Is Nakedness or Nudity Alright… Or is it sinful

Nakedness “I would like to know some of your views on homosexuality, nudity, pre marital and extra marital sex, and marriage?” A college student recently asked us this question. She is writing a college paper on the subject and here is our answer (which is by no means comprehensive, but just gives the gist of what we believe)…

Nudity, Homosexuality, Pre-marital and Extra-marital sex, and Marriage

Regarding Nudity:

Genesis Chapter 2:23-25 in the Bible gives us the account of the very first marriage ceremony and relationship. It reads as follows: “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” This first married couple was Adam and Eve.

Some time passes and Eve was tempted by Satan in the form of the serpent to take and eat fruit off of the only tree in the garden that God had commanded she and her husband, Adam, not to eat of. She did eat of the “forbidden fruit” and she also gave it to her husband. This sin brought upon them the curse of sin which is death, both spiritually (immediately) and (eventually) physically. God had warned them that this would happen if they disobeyed him and they did not listen.

But, in addition to death, one of the apparent consequences of sin is found in Genesis Chapter 3:7-11. (Keep in mind that the tree that they had eaten from was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.) Verse 7 reads as follows: “And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?”

Notice that after Adam and Eve sinned against God, they went from being nude and unashamed to being nude and so ashamed that they immediately made themselves fig leaf bikinis as it were to cover themselves. Now some would take this as evidence that if a sinner gets right with God they can again live and walk openly nude and unashamed, but I beg to differ.

Notice now Genesis 3:21 as it points this out: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” It seems to me that the little fig leaf “bikinis” that Adam and Eve made were still not enough clothing for the min God’s eyes after they had sinned. He made them coats of animal skins. Why is this? I cannot honestly say why except that God expects people with the knowledge of good and evil to stay covered up in public. Maybe it is because at the same time sin entered into the picture, physical lust also flew in on the scene.

Then we move on to a scene just after the great flood. Noah, the single man that had found grace in the eyes of the Lord before God destroyed the Earth with water…the man that the Bible calls a just man and says he walked with God…this same Noah that built the ark and according to the book of Hebrews, was a preacher of righteousness, also fell into sin some time after getting off the ark. Genesis 9:20-27 tells us, “And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard; And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakednessof his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.”

Notice that it was obviously a very grievous sin for Ham to look upon his father while he was unclothed. The other two sons went backward and dropped the garment from their shoulders to cover up their nude father without looking at him in that state. Many other lessons can be learned from this portion of scripture, but it is certainly clear that to look upon the nudity of a father is shameful and sinful.

The next point concerning nudity is simply quoting Leviticus Chapter 18 from the Bible. It spells it out clearly and specifically as to uncovering nudity of others other than one’s own husband or wife (man with woman and woman with man only – not homosexual relationships). I will discuss more about husband and wife after this point.

Leviticus Chapter 18: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD. None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD. The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness. The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover. The nakedness of thy son’s daughter, or of thy daughter’s daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness. The nakedness of thy father’s wife’s daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister: for she is thy mother’s near kinswoman. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son’s wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness. Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time. Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness. Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbor’s wife, to defile thyself with her. And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.”

It is pretty plain that any nudity other than that between a husband and wife in the bonds of matrimony is “wickedness”. This point is further supported by the New Testament in one simple verse from the book of Hebrews…

Regarding Marriage and Nudity Between a Husband and Wife, Pre-marital and Extra-marital sex:

Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” The meaning seems clear to me here: Simply that a marriage relationship between a husband and his wife, even the sexual portion of it, is honorable and good, but anything outside of that is not good.

Here is a link to another good article addressing these subjects: http://www.fbbc.com/messages/rwnaked.htm

Regarding Homosexuality:

I recommend that you read the following website against homosexuality.