Enjoying the human body God’s way

Hurdle 4: God’s view of nudity

Adam and Eve were the first nudists. Were they also meant to be the last?

From the moment Adam and Eve lost their innocence they instinctively felt the need to cover up. The Lord affirmed that their instincts were right, by doing something astounding: rather than leave it to their own ingenuity to discover how to design and make adequate clothing, the Lord himself made clothes for them. Significantly, God’s choice was more permanent, and covered more effectively than their choice of flimsy leaves.

From then on, throughout biblical revelation, nudity outside of marriage is about as unacceptable as sex outside of marriage. In biblical thought, except for the person you are committed to by marriage, to gaze at anyone naked is to grossly dishonor that person, even if he or she is the same sex as you, and even if that person is a close family member. Ham acted shamefully by not immediately looking away when he stumbled upon his father’s unclothed body when Noah lay in a drunken stupor. Because he deliberately looked, a curse fell upon Ham’s descendants, but a blessing upon Noah’s other sons, who sought to preserve Noah’s decency by covering their father without looking at his body (Genesis 9:20-27).

In the original Hebrew, God’s Word uses the expression to uncover someone’s nakedness to mean having sexual intercourse with that person, like in our society we use the expression to sleep with someone. Just as in our society it is most rare for a couple to sleep together if they never relate sexually, so among God’s people it was most rare to see naked anyone with whom you do not have sexual relations with. ‘Nakedness cannot be tolerated outside proper sexual relationships . . .’ the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament concludes from Scripture.

Interestingly, the reason Scripture gives for the prohibition against having sexual relations with one’s father’s wife (who might not be one’s mother) is that by so doing you would be seeing your father’s nakedness (Leviticus 18:8, literal translation). One can understand this, in that a husband and wife are one flesh, but note the implication: it’s a thing of great shame for a son to see his father naked. How much more should seeing other people naked be an act of indecency.

‘But this was merely God fitting in with the Israelites’ conservative attitudes.’

The above Scripture was written in a society and era far removed from Noah’s in which we also saw this same attitude to nudity. Moreover, it was originally addressed to Israelites who had just left Egypt. Flip through almost any Bible dictionary and you will find reproductions of ancient Egyptian drawings proving that in everyday life, some women walked around clothed, some were topless, some naked. Moses must have grown up being regularly exposed to bare-breasted high-ranking women surrounded by nude attendants. In fact, many Israelite slaves were probably expected to work naked. And yet still the Bible maintains its stance on nudity. This was despite the Israelites’ background, not because of it. Now jump hundreds and hundreds of years to the very end of scriptural revelation, and you will still find expressions linking nudity with shame, such as ‘cover your shameful nakedness’ (Revelation 3:17) and ‘that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed’ (Revelation 16:15).

We have here something far stronger than culture – something that outlasted the flood, the forming of the nation of Israel, and the ending of the Old Covenant.

Amazingly, even after the consummation of all things, when Adam’s curse is utterly removed and we fully take on the perfection of Christ’s purity, living with glorified bodies in a realm in which there is no marriage (and hence no sex), there is still no return to the nudity of Eden. This is startling. If nothing else, consider the symbolism – the return of innocence, total openness, the provision of flawless bodies that are totally complete in themselves, the restoration of everything that had been spoilt by sin. Yet every glimpse of heaven that Scripture gives us is of clothed people. The same applies to angels and even to the Lord himself. In fact, rather than remaining silent about this seemingly minor aspect of the next life, clothing often features in the divinely inspired descriptions (Scriptures). Consider also the utter modesty of the seraphim dwelling in God’s presence, who not only covered their entire bodies, but even their faces.

Unusual uses of the word ‘nakedness’ in the original languages, highlight the Bible’s attitude to nudity.

• Even to be partially unclothed is so shameful that in Scripture it is usually not distinguished from full nudity (Scriptures).
• The Lord gave instructions for soldiers to dig a hole and cover their excrement when they relieved themselves, lest God see that which should have been covered up, and turn away in disgust. In the original Hebrew, the word for the exposed excrement is ‘nakedness’ (Deuteronomy 23:14) To be naked is to expose that which should be covered. Nudists insist the body does not need to be covered. God’s Word says the exact opposite.

