Garments of Faith: A Bible Study on Genesis 3

"Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." -Colossians 3:12

The Greek verb used in Colossians 3:12 for "clothe yourselves" is enduo meaning "to invest with clothing" and "to sink into a garment." Just as clothing is an essential need for daily life in today's world, so it was throughout the Bible. The first mention of "clothing" is in the book of Genesis. However, when God created mankind, He did not clothe them in garments. Instead, the Bible says that Adam and his wife, Eve, were both naked and unashamed.

"Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame." {Genesis 2:25}

The Hebrew word used for naked is erom which comes from the root word, ur, meaning "to be exposed or laid bare" (i.e. to be visible, not hidden). In their unashamedly naked state, they were completely innocent, pure, and had no awareness of "self." They had been created in the image of God to bear His nature and character in the earth.

However, the story continues with a tragic twist. After God created the earth, He placed Adam and his wife, Eve, in His beautiful garden to cultivate and care for it. The LORD provided them with an abundant supply of food; they could eat from any tree in the entire Garden of Eden, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because that tree was not intended for nourishment. In fact, its fruit produced death. Thus, Adam and Eve were given a choice to obey God or to disobey Him. The choice was theirs, but consequences do come with every choice good or bad...

"The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

You might be thinking, "But that was unfair of God to place a tree like that in the garden to "tempt" them to sin." If you're asking this question, you don't yet comprehend the fullness of the love of God or His good nature. He didn't place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden to tempt Adam and Eve to sin. Instead, it was an object of "free will." As I mentioned earlier, we are made in the image of God to bear forth His nature and character in the earth. If the Lord didn't allow us, His created beings, to have freedom of choice then we wouldn't truly reflect His image. Instead, we would be pre-programmed to love and obey Him without ever really having a choice in the matter. Think about it from a romantic perspective. What if the moment you married your husband, you were able to program him to always respond to you the way you would like him to, to do nice things for you, and show you acts of kindness. You could program him to show up at your bedside every morning with a hot cup of coffee and a good morning kiss or maybe a 15-min foot massage after a long day on your feet...It would feel pretty great having all of your needs met at the start of it, but then you might question whether he really loves you or not because he has no choice but to do the things you programmed him to do. If you turned off the "settings" would he still want to show up at your bedside in the morning with a kiss? Freedom of choice is risky. The risk lies in whether or not the other person will love you in return out of their own free will. But that's what love is, right? For love to truly be love, it has to be reciprocal. It requires a choice on behalf of both parties to show love and commitment in return. Hence, the tree in the midst of the garden.

The story continues in Genesis...a cunning serpent appears to Eve in the Garden and begins to contradict God's instructions regarding the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam, "...If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die" (Genesis 2:17), yet the serpent says, "You won't die!" (Genesis 3:4). Not only does the serpent directly contradict God's Word, but he begins to spin a tale of deception; an assault on God's good nature towards His creation. "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). God is holding out on you. You weren't really created in the image of God - you're lacking something...all lies from the enemy. Tragically, Eve believed the serpent instead of God. In fact, the Bible says that she was convinced. The definition of convinced is "completely certain about something." She was convinced that God was holding out on her and she began to covet {yearn passionately for} the "forbidden fruit."

"She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her." -Genesis 3:6

From this Scripture, we learn that Eve coveted three things:

1. Beauty

2. Pleasure

3. Success {another definition of the Hebrew word, sakal, translated in Gen 3:6 as wisdom}

Don't we see women being led astray by these same things today? Take a quick scroll on Pinterest or Instagram and you will see that the desire to covet these things is very much alive and well. Luxurious clothes, expensive cosmetic products and procedures, gourmet meals, curated homes, five-star vacations, six-figure careers, and on and on. These things are coveted. The desire to obtain these worldly things has replaced the need for a relationship with God because mankind is deceived into believing that these things will bring internal satisfaction and fulfillment to our longing souls. But what our souls truly cry out for is relationship with our Creator.

