How Eve Got Her Shame
It’s hard to imagine a world without shame. A world where every person is confident, operating in his or her natural gifts and creating goodness and beauty in the world. A place where people do not compare themselves to others, compete to do more, have more, or be more, or strive to meet someone else’s (or their own) unrealistic expectations.
But there was a time, in the beginning of humanity’s story, when shame did not exist. Man and woman walked freely and confidently alongside the One who created them, co-honoring one another and relishing the fellowship of being intimately known, completely accepted, and perfectly loved.
God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27).
Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame (Genesis 2:25)
Created in God’s image, man and woman enjoyed fellowship with God. Nakedness symbolized their complete acceptance by God and one another and there was no need to hide. They had deep assurance of their value. The first humans were at rest with who they were and who God was.
This was the beginning, and the ideal continuance, of humanity’s story according to the Great Storyteller, the Author of Life.
But unlike human authors who would follow in the eras to come, this Author, the God who made the stars and planets with His words, granted power and will to His characters, giving man and woman authority to think and decide how they would steward the beginning He gave them. He would not make choices for them, for what kind of love makes love compulsory?
As we peer into the genesis of the human story, we hold our breath, like spectators in the theater while the drama unfolds. The serpent sees Eve before she is aware of his slithering presence, and the first weapon is formed against the man and the woman made in the image of God. Taking careful aim, God’s enemy raises his weapon, and lets go.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1)
Like a poison arrow, the lie zipped through the pure Eden air and hit its mark, piercing the innocent confidence of the first woman. With its wounding the first scrutiny began. Scrutiny of God’s character and scrutiny of human identity. God’s enemy challenged the very source of humanity’s value. He questioned the character of God and cast doubt on it. With this lie, both the honor of humanity and the honor of God was placed in question.
“‘You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5).
From our long-distance view across the centuries the deception is clearer. You will be like God. The serpent presented this statement as if it were fresh knowledge, a new idea.
This is a signature of God’s enemy. He is an expert counterfeiter, taking what is true and reproducing it with false materials that break and bruise.
Adam and Eve were made in God’s image. They were like Him already.
Genesis 5:1 repeats this early declaration of honor: When God created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them “humankind”.
The Hebrew word used for likeness here is demût, meaning to compare; likeness, resemblance; image, model, pattern, shape. It is sometimes used as an adverb signifying “like” or “as”. (Old Testament Lexical Aid, AMG publishers, 1996).
Adam and Eve were complete, lacking nothing. They walked beside God in perfect fellowship and had all they needed for life. This was the essence of their identity, people created in God’s image.
But Eve, inebriated by the lie and heady with temptation, forgot she had been made in God’s image. She forgot that she and Adam were already like God. She fell headlong into the suggestion that she might be incomplete and God might not be who He seemed to be.
The serpent put forward an alternative story to the one the Author had written. You are not complete. You are missing out. God cannot be trusted.
With that, shame made its debut. Slipping seamlessly into the narrative, it embedded itself in the heart of the first man and woman, changing the course of history and the greater story humanity believes about itself today.
Curt Thompson, MD, author of The Soul of Shame, states, “To effectively enter into the healing of shame requires us to know the place it holds in our story as a human race, and that requires us to know which story, exactly we believe we are living in.” (p. 11, The Soul of Shame, by Curt Thompson, MD, InterVarsity Press, 2015).
Shame entered humanity and changed the story. Instead of believing we have worth, are loved by our Creator, and that He is good, many of us struggle under the burden of shame and separation from God. The problem of shame has spread through entire cultures, causing them to base their assumptions about God and each other on its lies.
The scrutiny that began in Eden at the base of a tree continues today as we scrutinize ourselves, others, and God. The story many of us believe about ourselves and God is based on a lie.
The Great Author has redeemed the story, however, and there is hope. Your story and mine can be different as we replace shame’s lies with truth about who we are and who God is.
The changing of the story begins with our own search for identity. In my next article, we will examine how shame impacted identity and what to do about it.