“...I was afraid because I was naked...Who told you that you were naked?” *
* Excerpt of a conversation between Adam and God in Genesis 3:10-11.
God never said “naked” was bad or that Adam should hide because he was naked…
It’s interesting to note that Satan never told Adam or Eve that they were naked. The Bible does not record that Adam told Eve or Eve told Adam that either of them were naked. It states, “…they realized they were naked.” Why does God then ask Adam, “Who told you that you were naked?”
I think God is pointing something out to Adam. God was saying, “Adam, YOU told YOU that you were naked, and naked had not been a problem for you at all until you became aware that you were naked, however being naked isn’t actually a problem, you just perceive it is a problem, because you first believed a lie that you were less than and not enough when you were naked, so now you made clothes and covered yourself up. Your entire belief, thought, and action is based upon a lie. BELIEF. THOUGHT. ACTION.
I think God is actually asking why is it a problem that you are naked? I created you naked. Is being naked not…enough?
“Now the man and his wife were both naked,
“At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness…” Genesis 3:7 NLT
Adam BELIEVED he should hide and Adam DID hide.
Believed. Did.
“Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.”
Proverbs 4:23
Why was Adam’s nakedness troublesome to Adam?
Why would Adam think that God would be upset because Adam was naked? Adam knew God made him naked.
“Then both of them knew things they
Genesis 3:7
Exodus 20, specifically the listing of what we call the Ten Commandments, and the ninth commandment, “Do not bear false witness against your neighbor” is often interpreted as equivalent to saying, “do not lie.” While lying can be “contained” within “bearing false witness” the ninth commandment is actually broader in it’s scope regarding our behavior toward others. Thus, I don’t want to simply quote the ninth commandment as saying, “do not lie.” That aside, and in regard to lies, we do have Jesus naming Satan as the “Father of Lies.” etc.
What’s my point?
Lies are a problem. Lies are a problem when we lie to someone else, about someone else, about something, anything. Lies and lying are anti-Christ. Why? Because Christ is the truth. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Not only is Christ the truth, but His Word, the Bible, is truth. How could God hold us accountable if there is even one lie in all of Scripture? We could say to God, because there is one lie, how do we know there’s not more lies. If there’s lies in your Word, then how do we know what is actually true and what it is you actually command, demand, expect of us? Thus, your Word is unreliable, so how can you hold us to something that is not reliably true?
Get my point?
Now, with the dangers of lies in mind and the importance and significance of truth, let’s consider what is perhaps the greatest dangerous lies – the lies we believe about God and the lies we believe about ourselves.
Here’s a paradox: when we believe a lie, we sin; when we sin, we believe a lie.
We sin when we believe a lie because we are believing something that is the opposite of God’s truth.
When we sin we believe a lie because we are believing that that sin will bring us something we want, but we are trying to get what we want in a way that God said we should not. Example: we want…
The title of this article is You Are “Less Than” and “Not Enough.” That is what Satan intimated to Eve in the garden, “You will be like God…” Thus, you are not like God now, thus you are less than and therefore not enough. That was a lie. Why? Because Eve was already created in God’s image. She was already “like” God. She was not God, but she was created by God, in God’s image – God’s LIKENESS. Satan lied and Eve believed that she was somehow less than and not enough. She BELIEVED a lie, that was the first sin. She then acted on what she BELIEVED and committed the second sin, she DID what God said not to do. BELIEVED. DID.
“…I was afraid because I was naked…Who told you that you were naked?”
Jesus named Satan the Father of Lies. Jesus called Satan the deceiver. Jesus said that every time Satan speaks he is lying.
GPT Chat 4.0 mini:
In Genesis 3:7, the New Living Translation (NLT) states, “they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness” to convey the immediate emotional and psychological impact of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God. This verse occurs after they eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which leads to a newfound awareness of their nakedness.
The choice of the word “shame” highlights the shift in their perception and the loss of innocence that follows their act of disobedience. Prior to this moment, they were described as being naked and unashamed (Genesis 2:25), indicating a state of purity and harmony with themselves and God. After eating the fruit, their eyes are opened, and they become aware of their nakedness, which brings about feelings of shame and vulnerability.
The NLT aims to make the text accessible and relatable to contemporary readers, emphasizing the emotional response of Adam and Eve in a way that resonates with modern understandings of shame and self-awareness. This translation choice reflects the broader themes of sin, guilt, and the human condition that are central to the narrative.