"So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves." -Genesis 3:6-7

At the moment of disobedience, they immediately felt shame over their nakedness. The Hebrew word used here for shame is bosh meaning, "embarrassment or guilt over one's actions; confusion; disappointment; anxiety." We were made in the image of God to reflect His nature on earth, yet, now, mankind would be plagued with shame, resulting in the antithetical attributes of God's nature - confusion, anxiety, and depression. You can promptly see an example of this resulting fear and anxiety in verse 10. God was walking in the Garden that evening. As soon as Adam and Eve heard His footsteps, they were afraid and hid from Him. The Hebrew word used here for "hide" is chaba meaning to "withdraw; to conceal." It is interesting to see that post-sin, Adam and Eve withdrew from God, God didn't withdraw from them. Not only did they try to separate themselves from God because of the guilt resulting from their sin, but they also attempted to provide a solution for their nakedness (exposure, deficiency, shame) by sewing together fig leaves to cover (hide) their nakedness (sin). In other words, man's solution to sin is to cover it up with works of self-righteousness to pretend it isn't there. How can I pay this back to God? I need to work to make up for my deficiency. The problem with this thinking is that the Bible clearly tells us that "none are righteous, all have sinned" (Romans 3:23) and "even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags"(Isaiah 64:6). We can never, I repeat never, do enough "works" to earn salvation or make amends for our sin. The Bible is very clear on this. You can see this portrayed in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve sewed together fig leaves to cover their loins, but God stripped them naked and clothed them instead with animal skins. The fig leaves could never be an adequate covering because the Bible says that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22).

"And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife." -Genesis 3:21

Genesis 3 doesn't explicitly state that God instructed Adam and Eve on how to properly offer an animal sacrifice to provide temporary covering of their sin, but it can be deduced from the text by the resulting animal skins that the Lord made into clothing for them. These offerings of animal sacrifices were a temporary system of making atonement for the sinner until the time of the promised Messiah who would offer His Body as a perfect sacrifice for the sin of all mankind {Hebrews 10}. God's solution to sin is righteousness obtained by faith in Christ which was represented in Genesis through the typology of the animal coverings.

We see in Genesis 3, hope amidst death. Although the LORD made a covering for their sin, the consequence of their disobedience was still death. All mankind would die. Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden so they would not have access to the tree of life. If they did eat the fruit from that tree, they would live forever in this fallen, miserable state which was never God's intention for mankind.

Adam was given authority from God to name his wife. He decided to name her, Eve, meaning "to give life." Eve would be the mother of all who live, which included the promised Messiah - the Seed of redemption.

As believers in Christ, we have died with Him {represented by baptism} and have been raised to new life (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12). We have had our sin and guilt dealt with by Jesus Christ -the promised Messiah- at the cross, and now, we have been endowed with new garments from God. We are no longer naked, but clothed with the garments of faith.

The answer to overcoming covetousness and all the schemes of the enemy is found in Matthew 6:32-33:

"These things {money, food, clothing} dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need."

If you're anything like me, you probably grew up on fairytales like Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin. I was always mesmerized by the scene from Cinderella when her tattered & torn dress is transformed into a sparkling, exquisite ballgown fit for a princess.

This is how I imagine the believer's transformation takes place. In the spirit realm, the believer is stripped of the tattered and torn garment of darkness and it's replaced with the garment of light - the Garment of Christ. The New Testament speaks about the garments a believer inherits at the moment of salvation. Just as the Greek word, enduo, indicates an "investment of clothing," the Lord has supplied us with a beautiful wardrobe - the garments of faith. These garments of faith include:

• The full armor of God - for spiritual warfare

• The armor of light - the power of the Holy Spirit

• The garment of Christ - our new nature of "Christ in us"

I've included scriptures pertaining to each garment below. Each scripture included contains the Greek word, enduo, which is translated "put on" in English. I encourage you to read and study these verses so that you can confidently know what you've inherited through Christ and begin to "sink into the garments" (see enduo definition) you've been given to live out your new nature in Him. Just as you get dressed in physical clothing every morning, put on Christ as you prepare for your day ahead. Remember, you've been clothed with power from on high and are fully equipped for every good and perfect work in Christ. We, as believers, have been restored to God's original design of being vessels of His nature and character on this earth. As we image Christ, we fulfill the LORD's purpose and plan for mankind.

-The Full Armor of God - Ephesians 6:10-17, 1 Thessalonians 5:8

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

"But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation."

-The Armor of Light - Romans 13:12

"The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light."

-The Garment of Christ - Galatians 3:27, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10

"And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes."

"...and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."

"Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him."

-Clothed with Power from on High - Luke 24:49

"Listen carefully: I am sending the Promise of My Father [the Holy Spirit] upon you; but you are to remain in the city [of Jerusalem] until you are clothed (fully equipped) with power from on high.”

-Clothed with the Fruit of the Spirit - Colossians 3:12 & 14-15

"Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience...Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful."