After Adam and Eve had partaken of the forbidden fruit, they become aware of their nakedness, a condition which becomes a major theme in scripture. The Book of Mormon prophet, Jacob, speaks of a future day when “we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness” (2 Nephi 9:14). Opposite states are paired in this verse (guilt vs. enjoyment, uncleanness vs. purity, and nakedness vs. enrobed with righteousness). According to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions, Adam and Eve were clothed in garments of light before the Fall.
The need to be clothed becomes apparent, and it introduces the connection between sacred vestments and atonement. The Hebrew word for atonement is kaphar, meaning “to coat or cover.” Adam and Eve sew fig leaves together in a makeshift attempt to cover up their transgression. Many Bible scholars believe that the Tree of Knowledge was likely a fig tree, and taking its leaves would expose their transgression.
But fig leaves are symbolic of fruitfulness, and they are now in a state to “become fruitful.” Eve was “glad” about their transgression saying, “Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient” (Moses 5:11). The Bible Dictionary states, “The (fig) tree is one of the earliest to show its fruitbuds, which appear before the leaves; thus a fig tree with leaves would be expected to also have fruit.” Thus, wherever you see fig leaves, there should be fruitfulness to accompany. When Jesus cursed the fig tree because “there were leaves only” and no fruit, it was an allusion to the fruitlessness of the house of Israel (Matthew 21:19-20).
But perishable items like fig leaves do not make for lasting clothing. The Lord has a better plan. Moses 4:27 states, “Unto Adam, and also unto his wife, did I, the Lord God, make coats of skins, and clothed them.” Death and the law of sacrifice were introduced into the world as a result of the Fall. An innocent animal would have to be killed in order to make the coats of skins. The sacrificial animal to make the coats was likely a lamb. It is not probable that “unclean” animals according to the future Law of Moses would be used, and the most sacrificed animal in the Mosaic Law was the lamb, pointing to the Lamb of God.
Also, the Hebrew word for skins (owr) is singular, and it means “skin of men or hide of animals.” Thus, the “coats of skin” point to the Lamb of God and the atonement of Jesus Christ, who was “bruised, broken, torn for us on Calvary’s hill” (Hymn 181, “Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King).
In the New Testament, Paul speaks of covenant making and its connection to sacred clothing by saying, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). The Greek word for “put on” is endyo, where we get the English word endowment. Endyo means “to sink into or be invested in sacred clothing.”
The coats of skins become the first sacred covering, or kaphar, reminding us of the infinite atonement and sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ.