Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Self-Liberation Result 1: Conflict With Each Other

Immediately after eating the forbidden fruit, man and woman were given the independence they craved. It wasn't as good as they thought. The eyes of both were opened, and they realized they were naked (7). Their immediate response was to cover themselves, so they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths (7). Innocence was gone.

Notice how their desire to be like God made them realize they weren't even like each other. This caused shame and embarrassment, so they covered themselves. They made makeshift clothing for themselves, and that clothing created a visible barrier for their naked flesh from their spouse's eyes.

That visible barrier was emblematic of the spiritual and emotional barrier they put up that day. And men and women have been putting up walls and barriers ever since.

You see, they wanted independence, but without God. Once they liberated themselves from Him, they came into conflict with each other.

This is part of the reason our sin hurts those closest to us. A barrier goes up. Separation occurs.

We must remember this first result of their sin: conflict with each other.

Genesis 3:8 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 from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Self-Liberation Result 2: Broken Fellowship With God

Another result of their self-liberation, their craving for independence, was broken fellowship with God.

God came walking in the garden in the cool of the day (8). The implication is that this was a regular event, a time for fellowship between God and his children.

But, instead of appearing for fellowship, the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God (8). God called out, "Where are you?" (9).

It is one of the saddest lines in Scripture.

And, because they were made in God's image, this separation from Him has catastrophic results. We cannot be all we were intended when we disassociate from Him. To go our own way, to become the definers of good and evil, breaks us off from the God who made us.

And he is our only path to true joy and satisfaction because he made us for the relentless enjoyment of himself.

We must remember this because Adam and Eve's actions in Genesis 2 are celebrated by the society in which we live. They liberated themselves from God's harsh commands and laws. They entered into true paradise when they ditched the shackles of the divine. No more restrictions! No more laws! They found freedom!

To many in our culture, it was Adam and Eve's act of rebellion that made them human.

But we see the truth. They became less human when they walked away from God.

Adam explained his actions: "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself" (10). He was afraid. He knew he was naked. So he hid from God.

Genesis 3:11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

God Questions Man

God asks the man a series of questions. Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree? (11). Neither these questions nor the previous description of God looking for Adam in the garden suggests God didn't know. He knew exactly what happened. He knows all things.

But He gave the man a chance. Like a good father, the Heavenly Father offered His child a chance to come clean, to confess his crime.

By the way, this opportunity might come your way every now and then. If you get caught up in secret sin, the day will come, a moment, when you are caught in your trespass.

Then, before God and others, you will have the chance to own up to what you've done.

Too many, at that moment, excuse their sin, blame it on others, or fail to come clean. But every single thing you leave in the dark will be exposed. At least one day. All too often, I have watched someone confess part of their sin, only to break everyone's heart when the whole story is fully revealed later. They've compounded their sin with lies, more sin. When the time comes, confess everything!

Blame Shifting

The episode shifts to a massive blame-shifting party. Adam blamed it on the woman: "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate" (12). And notice how he blamed his wife, but also his God, when he called Eve " the woman you gave to be with me" (12).

Eve then blamed it on the serpent. She said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate" (13).

The excuses ended there because the serpent had no problem serving as the instigator of the entire fiasco.

Please notice something, however. They blamed whoever they could. For Adam, there was no one else. He blamed the only two persons he knew, the woman and God. In his mind, it was literally everyone else's fault. Rather than take ownership of his sin, he pinned the blame for his failures squarely on others.

This is such a disastrous byproduct of the fall of man. We love to blame others for the way we are. So parents, teachers, and other authority figures draw our ire. Whole methodologies of counseling are built on this premise. Someone else must be the reason you are who you are, so let's dig into the past to find out who did what to you. Let's find out who is to blame!

But, in Christ, we can run toward the blame. We can say, Yes, I am a great sinner, but I have a great Savior. There are a thousand things wrong with me. And maybe people or circumstances in my life HELPED DRAW THEM OUT, but they are my flaws.

And, beautifully, by His grace and mercy, we can embark on the path to healing in Jesus. But it is crucial for us to accept responsibility for ourselves.