Ok. So what is the deal with ‘clothes’? Why do we wear them? Having witnessed the miracle of the birth of my two daughters, I can assure you that we all arrive ‘naked into this world’ and the mortuary scenes on TV tell me that ‘naked we will leave it’. But for now, we must go through all this fuss about what to wear! Why?

Genesis 2 recounts for us how God made Woman from Man and ends with a clue: “Therefore 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 were not ashamed”. Gen 2:24-25

I have often thought that this little verse didn’t seem to fit with the whole creation account in this chapter – and then what is all that bit about not being ashamed? Of course they would not be ashamed: they must have been perfect! All of God’s creation was ‘very good’ (Gen 1:31), so Adam must have been a hunk of a guy, and Eve was the first (and best ever) ‘Miss Universe’.Gosh, what is there to be ashamed of if you are perfect?

Yet all that changed after they disobeyed God and ate the fruit from the forbidden tree: “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths”. - Gen 3:7

Had they suddenly become ugly? I don’t think so. One little apple couldn’t do that. So, not being ashamed (Gen 2:25) must have depended on more than their obvious physical perfection. I suggest that it had something to do with their relationship. When the Father brought Eve to Adam (Gen 2:22) there is a beautiful picture of the first marriage which took place in the Garden of Eden. Before the fall (Gen 3), this must have been the only perfect marriage on Earth – ever! But after eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it is as though they no longer trusted each other with their own ultimate vulnerability. Each thought that the other would expose them, so they covered themselves for the first time.

You see, there are two reasons why one could be free from shame: (1) we are perfect and have nothing to be ashamed of; or (2) we are imperfect but have no fear of being disapproved of by anyone else. Since the fall of man (Gen 3) we know that there has been no perfect man (other than our Lord Jesus) to walk this Earth. So for me, the first way of being shame-free is impossible. The second way of living without shame is based on the gracious nature of covenant love which covers a multitude of flaws/sins (1 Peter 4:8; 1 Corinthians 13:5). So, while we know that we are imperfect, we can live free of shame because of the love we experience in covenant relationships where others won’t expose us.

When Adam and Eve sinned (Gen 3) the foundation of their covenant love cracked – they no longer trusted each other with their ultimate vulnerability and covered themselves from one another. But how did it crack? There is no record of them fighting with each other? What actually broke this covenant?

The secret is in Ephesians 5 when Paul uncovers the mystery of marriage now revealed in the New Testament: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church”- Eph 5:31-32.

Here Paul clarifies that the purpose of marriage is to be a living reflection of the relationship between Christ and the Church (His Bride – Rev 19:7; 21:2). So, the (vertical) covenant we have with Heaven through Christ must be reflected (horizontally) in our marriage relationships. Mr CJ Mahaney warns us not to “get it backwards either. We don’t look to marriage to understand the relationship between Christ and the Church. Instead, we seek a clear, biblical understanding of the relationship between Christ and the Church so we can better understand the purpose of our marriage.” Our example must be Christ the perfect groom who will never break His covenant with His Bride, the Church.

I believe that as Adam and Eve sinned they broke their covenant relationship with God (vertical), so this was inexplicably mirrored in their (horizontal) covenant of marriage. Ashamed of their newly understood nakedness they hid from the Lord (Gen 3:8). And, with fig leaves and loincloths (Gen 3:7) they also attempted to hide their nakedness from each other. Physically, there was no change in their perfect bodies, but now, their broken covenant with God meant that they no longer trusted Him or each other with their own imperfection. They each felt shame because they now doubted whether God’s love or the other person’s love would cover their flaws/sin.
But then, why doesn’t God reverse the clothing cover up? Instead, He actually makes them better garments and clothes them again? “And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” - Gen 3:21.

Why? One reason I can think of is that in providing the garments, He sent a message that only He could cover our sin – and that it would one day involve the blood of a sacrifice. But was He also maybe condoning their efforts? Why did He allow it that from that point on Man would wear clothing? John Piper suggests that we wear clothes not to conceal our shame, but to confess it . It is as though, God has ordained it that every morning as we dress, we remind ourselves that we (man) are not what we should be. (And the answer is not a revolution to public nudity, which would simply be a rebellion against God and society’s morals handed down since Adam.) No. “Clothes are a witness to the glory we have lost.” They testify to the perfect and full covenant love that we no longer have. It is as though God knew that Man could never again trust the strength of his own covenant love with his fellow man, so He dressed us…

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” - Joh 19:23-24.

When, through faith and baptism we identify with Christ’s naked death for us on the Cross, it is as though we stop hiding ourselves from God the Father: we remain imperfect, yes, but we are no longer ashamed as we again accept His perfect covenant love for us. Like the greatest ‘Clearance Sale’, He exchanges our “filthy rags” (Isa 64:6) for “a robe of righteousness” (Isa 61:10) – the robe of Jesus.

So remember in our modern world of fashion which so often claims that ‘less is better’; clothes are not meant to direct our attention to what may be under them, but rather to constantly remind us of what is not there… As we decide each day what to wear, let us also decide to live out covenant relationships that bring Him glory and that remove the shame from others.