Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
All Commentaries on Genesis 3:21 Go To Genesis 3
John Chrysostom
AD 407
In other words, take the case of a kindly father with a son of his own who was brought up with every care, who enjoyed every indulgence, had the run of a fine house, was clad in a silken tunic, and had free access to his father's substance and wealth; later, when he saw him tumble headlong from this great indulgence into an abyss of wickedness, he stripped him of all those assets, subjected him to his own authority and, divesting him of his clothes, clad him in a lowly garment usually worn by slaves lest he be completely naked and indecent. Well, in just the same way the loving God, when they rendered themselves unworthy of that gleaming and resplendent vesture in which they were adorned and which ensured they were prepared against bodily needs, stripped them of all that glory and the enjoyment they were partakers of before suffering that terrible fall. He showed them great pity and had mercy on their fall: seeing them covered in confusion and ignorant of what to do to avoid being naked and feeling ashamed, he makes garments of skin for them and clothes them in them.
What I mean is that the machinations of the devil are quite different: when he finds people ready to do his will, he proves their undoing through some slight enjoyment, then drags them down to the very depths of wickedness and covers them in utter shame and degradation, leaving them prostrate, a piteous spectacle for all to see whereas the Guardian of our souls, seeing them in utter helplessness, doesn't allow himself to ignore their condition but devises a covering for them, while indicating to them through the frugality of the garment the sort of garments they have caused themselves to deserve. "The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clad them in them." See the extent of the considerateness of Sacred Scripture. Still, what I've often said I say again now: let us understand everything in a sense befitting God. Let us understand "made" in the sense of "gave directions for" : he ordered that they be clad in garments of skin as a constant reminder of their disobedience.
Let the affluent pay heed, those who pamper themselves with cloth from the silkworm and are clad in silk, and let them learn how at the beginning from the outset the loving Lord instructed the human race: when the firstformed man became liable to the punishment of death through the Fall and the Lord had to clothe him in a garment to hide his shame, he made them garments of skin, to teach us to shun the soft and dissolute life, and not to pine for one that is lazy and characterized by inactivity, but rather strive for an austere life. Perhaps, however, the wealthy will react badly to our words and will say, What reason is there in that? do you bid us wear garments of skin? No, I'm not saying that; after all, not even Adam and Eve wore those garments all the time, the loving Lord always adding further kindnesses to his previous ones, you see. I mean, when he rendered them liable to bodily necessities for the future, stripping them of the angelic way of life and its freedom from suffering, he later arranged for clothes for human beings out of sheep's fleece for no other reason than that they should have covering and that this rational creature should not live his life in nakedness and ugliness just like brute beasts. Accordingly, let the wearing of clothes be a constant reminder to us of the loss of advantages and instruction about the punishment which the race of human beings received on account of disobedience. Accordingly, let those people who make use of such paraphernalia that they are no longer familiar with garments of sheep's wool, but are clad in silk and have been carried to such extremes that they even drape gold with covering, the female sex particularly demonstrating this kind of luxury let them, I say, tell us: Why do you dress up the body with these things and delight in clothing of that kind, not understanding that this covering was devised as severe punishment for the Fall? I mean, why do you not heed Paul's words, "We will be content to have food and clothing." Do you see that it is necessary to be concerned with one thing only, that the body not be naked, and to have an eye only to this, that no further worry be had about variety of dress?
