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Nudity And The Bible
The purpose of this article is not to condone or promote public nudity or nudity in the home. In our home we have several teenagers and while it is ok for the same sex to see each other naked, we keep our clothes on when we are around family members of the opposite sex. We do this out of respect for each other and because we want to “abstain from all appearance of evil” and in so doing live a life of purity before the world, in order to be a good testimony for God.
I believe the main reason for wearing clothes is to prevent the opposite sex from being sexually aroused from seeing the naked body. This can be embarrassing for both people involved.
So while this article does not promote nudity it tries to be honest with interpreting the Bible and what God says about nudity. Nudity in the Bible seems to always be associated with embarrassment.
If we had to go around naked today I'm sure we would feel embarrassed or shame too.
I remember John MacArthur speaking on the radio several years ago. He said that during Jesus time slaves were sold naked in the market place.
When did nudity occur in the Bible? I'll briefly cover the times I found it talks about nudity.
Adam and Eve discovered they were naked when they sinned. They felt shame and hid from God. No one else was around to see Adam and Eve except God.
Noah condemned his son for seeing him naked and drunk. In our culture it's ok for a a son to see his father naked.
In Habakkuk, it condemns someone for getting their neighbor drunk, so they could see him naked. In our culture it is accepted for a man to see another man.
In the Law it was sin to “uncover the nakedness” of different people. The commentaries say this is talking about having sex, not being naked.
David's wife thought he was dancing naked in the streets like the common folks. This implies that the common poor folks might have not been able to afford clothes.
A related passage is Job, Chapter 31. Job says (NIV), “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. … if my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, … If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door, then may my wife grind another man's grain, and may other men sleep with her. For that would have been shameful, a sin to be judged.”
Job is saying that he made a covenant not to lust after other women. I agree this is what all husbands should do. Job's statement does not mean he never did look at a woman. He is defending himself, saying he was content with his wife and did not wish he could commit adultery.
We need to mention Song Of Solomon, which is a beautiful love story in the Bible where the husband and wife end up describing each other and their intimate moments together.
And we should mention the time God judged King David and caused his son Absalom to have sex with David's concubines in public. God did this as punishment for what David had done when he killed Bathsheba's husband to cover his adultery with her.
In Jeremiah 13 26 and 27, in a spiritual allegory, God says, “I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen, your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution! I have seen your detestable acts on the hills and in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?"
Why would God cause a public display of sex or nudity, even for the sake of punishing? God sees all things and apparently He did not consider it sin for people to see.
In Mathew 25:36 Jesus said, " I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me."
While Jesus is not saying he was naked, he is saying that some people in his culture were too poor to afford clothes. Nakedness was an embarrassment or shame and still would be a shame today if some of us had to go around naked.
When the disciples were fishing and Jesus told them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat, the Bible says Peter was naked and he put on something and jumped into the sea to swim to Jesus on shore.
In the New Testament we are taught that women should dress modest in the church.
What can we conclude from scanning the Bible for times it talks about being naked? For one, we can all be thankful we don't have to be naked like the poor people in times past.
The other observation is that God never does condemn being naked or seeing a naked person.
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