of their sin: they realized they were naked and cobbled together coverings of fig leaves. Their eyes were opened, and suddenly they knew evil. The lesson states that their nakedness is the "controlling motif" in this section of the story and suggests they never noticed they were naked before because God asks them who told them they were naked. They were consumed with shame and hustled to cover themselves with the fig leaves.
Observations
A disturbing undertone in the first question of this lesson is the statement that the first thing that happened to Adam and Eve after they died--their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked--"is exactly what Satan, in verse 5, said would happen."
Satan can never be believed. The fact that the lesson points out that they experienced exactly what Satan said they would is both misleading and covertly subversive. Satan had told Eve,
For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
Satan told them they would be like gods when their eyes were opened; in reality, verse 7 tells us what really happened:
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Far from "being like gods", Adam and Eve instead realized they were naked and were filled with shame. For the lesson to say that they experienced exactly what Satan said they would is actually untrue. Twice in two days this set of lessons have stated that what Satan said to Eve was true.--and each time, the claim is untrue.
Satan never can be trusted. We can never use anything Satan says to confirm truth. He is always a deceiver. The reality that someone would actually use Satan's words to confirm what they believe to be true is alarming and dangerous. Even if he speaks true words, his intent is always to deceive. It is never safe to think Satan confirms truth in any way. His witness will always give the wrong impression and presents the wrong context.
The significance of Adam and Eve's quick attempt to cover themselves underscores their sudden and deep shame and guilt. They were suddenly devoid of true life; their spirits had died. They had no more intimate connection with their God. They were distanced from Him, and they had become "children of wrath", to quote Ephesians 2:3.
Just as natural men and women today try hard to become acceptable, to gain God's approval and to qualify themselves as "good people", so Adam and Eve made their own coverings from fig leaves.
God didn't leave them to their own efforts, however. He came to them in their hiding and shame--exactly as He comes to each of us today--and he made them face their sin. He Himself made them clothes--this time out of skins. These skins necessitated taking an animal's life; from the beginning God showed Adam and Eve that they were unable to devise an adequate self-correction. They had to depend on Him to give them what they needed in order not to squirm in constant shame.
Summary
- Satan did not tell Eve the truth about what would happen. Their eyes were opened to be sure, but the realized they were naked; they did not become god-like.
- We can never, under any circumstances, confirm truth or reality by any word from Satan. He is always deceptive.
- Their realization of nakedness was a confirmation of their shame and spiritual death. They had lost their intimate connection with God.
- They became "children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3).
- Like natural man today, they tried to fix their own problem by their own cleverness.
- God was the only one who could give them adequate coverings by clothing them in animal skins.
- The animals skins required the animals' deaths. They could be successfully covered only as the consequence of a death.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised April 6, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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