Being "not ashamed."

Then the man said, "This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called 'woman' for she was taken out of man." That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become a new family. The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed. Genesis 2:23-25 (NET Bible)

A marriage with no baggage and no shame! This is a singular event, one which has not been repeated since. Even in those rare occasions (rare for our time and place) when two people unite who have had no relations with any other, there is still the baggage of human sin to consider. That was not the case here. Thus it is virtually impossible for us to understand this marriage in comparison with any marriage we know of.

What we can do is hope for the future when there will be the elimination of sin and we who know the Lord Jesus as Savior will experience true sinlessness. As it was for a short while at the creation, so it will be for eternity at the re-creation (Rev. 21-22).

This passage is also unusual in that it is an instance where having no shame was a good thing. Much of the scriptures teach that being ashamed, or having shame, is a good thing because there is abundant sin for which we all should be ashamed! In fact, in the few cases where a person or group of people were not ashamed, the scriptures declare that this is a sinful thing (Jer. 3:3; 6:15; 8:12). Having shame for us is not something that should haunt us night and day. However, the effort to artificially declare us shameless, or guiltless, is a dangerous one. No matter how much we try in our culture to avoid feeling shame or guilt (on the false premise this is good for our psyche), we will always have plenty to feel shame about. It is akin to declaring that an electrified fence is not really there, and then trying to climb over it without getting shocked! The electricity in the fence is like the sin in our soul. As long as the electricity is on, touching the fence will produce shock. If we were somehow able to eliminate the sensation of being 'shocked', the electricity would still exist and would still damage us. As long as sin is present in us, indulging in it will produce negative consequences, the first of which should be shame. Should we succeed in turning off the shame, the sin will still be present and further negative consequences, including a repeat of the sin, will occur. Shame is not something we should discourage, as long as it is shame for the reason of actually offending God by sin, and not the manufactured shame of culture. It is before God alone that the full measure of our shame is shown, for it is ultimately God against whom we sin (Ps. 51). So, we should bring our own shame to God first and foremost. Let Him heal us and make us able to show others the real Truth of Christ who bore our sin and shame upon the cross.

Finally, there is one area for which we should never be ashamed. Mark 8:38 puts it this way, "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
Paul mentioned the same thing in Romans 1:16 concerning the gospel. Those things sent from God through His Word and His Son and in the Holy Spirit are the pure things. These are the things of which we do not have to be ashamed, and in these we can alone experience the feeling of Adam and Eve standing naked before God and standing without shame!


Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE