Nakedness was God’s idea. And it was very good.
“And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25).
If you will, consider the pristine innocence of the first humans, before sin entered the world. After all, why should Adam and Eve, in their intimacy, have felt anything other than delight? Like newborn babies in their nakedness, they were just as the Lord had created them. Brought together by Him to share all the ecstasies of their consecrated union, our first parents were enjoying the spirit-soul-body oneness that God had declared “very good.”
But everything changes in Genesis 3. Note that the first depiction of shame in Holy Scripture occurs immediately after the Fall. After their willful disobedience, Adam and Eve can’t see God, themselves, or each other in the same innocent way. What was once beautiful about their nakedness is now marred by sin. To their core, Adam and Eve feel shameful and exposed, and they experience the desperate need to hide – from the Lord and from each other.
Paradise was lost. As our first parents hid as best they could, their need for their guilt to be covered would extend beyond the capacity of a few fig leaves, and would ultimately require the shedding of innocent blood – as God Himself would provide their clothing from animal skins.
To be frank, sex hasn’t been the same since. In a summer edition of “The New Yorker,” as she seeks to explain the “sex drought” (also labeled the “sex recession”) which is observable among American young adults, Jia Tolentino asks the question: “Are young people having enough sex?” In a double book review, the writer-editor examines an array of contemporary theories as to why the “sex drought” is happening …
“The Zoomer sex recession is puzzling in part because sex has seemingly never been less stigmatized or easier to procure. The electronic devices in our pockets contain not only a vast universe of free porn but also apps on which casual sex can be arranged as efficiently as a burrito delivery from DoorDash. Today, it is a mainstream view that desire isn’t shameful … that people can do what they want in the bedroom as long as everyone involved is pleased. And yet, presented with a Vegas buffet of carnality, young people are losing their appetite.”
Isn’t that a fascinating observation? Our culture has tried everything in its power to liberate sex from God – as if God weren’t the one who made sex off-the-charts fantastic in the first place – and the most noticeable result is one big societal turn-off.
Sex is sacred, friends. The one-flesh relationship between a husband and wife reflects the covenant-love between Christ and His Church. Contrary to popular belief, the Bible is exceptionally sex-positive, calling and equipping us to serve and enjoy one another in love. Marriage and family – God’s way – protect hearts and minds, nurture health and wellbeing, encourage human flourishing, and promote social stability.
Let’s get real. The sexual freedom promised by the “Love is Love” mantra delivers anything but. Not surprisingly, Tolentino goes on to observe: “What passes for liberation is often just liberalization – the freedom of the market, in other words, which not only differs from existential freedom but sometimes negates it. We are free, on the internet, to sexually valorize anything and anyone; we are free to sexualize ourselves for any audience; we are not and never will be free from the hypersexuality of an online world that is built around images and videos and that relentlessly turns individuals into commodities – a world in which it is possible to view just about any act imaginable, on demand, in perpetuity.”
I think that Tolentino is partially correct. She understands the dangers of reducing people to commodities, but what she may fail to capture in full is the culture of shame which we have created inadvertently. If you will indulge me, I have a theory about what’s happening: Shame is destroying us from within. It’s a strange phenomenon, I readily admit, because at first glance we appear to be a culture that knows no shame.
But … is it possible that our young people are not as comfortable with moral promiscuity as we might have imagined? Is it possible that they’re secretly craving strong and stable boundaries of absolute truth? Could it be that – when America’s youth put their heads on their pillow at night – our culture’s combo of phony sexual freedom and unforgiving social media has left them deathly afraid of real life?
I believe that shame, tragically, permeates our national culture. It’s my contention that shame doesn’t always make people shy and withdrawn. Sometimes shame makes people loud and angry and boastful and addicted. I believe that shame can create rage and violence and terror. Without the grace of Jesus, who will gladly exchange our sin and shame for His undeserved and eternal salvation, shame can simmer under the surface until it destroys a people from within. We feel guilty because we are guilty.
Tolentino goes on to write: “The real problem at the heart of this matter is less about sex and more about loneliness. Depression and anxiety are now so commonplace among young people as to be taken almost as a given – and there is a concomitant disinterest in, or discomfort with, intimate relationships.”
Friends, we need Jesus. Only He can heal this broken land. Only He can cure the root of our loneliness epidemic. Only He can restore our shared Western Civilization to a life-giving place of moral sanity. Only He can forgive our sin. Such a cultural crisis is never the time for the Church to start finger-pointing and blaming the sinners around us, “for it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God” (1 Peter 4:17).
Here and now, in the craziness of 2025, you and I inhabit a world still ravaged by sin and shame. But the Bible lifts our eyes forward to the day when we’ll see Christ face-to-face: “And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming” (1 John 2:28).
Confident and unashamed. Doesn’t that sound absolutely wonderful? In Christ, you and I are regaining what was lost.
The verb “continue” can be translated “abide” or “remain.” As followers of Christ, you and I are encouraged to hold onto the truth about Jesus that we have heard and believed – the truth confirmed to us by the Holy Spirit – and not to be swayed by persuasive but untrue arguments made by those who do not know Christ. Every fine-sounding but lifeless philosophy is simply some version of the oldest lie (Genesis 3:1): “Did God really say?” Our high and holy calling is to “abide” in Jesus. The truth of Christ must continue to work in His disciples – in each one of us – helping us recognize and resist whatever deceptions we encounter along the way. And, friends, there will be many such lies coming down the pike.
“Love is Love” only when God – who is love – defines it.
The good news of the gospel is that the Lamb of God has fully provided the blood-covering that we desperately needed. And, because of Christ’s empty tomb, the once-shut door of Paradise has been opened wide again. You and I are well on our way!
Until then, let’s keep humbly relying upon the Spirit’s power to enable all of our relationships – each one submitted to His Lordship – to reflect Christ’s goodness and grace.
Pastor Charles
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