“The Value of a Good, Godly Woman” Series
“Principles of Dress”
The Bible is one of the greatest blessings bestowed by God upon humanity. It is peerless among the written works of mankind. God is its Author and the truth of it is absolute. Within its pages God speaks of all things which pertain to life and godliness. It addresses every stage of our being, instructing us from earliest ages how to live, and with great solemnity and compassion teaches us how to prepare for the next life.
God’s Word directs us to straight paths-the way of a good life as opposed to meandering and meaningless journeys. The Bible reasons with us of the value of right thinking which produces virtuous speech and principled behavior. It warns us of the evil of which we must be aware, yet simple unto. Within its royal pages we find a refuge from the world, a compass when all seems lost, hope when life renders the unforeseen, and wisdom when we are perplexed. So numberless are its brilliant facets I have only presented a modest sum within the deep and vast content of all of the benefits we may derive from it. And to think-all for our good and the good of all who will receive it.
Now interestingly enough the Word of God also has much to say about clothing for clothing is important to God. In fact, by the third chapter of the very first book of the Bible, we find God is addressing the matter of what to wear. So let’s get to it!
PT I Understanding the Principle
In God’s Word there are Biblical principles. A Biblical principle is a fundamental truth that serves as a foundation. Biblical principles are found throughout the Bible and they do not change. A standard is like a hedge, or a guard that protects the principle. The problem is that if we do not establish strong standards and convictions to safeguard the principle, we will compromise or even disregard it. It is equally important that we establish standards according to the Scriptures and not base our practice on what some other Christian or church does or does not do. The Authority supporting the principle is the Word of God and know this-a believer is bound by all the verses on a topic-we must compare Scripture with Scripture in the context in which the Scripture is given. II Peter 1:20-21:
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”
So, for example, a Biblical principle clearly defined in God’ s Word is that children ought to respect authority-particularly that of their parents’. Throughout the Bible we can agree that principle remains the same as there are many verses which speak of parental training of children and how children ought to obey authority. Were there children who did not obey this principle? Yes. Are there children today who do not follow the principle? Yes. But that does not mean the principle changes or can be altered to accommodate whatever a particular person believes about it. It is never acceptable to the Lord for children to rise up against their parents, to resist parental authority even from the youngest age. So, wise parents will say, “Since obedience is a principle in God’s Word, we are going to establish some clear standards based on the Scriptures in order to help our children “realize their potential” in this area so they and we as their parents will reap the benefits-which are great.” And so they may begin by:
1. Establishing clear and distinct boundaries so their children will know exactly what is expected of them. Deut. 11:18-19
2. Being consistent with regard to those boundaries and not pliable or compromising once they are defined. Prov. 22:6
3. Clearly explaining the unhappy consequences of stepping over the boundary parents have set. Prov. 29:17
4. Following through-A parent’s word must be respected. Col. 3:20
The standard which is firmly in place protects the principle. Another principle in the Bible is modesty. Modesty is godly behavior.
Modest apparel is clothing that communicates that the person who is wearing it desires to be pleasing to the Lord. Any fashion designer will tell you clothing is designed to make a statement and boy oh boy are there a bunch of statements being made today! Saved women are responsible for dressing in a manner that reflects their relationship with God and gives a good testimony to that end. Down through the ages God’s people have consistently been known to be modest people. Godly women understand this and make every effort to dress appropriately and beautifully. I say beautifully because of the example of the Virtuous Woman illustrated for us in Proverbs 31. We do not have to look plain or frumpy or totally old-fashioned in an effort to prove our spirituality or keep people from looking at us-that is false piety. Rather, we should look first-class and put together so that when people do see us they are not thinking, “Oh, there goes another one of those out-of-date, ill-dressed, frumpy Christians…” What testimony is that? We don’t want to be like the world-but we don’t want to look like we just stepped out of a cave somewhere. Find the balance. But I digress…
Now, as we know, the devil distorts and attempts to destroy what God created to be pure, holy, and right, which means we have to be discerning as we walk through this life. We have to line up our decisions with God’s Word. When it comes to deciding what we will wear, we have to ask ourselves, “What does God define as immodest? Where are the boundaries? And can we establish these in God’s Word?” Of course we can! God would not give us a principle and then make it difficult and confusing to carry it out. First of all-modest apparel has to do with covering nakedness-so the question must be asked-How does God define nakedness? By the third chapter in the first book of the Bible we are told how God views nakedness. