Sin Enters the World, Fig Leaves That Were Not Enough, and Clothes of Skin From God

Read the passage first

Open to Genesis chapter 3, the whole chapter. Read it twice if you can. The first time, just read to the end. The second time, notice what Adam and Eve do about their shame, and what God does.

What happens in this passage

The serpent and the question (verses 1 to 5). A serpent comes and speaks to Eve. Elsewhere the Bible tells us this serpent is Satan, the enemy of God. He does not tell her outright to do evil. He gets her to doubt God: did God really say that? Is God keeping something good from you? This is the root of every sin: not trusting God, and wanting to be the one who decides what is good and what is evil.

Eating (verses 6 to 7). Eve eats. Adam eats. And the first thing that happens is not happiness but shame. Suddenly the two of them know they are naked. Before this (2:25) they were naked and unashamed. Now their bodies are the same, but everything they feel has changed. So they sew fig leaves together to cover themselves.

Hiding (verses 8 to 13). When they hear God's voice, they hide among the trees. People who used to walk with God at ease are now afraid and hiding. When God asks them, each blames someone else. Adam blames Eve. Eve blames the serpent.

The results of sin (verses 14 to 19). God tells them what will follow: pain, hardship, death, and broken relationships, with God, with each other, and with the world. But right in the middle of this judgment is the first line of hope in the Bible (verse 15). God tells the serpent that an "offspring" (a descendant) of the woman will crush its head, even though the serpent will strike his heel. Christians call this verse the first promise: God promising to send someone to defeat the enemy and repair what was broken.

Clothes of skin (verse 21). This is the verse to stop and look at for a long time. The fig leaves people made for themselves were not enough to cover their shame. Notice that they were still hiding, even with the fig leaves on. So God makes them clothes out of animal skin. Think about what it takes to get animal skin. An animal has to die. Blood has to be shed. This is the first time in the Bible that a life is taken to cover human shame. And the one who provides it is not a human being. It is God himself.

Leaving the garden (verses 22 to 24). God sends them out of Eden. Not because God has stopped loving them, but because living in sin forever would be something far worse, and because God has a plan to bring them back.

How this points to Jesus

This chapter is a map of the whole Bible in miniature.

• Human effort is not enough. The fig leaves are a picture of every way we try to cover our own wrong: doing good, making merit, making excuses, hiding. The Bible says none of these can make us clean before God.
• God is the one who provides the covering, and its price is a life. All through the Old Testament you will see this picture again and again. Animals offered in sacrifice. Blood used to cover sin. Until John the Baptist sees Jesus and calls him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29; your Thai Bible uses the royal word "พระเมษโปดก," which means lamb).
• Jesus is the true clothing of skin. Jesus died on the cross so that his blood would cover our sin, and the Bible speaks of those who trust him as having "put on" Christ (Galatians 3:27), the way Adam and Eve put on the clothes God made for them.
• The promise in verse 15 is fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus was born of a woman. He was "struck," wounded to death on the cross. But his rising from the dead is the crushing of the serpent's head: the destruction of the power of sin and death.

Words to know

The Thai word บาป ("sin") usually means a bad deed that will bring bad karma. In the Bible, sin goes deeper. It is not trusting God, wanting to own your own life instead of God. Eating a piece of fruit looks small, but what lies behind it is turning your back on God.

The word พระคุณ ("grace") begins to mean something in this chapter. Adam and Eve did nothing to deserve the clothes. God made them because he loves. That is grace.

Reflect

1. What are your "fig leaves"? What do you use to cover your own wrong or shame?
2. God asks Adam, "Where are you?" even though he already knows. Why do you think God asks?
3. God judges, but in the same chapter he also gives a promise and makes clothes. What does that tell you about what God is like?

Pray

"God, like Adam and Eve, I have things I hide and feel ashamed of. Thank you that you did not leave them hiding like that, but made them clothes. Help me understand more of what Jesus did for me. Amen."