Adam and Eve
Fear or Repentance?
by Dr. Ken Matto
(Gen 2:17 KJV) But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die.
(Gen 3:6 KJV) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that
it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took
of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and
he did eat.
We all know the situation, that Adam and Eve had disobeyed the Lord by eating of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they would eat from this tree,
then they would surely die. This was the penalty associated with disobeying the
Lord’s command about that tree.
Eve had made one fatal mistake and that was instead of instantly rebuking the
serpent, she held a dialogue with him. This is called dialoguing which leads to
compromise which leads to disobedience. Whenever cults or false teachers attempt
to get Christians into a dialogue, it is the Christian who always compromises.
Dialoguing is a major and effective tool of the ecumenical movement.
Satan had entered the serpent and apparently Eve did not have a problem speaking
with the serpent since this was in a time before the fall. Since everything was
perfect, then there would have been nothing to cause her to fear since fear is
associated with sin. So the serpent gets her into a dialogue by questioning what
God had said by asking her, “Yeah hath God said…?” Eve then added to God’s words
by stating that:
(Gen 3:3 KJV) But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the
garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest
ye die.
God never stated that if they touch it, that would also effect a death penalty.
So Satan goes on and tempts Eve and tells her that:
(Gen 3:4 KJV) And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
The die has been cast and now the stage was set in Eve’s mind that there will be
no penalty attached to her actions. So now Eve was convinced that it was
permissible to eat from that tree and so she ate of it and gave some to her
husband.
(Gen 3:6 KJV) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her;
and he did eat.
With the disobedience of Adam and Eve, God’s salvation plan was about to be
revealed in its early stages.
What was the first thing which Adam and Eve did after they sinned?
(Gen 3:7 KJV) And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they
were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Did they repent? No, as soon as they sinned and their eyes were opened, the
first thing was that they knew they were naked. To be naked is akin to being
unsaved.
(2 Cor 5:2-4 KJV) For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed
upon with our house which is from heaven: {3} If so be that being clothed we
shall not be found naked. {4} For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being
burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality
might be swallowed up of life.
So we see that spiritually speaking Adam and Eve were now in need of salvation
because they were naked and in their feeble attempts to cover themselves, they
had made aprons or loincloths to cover their nakedness. They were not aware that
what they were portraying was man’s feeble attempt to cover or atone for their
own sins. We will see how poorly this matches up with God’s salvation plan. At
that point Adam and Eve just wanted to cover their nakedness and knew nothing
about what their actions had represented.
(Gen 3:7-8 KJV) And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that
they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
{8} And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool
of the day: and Adam and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees
of the garden.
Here is an interesting verse. Even though they had sewed fig leaves together and
had covered their nakedness, yet they hid themselves from God. If they were
covered, why would they still hide themselves from God? Should not they have
approached God and tell Him what happened and then repent of their sin and find
salvation? The problem was that they knew nothing about salvation, they were
only concerned with the physical and what they could do to keep themselves out
of trouble. In other words, they thought that by sewing fig leaves into an
apron, then that would appease God.
(Gen 3:9 KJV) And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where
art thou?
Even after Adam and Eve made themselves aprons to cover their nakedness, they
were still separated from God because they were still in sin. Verse 9 does not
mean God did not know where they were but He was teaching that there was now
separation between Him and the human race. God is holy and the human race just
became unholy. There was now a great gulf between the two and even though Adam
and Eve were now covered, there was still that gulf which Adam and Eve could not
cross.
(Gen 3:21 KJV) Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of
skins, and clothed them.
Now previously we saw that Adam and Eve had made their own aprons or loincloths
to cover their nakedness. Here in verse 21, we read that God made “coats of
skins” and clothed them. What God did here was to replace their loin cloths with
something more thorough.
Coats - This word in the Hebrew denotes that these were full tunics with
sleeves.
Skins - These are animal hides or leather.
Clothed them - Hebrew word “wayyalbishem”
1) Hiphil Stem in Hebrew - When this word is in the Hiphil stem, it presents one
person clothing another person with different garments which normally reflect a
change in their status.
2) Imperfect tense - It denotes an incomplete action.
3) Passive - No Action on their part, they just received the action from God.
Summary
Previous to verse 21, we saw that Adam and Eve had made loin cloths for
themselves to cover their nakedness AKA their sin. However, their attempts to
appease God did not work. They still suffered the penalty of their actions. Now
in judgment there is mercy. What God did was took away their aprons and changed
their garments to full clothing. However, while on this earth they had to live
in accordance with the sins they committed, that is, the judgment God pronounced
is still valid today.
The Lesson
What we have here is an object lesson on free will. The first thing that got
Adam and Eve into trouble was they chose sin over obedience. Once sin entered
into the world, man no longer had a free will, it was captive to sin. (Rom
6:20 KJV) For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Romans 6:20 teaches that an unsaved person serves sin and not righteousness and
this is because they are still unsaved and in Satan’s kingdom.
God did not accept the attempts Adam and Eve made at covering their sin with
small loin cloths. What God did was He made them tunics which completely covered
them. These tunics were made from animal skins which means that because of their
sin, blood had to be shed. So when God clothed them in the tunics, it was an
action which was yet incomplete, which is implied by the imperfect tense of the
word. (Heb 10:4 KJV) For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sins. Hebrews 10:4 states that it is not possible
for the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. This is why the word is
in the imperfect tense, which means that the action which God took, was to be
completed in Christ on Calvary. The animal skins or sacrifices would only be a
foreshadow of the coming of Christ who would remove all our sins at Calvary.
Even though God clothed them, it was only a foreshadow of the sacrifice of
Christ for the Elect.
Another question arises, did Adam and Eve repent of their sins? The answer is no
because they did not know what it was to repent and their action was to cover
their sins and not repent of them. They knew something was wrong and that is why
they hid from God. They could not repent because they were now in sin and became
spiritually dead. You do not read anywhere in Genesis 3 that there was any
remorse on their part for what they did. They may have felt sorrow for what
happened but they knew nothing about how to rebuild their relationship with God.
(2 Cor 7:10 KJV) For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be
repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Godly sorrow is under girded by salvation and only those who are saved are truly
sorry for their sins.
If you also notice in the account, God was not satisfied
with their attempts to cover themselves with fig leaves. So God, in anticipation
of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to earth to die for the Elect, had clothed them
in skins which required the shedding of blood. This action was all done by God
because the requirements were now set for atonement.
It is the same today, the unsaved are unable to do anything for salvation which
God will accept. A person becomes saved when the blood of Christ is applied to
them and then they are fully clothed in Christ’s righteousness. (Isa 61:3
KJV) To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the
LORD, that he might be glorified.
(2 Tim 2:25 KJV) In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God
peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; Unless
God gives a person repentance, they cannot repent on their own because of their
dead spiritual condition. Adam and Eve were given repentance when God clothed
them as a foreshadow of Christ’s sacrifice. In no way did they repent on their
own. Repentance is a gift from God which is given at the time of salvation along
with faith. Faith and repentance are fruits and gifts to those who are saved.
(Gal 5:22 KJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, The unsaved do not have faith
nor can they repent of their sins unless God gives it to them and since Adam and
Eve are part of the fallen human race, they did not have either until God acted
on their behalf.
Keep in mind that repentance means “a change of mind.” So until God changes a
person from spiritually dead to spiritually alive, there is no change of mind
about sin. Those who believe in repentance for salvation are actually creating a
transitional phase in God’s salvation program. No one transitions into
salvation, it is instantaneous. You have either received it or you have not, you
are either saved or unsaved, there is no middle ground. Something to keep in
mind!