Naked and Not Ashamed

"And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed."

Genesis 2:25 (ESV)

No, today's blog will not be on the subject of the sexual union between a man and a woman.  But this verse does bring up an interesting question to which many people assume they know the complete answer.  Most people assume that because the word naked is found that this verse is speaking only about the nakedness of a husband and wife and their lack of shame.  But a more profound question is hidden deeper within the meaning of this verse: Why were they not ashamed?

Our attention should be on the lack of shame not the lack of clothing.  John Piper, in his book This Momentary Marriage, give two possible reasons for their lack of shame.  First, Adam and Eve are not ashamed of their bodies because they were created perfect and without flaw.  Remember that the Fall of man into sin has not yet happened and God in Genesis 1:31 states that his creation was "very good".  But is this truly the reason why they were not ashamed? 

Both Jesus and Paul held this passage in Genesis 2 up as the standard for marriage in their time and we should do the same in our time.  So, this passage has a broader affect than only before the Fall.  Yes, Adam and Eve were perfect and without flaw or blemish, but in our fallen world today we should hold up the standard of no shame with our spouse.  A more modern example is Hollywood.   It is full of beautiful people who continually fail at marriage.  So, physical perfection is not the point.

A husband and wife are not ashamed because even though their bodies are full of flaw and imperfections the covenant love between them "covers a multitude of flaws" (Piper, 33).  This is a mirror of the covenant relationship that Christ has with his bride, the elect, which covers a multitude of sins.  This is very clear by Paul in Ephesians 5:31-32.  "The very essence of this new covenant is that Christ passes over the sins of his bride.  His bride is free form 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" (Piper, 34).

Praise God for his covenant relationship with his church.  May our marriages in our churches reveal this covenant relationship to those who do not yet know him.  May our marriages declare the glory of God and his gospel to all around us.  Amen and amen.

Where Does My Truth Come From?

Matthew 18:20 (ESV)

"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."

How frequently do you hear scripture misinterpreted and taken out of context?  Probably more often than we truly know.  How frequently do we misinterpret scripture and take it out of context?  Probably more often than we would like to admit.

Take, for instance, the verse above.  I have heard this verse spoken many times, even by my own deacons, in defense of gathering more than one or two people together for prayer.  In fact, I believe that before this past year I have used it multiple times for the same reason.  But if you take the verse in context it is not speaking about prayer at all.  Prayer is not found any where in the entire chapter of Matthew 18.  This verse is speaking about church discipline and how to handle it as a group of believers.  God is reminding us that in dealing with church discipline Jesus is very much present to "validate the judicial activity of the church" (Reformed Study Bible notes).

So, why is this verse so misused and misinterpreted?  I believe because of one thing: laziness.  I can say this because I find myself having this problem many times.  I misused this passage because I took everyone else's word for it that it meant what they said it meant.  And I never took the time to actually look up the passage, study the surrounding text, and make a decision based off of the Word of God and not the word of man.  There is a reason for sola scriptura and not sola man. 

May Christ and his word be my ever present source of truth.