The
woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable
for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave
some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of
them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig
leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.” (Genesis 3:6-7)
As we noted in Part Four, the man and
woman before the fall were naked without shame:
“At this point the man and woman do not
know sin; their vision is perfectly clear, not clouded by sinful inclinations
and selfish desires. They see in each other’s bodies nothing but the beauty and
glory of God--and the incredible privilege they have been granted to love each other with their bodies as
God loves.
“That’s the fascination, that’s the
excitement. They see in their genitals the gift to be joined as one body in a
life-giving union--an image of the Holy Trinity--and this fascinates and
excites them.”
They knew only the goodness of their
sexuality.
But now they have eaten of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil!
They know evil for the first time, and
it repulses them. They now see in their bodies something else--the ability to grasp
at each other as a possession and not as a gift, to use each other for selfish
purposes, to look upon each other as objects instead of subjects, to use their
genitals in ways they were not made to be used--and they are frightened. They
cover up in fear as well as shame, for they now feel threatened by the other’s
ability to use them rather than love them.
As an analogy, imagine someone who does
not do well with horror movies discovering one on television late at night.
They know they shouldn’t look, but can’t resist the temptation. “I’ll just
watch for a minute”--and then quickly they see things they would rather not
have seen. Now instead of sleeping peacefully they’ll have nightmares because
of what they saw.
This is similar to what happened to the
man and the woman in Genesis 3:6-7. God had warned them about this tree, and
about knowledge that belongs to him alone. He knew there were things the man
and the woman would rather not see--that they shouldn’t see--things so far
outside the bounds of purity and holiness that it would affect the way they
think and act.
They also discovered there was some
truth to the serpent’s statement, and consequences they did not take into
consideration: “God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be
opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad.”
Yes, they will be “like gods,” and in becoming their own gods they will
separate themselves from the true God, the source and sustainer of their
life--and thus they will die. They are now doomed to struggle with evil and
eventually succumb to death as a consequence of their disobedience.
As we noted in Part Three, God does not
say “the moment you eat from it I will kill you.” God says “the moment you eat
from it you are surely doomed to die.” Death is a natural consequence of
separating yourself from your source of life. The man and woman have brought
this upon themselves.
Now they see in their bodies things they
were not originally made for--selfish, lustful thoughts and desires, and a slow
process of corruption that will ultimately lead to death.
We’ll contemplate in a bit more depth
these implications in Part Eight, before moving on to God’s plan to save them
from this mess in Part Nine.
