NAKED AND NOT ASHAMEDAnd the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

GENESIS 2:25

MARRIAGE IS THE DOING OF GOD TO THE GLORY OF GOD

• “A man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

• “This mystery is profound, and I am saying it refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:31-32)

MARRIAGE IS THE DOING OF GOD TO THE GLORY OF GOD

• Leaving parents and holding fast to a wife, forming a new one-flesh union, is meant from the beginning to display the new covenant – Christ’s leaving his Father and taking the church as his bride, at the cost of his life, and holding fast to her in a one-spirit union forever.

MARRIAGE IS THE DOING OF GOD TO THE GLORY OF GOD

• “One spirit” is the way Paul describes the counterpart to “one flesh”.

• Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For as it is written, “The two shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. (1 Cor. 6:15-17)

MARRIAGE IS THE DOING OF GOD TO THE GLORY OF GOD

• Paul does not mean that a man is married to every prostitute with whom he ever had sex (cf. John 4:18). Sex by itself does not make a marriage.

• Prostitution is an exploitation of marriage prerogatives. It plays with sacred depths. It is a desecration of the act of sexual union. It profanes the meaning of “one body” and “one flesh” in marriage. The shell of oneness is there, but not the covenant meaning.

MARRIAGE IS THE DOING OF GOD TO THE GLORY OF GOD

• The main point here is the covenant union between a husband and wife is designed by God to reflect and display the spiritual union between Christ and the church. “He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”

• Staying married is not mainly about staying in love. It’s about covenant-keeping. Your being ‘in love’ with someone else is not decisive. Keeping your covenant is decisive.

NAKED AND NOT ASHAMED

• “A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:24-25)

NOT BECAUSE OF PERFECT BODIES

• 1. Mere physical perfection would not be enough to eliminate the possibility of being shamed, especially if your spouse is selfish and unkind.

• 2. Genesis 2:24-25 is intended to provided foundational wisdom for marriage long after the fall of man into sin (c.f. Mark 10:9)

• 3. Verse 24 (holding fast in a one-flesh union) creates the relationship where verse 25 (naked and not ashamed) can happen.

BECAUSE OF COVENANT LOVE

• The emphasis falls not on their freedom from physical imperfections, but on the fullness of covenant love.

• There is no shame because covenant love covers a multitude of flaws.

• “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)

• The covenant relationship established by marriage is designed from the beginning to be the main foundation of freedom from shame.

BECAUSE OF COVENANT LOVE

• Marriage was designed from the beginning to display the new covenant between Christ and the church.

• The very essence of this new covenant is that Christ passes over the sins of his bride. His bride is free from shame not because she is perfect, but because she has no fear that her lover will condemn her or shame her because of her sin.

DECLARING INDEPENDENCE

• “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17)

• “[The tempter says,] ‘God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:5-6)

DECLARING INDEPENDENCE

• “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloth.” (Genesis 3:7)

• Why then the shame? Because the foundation of covenant-keeping love collapsed. And with it the sweet, all-trusting security of marriage disappeared forever.

VULNERABILITY TO SHAME

• 1. The person viewing my nakedness is no longer trustworthy, so I am afraid I will be shamed

• 2. I myself am no longer at peace with God, and I feel guilty and defiled and unworthy – I deserve to be shamed.

THE FOUNDATION OF COVENANT-KEEPING LOVE

• The foundation of covenant-keeping love between a man and a woman is the unbroken covenant between them and God. When that covenant was broken the foundation of their own covenant-keeping collapsed.

THEY CLOTHED THEMSELVES

• “And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” (Genesis 3:7)

• Adam’s and Eve’s effort to clothe themselves was a sinful effort to conceal what had really happened. They tried to hide from God. They were no longer innocent but were rebels against God. Their nakedness felt too revealing and too vulnerable. So they tried to close the gap between what they were and what they ought to be by covering what is and presenting themselves in a new way. This was the origin of hypocrisy.

THEN GOD CLOTHED THEM

• “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21)

• 1. Negatively, God is saying: You are not what you were and you are not what you ought to be. Henceforth, you shall wear clothing, not to conceal that you are not what you should bem, but to confess that you are not what you should be.

• 2. Positively, God showed mercy with superior clothing. It is a testimony that God himself would one day make us what we should be. It points to a day when he will solve the problem of our shame decisively and permanently.

THE END