God’s Word for You

Genesis 3:6-7 The fruit, the fall, and the fig leaves

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, September 11, 2026

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took a fruit from it and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made aprons for themselves.

The fall began with her senses. The curiosity that the devil had aroused in the young woman now pushed God’s command aside. She looked and saw, and the temptation grew even stronger. Of all the fruit of Eden, that fruit, the fruit of the forbidden tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was now her desire. The fact that it was also the tree of death did not come into her mind.

The need deepened further still. She saw the fruit as a thing to be desired for making her wise. She was already one of the wisest human beings ever to live—one of only two people who had lived in the bliss of God’s love in a world without sin—and she set that aside, too. Her desire was now moving toward the tree. In her mind, she was hurrying (she couldn’t get to it fast enough). She was running, sprinting, for that tree and its fruit.

Her eyes were truly closed tight. Her reason was ignored; she had become an unreasoning creature. She thrust from her mind that this action meant death, and she reached for the fruit. Her fingers stretched out even as her mind, her memory, her faith, shrank back like a turtle pulling itself into its shell. “Eve,” Luther told his students, “was so engrossed in unbelief both in spirit and in body that she did not realize that she was doing evil.”

She touched the fruit, although she herself had said that she should not touch it. She picked it and ate it. The first bite was tasted. She noticed its texture and flavor; she chewed it, swallowed. She had sinned. Her husband “was with her” and he ate it, too. He didn’t even lift a finger to stop it; the eyes of his reason, mind, and faith had been shut, too.

Here the devil, the liar, swept off his liar’s hat and showed that he was wearing his accuser’s cap, his Satan cap. As they ate, their eyes were opened, and the accuser had now taught them sin, guilt, and shame. He had brought them death. This was truly “A treasure gained by wickedness that brought no profit, but only death” (Proverbs 10:2).

They had fallen.

The immediate evidence of this is that they realized that they were naked. Augustine says, “Before the fall, they thought they had nothing to conceal because they felt nothing which had to be restrained.” Luther probes with genius into this point, and sees that it is a commentary not only on the source of sin, but on the true nature of what had been their original righteousness. Their righteousness had not merely been “a wreath on a pretty girl” which could be removed without doing anything to her beauty or nature (LW 1:165). No, the perfect natural endowment, the original righteousness, of mankind was the knowledge of God, and also faith. This is what Satan corrupted and ruined, like a man being poked in the eye with a stick. He is still a man, but the perfection of that eye is gone forever.

So in the state of perfection, their nakedness wasn’t something that they even noticed. They hadn’t cared that the animals saw their bodies, nor the angels, nor one another, nor God. But now? They couldn’t stand it. They felt shame. Before this, their reproductive organs were glorious because they served God’s command to be fruitful and multiply. But through sin, their naked members which had before been glorious now brought them shame—they became the most shameful.

They took fig leaves and sewed or stitched them together. A typical fig leaf is larger than a human hand fully spread. The stem of one can easily be passed through another leaf to unite them. It would be a crude, temporary structure. They did this to make hagoroth, “aprons.” These were coverings for their loins, which we might call skirts or kilts. Dr. Luther also notes: “It is surprising that among the writers in all languages there cannot be a trace which would indicate that nakedness became disgraceful through sin when previously it had been honorable. So we have Moses as the one and only teacher with this knowledge.” Moses, we remember, had been instructed in all the wisdom and knowledge of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). So Moses has brought this to our attention to teach us about the true nature of sin that has replaced the image of God that was ruined, twisted, and almost entirely destroyed by this fall into sin.

Before we go on to the next verse (for this is all about our downfall and can lead to despair!) we are free to pause, take a breath, and pray a confession of our own sins and shame to our heavenly Father. The ancient Church father Hermas comforted his readers: “The Lord knows the weakness of men and the cunning of the devil, that he would do something wicked toward God’s servants and do them evil” (Shepherd of Hermas, Hm 4,3,4), and again, “The One who created all things will have compassion on them and give them healing” (Hs 7:4). And we know—I hope we know—how this was done. “God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17).

By his grace, God freely gives what the devil tore away from mankind: Faith. This faith is a gift (Ephesians 2:8). “It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that gives healing” (Acts 3:16). It was Peter who said this, and he added: “So repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, and so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19). We will return to this account, but this is enough for now. Today, thank God for his forgiveness.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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