compounds of leipo, which are rendered lack, forsake, abandon, leave behind. The word

used by Jude is apoleipo to leave away from one's self, to leave behind. Paul uses the

word of `the cloak' that he had left at Troas (II Tim. 4: 13), and of Trophimus, who had

been left at Miletum sick (II Tim. 4: 20).

The word translated `habitation' is oiketerion, a derivative of oikos `a house' or a

`home', and occurs in II Cor. 5: 2 where it refers to the resurrection body.

The Apostle contrasts `the earthly house of this tabernacle' with `the house which is in

heaven', and earnestly desired the exchange. The angels that sinned left their `own body'

and Paul, speaking of the resurrection, says `to every seed its own body' (I Cor. 15: 38).

Before the seed is sown it is likened to `bare' grain, gymnos `naked' (I Cor. 15: 37);

before the oiketerion is entered, the believer is looked upon as unclothed or `naked'

(II Cor. 5: 3) and these are the only occurrences of gymnos in Paul's epistles. The

angels, therefore, when they left their `own' (idios) body, the one that was `proper'

(I Cor. 7: 7), and `private' (II Pet. 1: 20), descended to an unclothed condition, and so

could be classed as `naked'. The reader will now appreciate something of what is

intended in Gen. 3: 1 where we read `Now the serpent was more subtil', remembering

that the word translated `subtil' is the Hebrew arum, and the word translated `naked', of

our own unclothed parents, is the Hebrew word arom, both words being derived from the

same root.

It would appear from the use made of such words as `naked grain' `not being found

naked' and the conception of the resurrection as a condition that can be described as

`clothed upon', that man at his creation must be thought of likewise as `naked grain', and

that he would have continued as such without shame until the transformation took place,

equivalent to resurrection, when being glorified and given his destined place above the

angels, he would then have been `clothed upon'. The coming in of sin and death however

exposed man to the attack of the enemy, and so the Lord `clothed' our first parents with

coats of skin, symbols of the redemptive covering made by Christ until resurrection is

attained. All mankind from Adam to the end of the race are conceived of as being

`naked', all need the covering provided by redeeming Love, and all who attain unto the

resurrection of life and righteousness will at last find themselves fully clothed. These

elements of truth that illuminate Gen. 3: must be kept in reserve until we are in a

position to return to that chapter and read its story more closely in the light we are

The fact that oiketerion is used to speak of the resurrection body of the believer, and

of that which the angels sinfully left, raises a question. In what way can we speak of the

`body' of an angel?

We must remember that the Apostle declares that `flesh and blood' cannot inherit the

kingdom of God, and that consequently at the resurrection we shall all be changed. We

shall not however, put off a body to become pure spirit, we shall exchanged the body of