Adam and Eve were created by God and given the perfect environment. We read in Genesis 1: 26-28, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (ESV).
It was not until God had created Adam and Eve that He declared “very good”. “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good”, (Genesis 1:31, ESV). Adam and Eve were created in His image and it was very good. Imagine what it must have been like. They bore the image of God. They were given dominion over the seas, heavens, and earth. They were in relationship with God without interference. Everything was in perfect working condition. They had capacity for emotions. Let me suggest that Adam and Eve were created “fully human”. The fall took that “fully” human away from them, the lost it as the result of succumbing to temptation.
You may have said, (as have I) that you wished you could be less human. Let me suggest that is backwards. Oh to be more fully human because that was the way humankind was created. Full humanness was lost as the result of succumbing to temptation and sinning. And when full humanness was lost, Adam and Eve suffered their first spiritual/psychological illness. They realized they were naked and they were ashamed. They tried to make adequate coverings for their nakedness. They hid from God. Or, so they thought. “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself” (Genesis 3: 8-10, ESV).
Why did God call out to Adam? It was not because God needed to know where he and Eve were. It was because Adam and Eve needed to know where they were. God’s performed the first blood sacrifice to make garments to cover Adam and Eve. “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).
More about shame to come.
Mediocre Meanderings 