Shame (v. 7b). Realizing their nakedness for the first time (2:25), they quickly made coverings for their bodies. Sin ought to make us ashamed of ourselves. God has given us an inner judge called “conscience” that accuses when we do wrong and approves when we do right (Rom. 2:12-16). A Native American Christian compared conscience to an arrowhead in his heart. “If I do wrong, it turns and hurts me until I make it right. But if I keep on doing wrong, the arrowhead keeps turning and wears down the points, so it doesn’t hurt anymore.” The Bible calls that a “seared conscience” (1 Tim. 4:2) or an “evil conscience” (Heb. 10:22) that no longer functions properly.

When people are no longer ashamed of their sins, their character is just about gone. “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed. Nor did they know how to blush” (Jer. 6:15; 8:12 nkjv). “Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame” (Jer. 3:3 niv). Sins that used to be committed under cloak of darkness are now exhibited openly in movies and on television, and when people protest, they’re called “prudes” or “Puritans.”