Is modesty
an issue in the church today, well yes, I believe it is. Sadly, things have
changed from even a couple of centuries ago when women would wear hats/head
coverings to church and their Sunday best. But even during the rest of the week
the women would dress in modest apparel.
God invented
clothes. He clothed Adam and Eve after sin entered the Garden of Eden. At first
Adam and Eve never had to wear clothes. Nakedness was not shameful, and
clothing was not necessary. But they immediately recognized the need for
covering their bodies after sin entered the picture. It was the first effect of
sin-shame and a need to cover up their nakedness.
God’s dress
code from the beginning has been to cover our nakedness and God designed the
clothing to cover the whole body, not just the private parts. Clothes were not
for revealing the body’s shape or drawing attention to body parts; rather they
were intended by God to take attention away from the body.
1 Timothy 2.9 reads “Likewise also that women should
adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not
with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire”,
Paul is not
saying it is wrong for Christian women to have nice hair, jewellery or dresses.
What he is saying is that the church assembly should not turn into a fashion
show. Unfortunately, in many of our modern churches today – that is just the case.
Paul is not saying women cannot wear nice Sunday dresses, he is just saying
women should not go overboard or be trying to compete with one another in what
they wear for worship.
v We should dress modestly, with
decency and propriety.
v We should not wear clothes or
accessories for the purpose of trying to draw attention to ourselves or to “show
off”.
v Inner beauty is far more important
than outer beauty and it should be far more highly desired that outward things
we do to look good. What does it mean to dress modestly with decency and
propriety? Though styles have changed from generation to generation, modesty
never changes. Modesty may take different looks, but it will always be modest,
no matter what generation we are in or what the current fashion may be.
v Modest cloths do not exploit a woman’s
body or features. Modest clothes will not display body parts for the purpose of
drawing attention to them. Not only does modesty require that certain body
parts should be completely covered, but also that the shape of our bodies
should not be unnecessarily and immodestly emphasized with tight fitting
clothes.
v Dressing with propriety means
dressing appropriately. It means there is a difference in the way we dress for
a sports activity, for a casual event, and for more structured, formal
occasions, such as worship. But all occasions call for modesty in our dress, whether
we’re on the beach or sitting in church.
v Modest dress will not say “sex” or “pride”
or “money”. But it certainly can say “good taste”, “attractive”, “pretty”. A
Christian woman should want to do the best she can with what God has given her.
There is nothing to be gained spiritually by looking drab or dowdy. Our clothes
don’t need to scream “Christian”, but they should quietly say “modest”, “appropriate”,
“carefully chosen”.
1 Peter 3:4 reads “It should be that of your inner
self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth
in God’s sight”.
People need
to see Jesus when they look at our lives, reactions, wardrobes, and facial
expressions.
Modesty in the
way we dress is not just for church; it is to be the standard for all
Christians at all times. The key to understanding what constitutes modesty in
dress is to examine the attitudes and intents of the heart. Those whose hearts
are inclined toward God will make every effort to dress modestly, decently, and
appropriately. Those whose hearts are inclined toward self will dress in a manner
designed to draw attention to themselves with little or no regard for the
consequences to themselves or others.
A Godly
woman endeavours to do everything with a “God-ward” perspective. She knows that
God wants His people to be concerned for His glory and the spiritual state of
their brothers and sisters in Christ. I fa
woman professes to be a Christian yet she dresses in a way that will
unduly draw attention to her body, she is a poor witness of the One who bought
her soul by dying for her on the cross. She is forgetting that her body has
been redeemed by Christ and is now the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). She is telling the
world that she determines her own worth on a purely physical basis and that her
attractiveness depends on how much of her body she reveals to them. Further, by
dressing in an immodest fashion, displaying her body for men to lust after, she
causes her brothers in Christ to sin, something condemned by God (Matthew 5:27-29), (Proverbs 7:10) mentions a woman “dressed like a prostitute and with
crafty intent” – here the woman’s heart condition is displayed by her manner of
dress.
The scripture
says that we are to dress modestly, but what exactly does that mean in modern
society? Does a woman have to be covered from head to toe? There are cults and
religions in the world that demand this of women. But is that the biblical
meaning of modesty? Again, we have to go back to the matter of the attitudes of
the heart. If a woman’s heart is inclined toward godliness, she will wear
clothing that is neither provocative nor revealing in public, clothing that
does not reflect negatively upon her personal testimony as a child of God.
Everyone else in her circle may be dressing immodestly, but she resists the
temptation to go along with the crowd. She avoids clothing designed to draw
attention to her body and cause men to lust, for she is wise enough to know
that type of attention only cheapens her. The idea of causing men to sin
against God because of her dress is abhorrent to her because she seeks to love
and honour God and wants others to do the same.
Modesty in dress reveals a modesty and godliness
of the heart, attitudes that should be the desire of all women (and men) who
live to please and honour God.
Copyright
2002 – 2018 Got questions ministries
Modesty is not first an issue of
clothing. It is primarily an issue of the heart. If you find yourself rebelling
against the idea that there is a standard of dress required of you a s a
Christian woman, and if you want to wear those low-cut fashions that reveal
cleavage or the tight pants or short skirts that reveal shape, then I would
suggest you may have a heart problem, which is evidenced by the way you dress.
Anytime we rebel against biblical principles, it is because we don’t want to
obey God. We want to be our own god, if you please, and live by our own
standards.
Fathers please teach your daughters from
an early age of how to dress appropriately, compliment your daughters on their
choice of clothing – teaching your daughters from an early age is important.
Do you want a man or a boy to be
attracted to you simply because of sexual desire or lust? That’s what
prostitutes do. Or do you want to attract a man because he sees something much
more valuable in you than just outward beauty? What kind of man do you want to
attract? The way you dress sends that message.
In the end, whatever, we do as men or
women, or whatever we wear should all be done in a manner that would bring
glory to God and not bring shame to him in the eyes of the world:
Other scriptures to ponder are:
1
Corinthians 6: 19-20, 1 Peter 3:3-4, Matthew 5:28, Proverbs 31: 25, James 1:
15, Proverbs 7:10, 1 Peter 5:5, Romans 12:1 Titus 2:3-5 and 1 Corinthians 12:
22-24
If you have not read it yet please read “the
issues of Modesty – Part 1” – click here:
Every Blessing,
Page