Would nudity have continued had there been no sin?

‘But the human body is a beautiful creation of God; something to celebrate and praise God for, not something to be ashamed of.’

Absolutely. In contrast, the net result of the Playboy mentality (and women’s magazines are equally guilty) is that the human body has never been considered more inadequate, and real bodies seldom seen as so shameful. Women are now ashamed to even show their face in public without being hidden by layers of makeup. Even famous models sometimes confess to feeling unattractive, and their photos are subjected to touch ups. Porn degrades human bodies, exalting only the elusive, fleeting and hollow, sexual high. Were it not for advertising agencies, flesh magazines and movies, husbands and wives – real people – would be better placed to truly enjoy each other’s bodies without shame.

Holy

Every human body is sacred, potentially or actually, because the Spirit of the Holy One could one day, or has right now, taken up residence in that body, turning it into his holy temple. And if the body is a temple, its private parts are the Holy of Holies, where prying eyes are forbidden to enter. Nowadays, we have little conception of the ramifications of a physical object being made holy. But God went to great lengths to teach his ancient people about this and then permanently recorded it for our benefit. Only one man could enter the Holy of Holies. He must be chosen of God, go through a public ceremony (Leviticus 8:3) and be set apart for life for his sacred duties. He alone could reverently lift the veil and look upon the holy things (Numbers 4:20). If ever the sacred objects had to be moved – and hence open to public gaze – God commanded they be hidden behind several layers of coverings (Numbers 4:5-7).

Normally the holy things were jealously guarded, but the ark was once stolen and some people tried to satisfy their curiosity and take a peek. What seemed a harmless look was a violation of what God had pronounced sacred. Seventy people were struck dead because of that look (1 Samuel 6:19).

You don’t peek at those things God pronounces holy.

Hypocrisy

Nudists are right that if we were continually naked (and very few nudists are) the result would be less erotic than the way many Christians dress. That, however, is an argument for greater modesty, not greater nudity. Leaving something to the imagination is dangerous, given the fact that the brain can be said to be the largest sexual organ. The answer is to dress so as not to stir up the imagination in the first place, in contrast to the way many Christians dress. Some blindly follow fashion in order to feel good about themselves; displaying the attitude of ‘To hell with anyone I tempt’ – and you have every right to take that literally. Others subconsciously seek the ego boost of sexually teasing men they are not married to. Small wonder that one of the greatest hindrances to Muslims coming to the Lord is the decadence of Western Christians.

Synopsis

Let’s finalize our brief examination of the biblical attitude to nudity.

The fact that Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed was considered so exceptional as to be worthy of special mention. Thereafter, the Bible repeatedly associates nudity with shame, not because there is anything about the way God created us to be ashamed of, but because, like sex outside marriage, it is shameful to violate the sanctity of marriage.

Nudity outside marriage is profaning that which is holy; treating as common that which should be confined to holy matrimony. Just as it is humiliating to be gang raped – regardless of whether the rapists are family members, or of the same or opposite gender to you – so the Bible regards it as humiliating to be seen naked or semi-naked by anyone not your marriage partner, regardless of the gender or family relationship of those seeing your unclothed.

This is a webpage series about the soft edge of porn. If you started a couple of webpages back at the beginning of this series, and you have passed all the tests so far, it is beginning to look as if it is acceptable for you to enjoy soft porn because:

• you’re worthy of an Olympic medal in mental gymnastics
• you’ve located women who never change their minds, who have slipped into the slimy porn industry with their eyes wide-open and will always fall in love with men who proudly share their wife’s body with dirty-minded men
• you’ve miraculously found a circumstance when it’s all right to take advantage of weak-minded women who undervalue their assets
• you have a wife who is thrilled that you find more pleasure in other women’s bodies than in hers
• you’ve received inside information that in the next life people make a special effort to dress only in the presence of visiting prophets, (or maybe during John’s visit heaven’s air conditioning was playing up, making it a little chilly).

Don’t give up now, you’re almost there.