Gary North

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them (Genesis 3:21).

When God expelled Adam and Eve from the garden, He was keeping them from destroying themselves spiritually. The tree of life still remained in the garden, and in their new condition of sin, had they gone to the tree of life and eaten from it, they would have condemned themselves to eternal life under a curse.

God removed them from the garden, but He also protected them. He had clothed them in animal skins. This means that He had to kill animals in order to get these skins. This is the first recorded instance in the Bible of the sacrifice of an animal or animals for the benefit of man. There had to be death in order to extend the life to mankind. There had to be the shedding of blood.

Under the new conditions in which people live, nature is against them. They need protection from the elements. The weather can kill them. This is part of the curse of God on Adam for his sin. Because nature is opposed to mankind, God intervenes in history in order to protect mankind. He provides coverings, meaning benefits, that people do not deserve. This is an aspect of grace. We are always in debt to God for what ever we possess.

In the case of animal skins, man's very life was at stake. God provided the implements that would preserve life. This should have created a sense of thankfulness on the part of both Adam and Eve. It would remind them that they were dependent on God for all that they received. They did not possess anything, including life, that did not come from the hand of God. This position of dependence is basic to faithful living under God.

Adam and Eve did not have to pay God up front for these animal skins. They had nothing to pay God with. They possessed nothing on their own. So, God put them in a position of debt to Him. God is the creditor; mankind is the debtor. Men are to limit their debt to other men because they are not to interfere with the debt relationship they have with God. They are to tithe to God as a sign of their dependence. They are to give charity to others as a response to the charity that God has shown to them.

They are not to place themselves in debt to other men because this interferes with their ability to repay God with whatever money they possess. When they go into debt to other people, they limit their discretionary income. They owe something to others, and those others must be paid off the top. They are not supposed to spend money on themselves until they have made their regular payment to their creditors.

When you are in debt to somebody else, you lose mobility. There are things that you cannot do with your money, because legally it is not your money. Legally, the creditor has a claim on a portion of your income. This is true of God; this is also true of a creditor. God is a creditor to you; therefore, He has a legal claim a portion of your income. This is also true of any other creditor in your life.

When you are not in debt, you have legal control over whatever income you receive, after the payment of taxes. This is an aspect of your authority in history. You are under God, but because you are out of debt, you have full control over whatever it is that God has given to you. Nobody else has a legal claim on that income. This is what God prefers for His people. He wants His people to be able to respond to whatever leaving He gives them in life. To the extent that they are in debt to others, they have lost their ability to respond in faith and confidence to the leading of God.

It was one thing for Adam and Eve to have been dependent on God because of the clothing He provided for them. It would be something else entirely if they had used a credit card to buy the latest style clothing in order to keep up with the Joneses.