Tom Burke

October 2026
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The opening chapters of the Book of Genesis describe a beautiful love story. They tell of how God meticulously, piece by piece, constructed a world that would serve as the ideal home for the pinnacle of His creation, mankind.

Adam was not a prisoner in Eden – he guarded it and enjoyed it just as God had intended. Adam was not numbered among the animals – he named them and had dominion over them. And God gave to Adam the woman, Eve, to be his loving companion and partner. We are told that, before the eyes of a loving God, “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”¹

In this great order, Adam was second only to God, with only one simple rule:

Genesis 2:16–17  (English Standard Version)And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

If I were to tell my dog, “On the day you poop on the carpet, you will surely die,”² I am certain that he would eventually break this commandment. Were he to continue living, breathing, and barking after his transgression, there could be only one conclusion: my words cannot be trusted.

In this much more serious case, Adam did indeed eat of this fruit, and yet we can clearly read of Adam’s continued presence upon the earth for hundreds of years after his act of disobedience. Critics cite this fact as an example of the Bible’s unreliability. Meanwhile, well-meaning apologists try desperately to explain it away via methods that are illogical and, frankly, embarrassing.³

As is so often the case, the answer is simple. Critics and apologists alike have failed to recognize something unique about Adam, something that separated mankind from all other life on earth.

Genesis 1:27  (King James Version)So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Adam and Eve had physical bodies. Like the animals, they breathed.⁴ But in addition, they were created in the image of God. God does not have a physical body, nor does He breathe. God is spirit.⁵

Adam, in the likeness of God, and unlike mere breathing animals, was created with spirit. That spirit enabled him to commune with God. It was, very literally, the life of God.

Did Adam and Eve die that very day? Absolutely. And the restoration of that life, culminating in the coming of Jesus Christ, is the central topic of God’s Word from this point forward.⁶

But what of Adam and Eve, the two who, sinless, had been naked and unashamed?

Genesis 3:7–8  (New International Version)Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Contrary to much religious artwork (and some Bible versions), the Hebrew word translated as “coverings” in verse 7 simply means … coverings. The covering of particular body parts is neither stated nor implied. After all, God had seen Adam and Eve naked. But He had never seen them dead.

Conscious of this death, and conscious of the rebellion that had caused it, they attempted to hide, not out of a newfound prudishness, but out of shame. And what better place to hide than in the trees, covered with leaves?

But neither they nor we can hide from God.

God did indeed find them, and in the following verse we can read of God’s pronouncement of guilt and the corresponding consequences. We also read of, in the moment of condemnation, a glorious promise of future reconciliation.⁷ Then, just as they are about to be banished from the Garden, God does one strange and seemingly insignificant thing.

Genesis 3:21  (New International Version)The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

This one small act conveyed a powerful message that would resound through the Old Testament and beyond: sin, and the shame that it instills, could never be remitted by leafy coverings or by any other work of man’s hands. Only the blood of a substitute would suffice.⁸

In succeeding generations, we see this standard recognized and practiced in the animal sacrifices of Noah, Abraham, and others, and codified in the Mosaic law. In the tabernacle, and later in the temple, these sacrifices were performed daily. And yet they were limited, offering only a temporary covering for the consequences of Adam’s sin. The sin itself remained, unaltered, upon all of mankind.

Hebrews 10:11–12 (English Standard Version)And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

Immediately following Adam’s transgression, God made the clear, powerful promise of future victory. But the blood of bulls and goats would never have been sufficient to bring that victory. Only the blood of the sinless son of God would suffice.

Thank God for our Lord Jesus Christ! Only he qualified as our substitute. Knowing this, he willingly gave himself for you and me even though he knew the cost. In his crucifixion, the price was fully paid, and by his resurrection, God powerfully declared that reconciliation to Him was now possible through  faith in Christ.

Just before his ascension, Jesus informed his disciples that the promise made long ago was about to be fulfilled.

Luke 24:49  (New International Version)I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.

Note that Jesus spoke of them being “clothed,” which is translated from the Greek word enduo. In just a few days,⁹ these men, and others with them, would be clothed – not with leaves, not with skins, but with power. The life which Adam had forfeited would once again be available, through Christ.

Believing on Jesus Christ involves much more than a change in philosophy. It is a birth!¹⁰ It introduces into us the life we were always meant to have, one which allows us full access to and perfect fellowship with God.

Those of you who are Christian know the joy that this new life brings. You probably also know that, at times, we can forget that we are new creations in Christ. Our lives can begin to resemble what they used to be. If we are ignorant of the Scriptures, we might even wonder if we have somehow lost that life, or never had it at all.

Rest assured, no work of yours or mine can undo the work of Christ! But in order for that life and all of its fruit to fully show, there is something that we must put on – in our minds.

Ephesians 4:22–24 (New International Version)You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;

To be made new in the attitude of your minds;

And to put on [enduo] the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.¹¹

As we do this, all of the power that our Lord promised will be unleashed in us: power to love as he loves, to serve as he served, to obey as he obeyed.

So get dressed, Christian! And if occasionally you should find yourself wearing that old stinky outfit, don’t be discouraged, for there is one more wardrobe change awaiting us.

1 Corinthians 15:51–54  (New International Version)Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–

In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.¹²

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”