Nakedness in the Bible

The isssue is one of how cultures express themselves. "God breathed into his nostrils" GEN 2:7. Does God Breath?

The idea espressed in Gen 3:11 of Adam being Naked is not one of lack of clothing. Adam lost his devine sonship, his partacipation in the devine Nature as it was in the beginning. Ideas, such as being clothed in white, have meaning that we can understand as flesh and blood creatures who are subject to the carnal world. However, the idea of the "White Garmet" is something more, it's a return to the divine sonship that God intended for us (intends for Us").

To understand these concepts is is important to understand some basic concepts of Language, especially when investigating the mysteries associated with writings so ancient. It is easy when involved with cross cultural translations and cross cultural customs to find difficulty in understanding these things. This characteristic is far to common in modern interpretations. When you add on to this equation the fact that we are talking about a world that existed 2000 years or more ago, this adds even more complexity to the situation.

I offer the fallowing as help in understanding these distinctions:

Here is a nice article addressed by Dallas Theological Seminary"

https://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/new_testament_greek/text/metzger-translationproblems03-bs.pdf

other issues include:

Linguistic Hyperbole: Here is a modern article relating to the issue.

http://www.iasj.net/iasj?func=fulltext&aId=63889

limited Vocabulary and it's issues:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0008_0_08629.html

The Hebrew language is said to only have about 8000 words, this number is attributed to some words being altered so really there is only about 4000 words. This creates a situation where one word means more than one thing. Consider culture norms such as "It was raining cats and dogs" The difficulties are endless.

As to your questions, "Would Angels wear clothes if they were Holy?" I am not sure that it is even a valid questions as the word Holy has nothing really to do with clothes. Things that are Holy or sacred, are things set apart for God and his Glory. Things set apart can be bowls, hats, a people, a mother, a trust, a peice of ground, a nation or a religious rite.

There is a large amount of resources available to understand the difficulties in translating ancient texts, I would encourage anyone who has a more sources to add them to this answer here:

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Both nakedness (and the awareness of that nakedness) and white garments are symbols (this does not mean we are not talking about real things, just that they are also symbolic).

White is a symbol of purity. For example, Revelations 3:5

5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Here, the saints are given white garments to symbolize that their sins are taken away and that they are pure. Similarly, white garments symbolize purity and holiness when seen on the angels.

Next, the clothes of Adam and Eve. God created them naked, so there can't be anything wrong with that, really.

Genesis 2:25

25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Note the addition "they were not ashamed".

Next, when they eat the fruit:

Genesis 3:7

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves caprons.

And then they hide themselves. In that moment, they did something wrong and they are

1. aware of being in sin
2. aware that they are "naked" before the Lord, in other words, he knows what they did. They try to hide their sins from him. Nakedness could also be a symbol of the sinfulness itself (although that doesn't make sense since they were created naked), but important is that it is only a symbol of something happening in Adam and Eve. Before sinning, they are also naked, but not ashamed, because there is nothing to be ashamed of. After sinning, that nakedness is a problem for them.

Adam hides, is called out and has to take responsibility. And then, God does the following:

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

In the end, God covers their nakedness. Much symbolism and promise in that action, if we take nakedness to symbolize sin. A foreshadow of Revelation 3:5, if you are with me. Either way, God makes clothes for them, so we shouldn't say that clothes themselves are something bad, unwanted, or sinful (or symbolizing sin).