What is the meaning of Genesis 3:21?

And the LORD God

• Scripture shows the Creator personally entering the broken scene rather than commanding from a distance. He is still “the LORD” who “is compassionate and gracious” (Exodus 34:6–7).

• The same hands that “formed the man from the dust” (Genesis 2:7) now work to restore what sin marred.

• This direct action anticipates the ultimate personal intervention when “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14).

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made garments of skin

• Literal animal skins imply the first physical death in Eden. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22) begins here.

• A substitutionary life is taken so the guilty can be covered—foreshadowing the Lamb “slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).

• These garments are durable, hinting that humanity’s self-made fig leaves (Genesis 3:7) were never sufficient. Only God’s provision truly covers.

• Isaiah 61:10 celebrates the same reality: “He has clothed me with garments of salvation.”

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for Adam and his wife

• Both sinners receive equal, personal care. God’s grace makes no distinction of worth between the man and the woman (Galatians 3:28).

• Their earlier innocence—“they were both naked…and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25)—is gone, yet the Lord meets them where they are, teaching that redemption is relational.

• Even in judgment (Genesis 3:16-19) He preserves the marriage bond and dignity, anticipating Christ’s love for His bride, the church (Ephesians 5:25).

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and He clothed them

• God not only provides the covering; He applies it. Grace is more than a gift handed over—it is wrapped around us.

• The prophetic picture appears again when Joshua the high priest stands in filthy garments and the Lord commands, “Remove his filthy garments…clothe him with rich robes” (Zechariah 3:3-4).

• New-covenant fulfillment: “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14) and be “found in Him” (Philippians 3:9).

• 2 Corinthians 5:21 captures the exchange: our sin for His righteousness, our shame for His covering.

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summary

Genesis 3:21 records the first gospel hint: the holy Creator personally sheds innocent blood to cover guilty people, supplying what they could never produce and placing it upon them Himself. The verse assures believers that God’s redemptive plan is both literal and loving—He sees our need, provides the sacrifice, and wraps us in righteousness through His own initiative.