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden they ran to cover themselves. Something about the presence of sin made covering themselves necessary. So they made aprons for themselves. According to the definition an apron was something like a belt or a loincloth wrapped around their waists. Their instinct to cover themselves was right, but their covering was insufficient. God clothed them with coats. Do not think of your great-grandmother’s winter coat-this coat was a long, shirt-like garment. Is there a difference between what they stitched together and what God created? I’ll say! When Adam and Eve made themselves aprons they still ran and hid; they knew what they had created was not enough. So what God did was make clothing for them which would properly cover their nakedness. Now let us remember not to add to the Word of God here. In clothing Adam and Eve God did not cover their entire bodies from head to toe. That is not the example given. So let us look to the Scriptures for the definition of what God says is nakedness. Because that is all that matters-his viewpoint. Here once again we must always consider the context in which the verse is found. Case in point: in the Garden of Eden-Adam and Eve were completely without clothing. In John chapter 21, Peter was out in a boat with some of the disciples fishing-in his undergarments-his outer clothing was cast aside-and the Bible says he was naked. When he saw Jesus on the shore he quickly put his clothes on and jumped overboard to meet him.(Awkwarddd Peter) Again, God’s primary purpose for clothing is to cover the areas of our bodies that should not be uncovered. But how far does that extend? In order to know that -we cannot look to each other-or what another church might say is right or wrong-we go to the place we always go to when we want to figure out what to do in life-we want to know what the Bible says. Here is an important portion of Scripture-read through it carefully. We are looking for the definition of nakedness. In designing attire for the Old Testament priests to wear we read in Exodus 28:40-42: (italics mine)
“And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office. And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach:” What was supposed to be covered? Their nakedness. And which area was that? From the loins (the part of the body between the lower ribs and the hips) to the thighs (in human anatomy the thigh is the area between the hip-or pelvis to the knee joint).
Another example can be found in Isaiah 47:1-3. In this passage God is speaking of Babylon, using a metaphor in describing Babylon as a young lady: (again-italics mine) “Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.” The picture here is of a young woman crossing a river-she pulls up her clothing, exposes her thigh, and God says it is nakedness. So the region of the thigh God says is nakedness and it ought to be covered. By the way, the “leg” mentioned here is speaking about a train of a robe or gown-not the rest of the body part from the knee down.
So we understand God defining uncovering the loin to the thigh as nakedness. God has clearly defined the areas of our bodies that should be covered. And common decency tells us what areas should also be covered-from the neck down to the bottom of the knee. The primary function of clothing is to cover our nakedness. And those areas ought to be covered regardless of what we are doing or participating in. So God’s Word describes the apparel with which women are to clothe themselves as modest for a Christian’s clothing should not detract from the fact that she is saved. We should have the spiritual mindset that we do not want to risk exposing what God says not to. Now, this does not mean we have to wear skirts and dresses to the floor. God says the thigh is nakedness. It does not mean we have to wear panels across our chests like the Pilgrim women did-I mean, we all know there is a difference between men and women-but we should dress in such a way that we are not emphasizing those differences.
PT II Distinction
A key point not to miss in the entire subject of women’s apparel is that God also wants us to maintain his dress standards because of gender distinction. God has created and defined two genders- male and female. Matt. 19:4-“He that made them in the beginning made them male and female.” God wants us to maintain that separation in how we dress. Men and women ought to dress distinctly different. Let us talk about pants on women. Deut. 22:5. “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.” Abominations are great wickedness in God’s sight and he never changes his position regarding them. Regarding this verse many have said, “This is Old Testament! We don’t have to follow the Law!” Yes, we do have to be discerning with the OT laws because they were for Israel, but we can and should apply many to ourselves today. For instance, would you argue that, knowing God forbid his people to have anything to do with witchcraft or wizards back then, it would be perfectly fine for us today to be involved with it? I highly doubt any of my readers are toying with that idea! What you should know is that there were three types of Old Testament Law:
1. Ceremonial Law-this related specifically to Israel’s worship. The Ceremonial Laws pointed to Jesus and were no longer necessary after his death and resurrection. (teaching how to approach God, the seriousness of sin-also meant to give Israel a distinct culture.)
2. Civil Law-The Civil Law applied to daily living in Israel. Because modern society and culture is so different from that time and setting all of these guidelines cannot be followed specifically. But we can use the principles to guide our conduct. (laws of justice, punishment for crime, theft, etc.)
3. Moral Laws-reveal the nature and will of God. They are direct commands of God and require obedience. Christ obeyed the Moral Law perfectly. The Ten Commandments are included within these laws as they apply to both our inward and outward behavior. For now, let us only consider the American culture-whatever remains of it-and consider when women began to wear pants. If you are even the most casual observer of American history, you know that throughout the formative years of our nation-1600’s through most of the 1800’s-women never wore pants-why? The following is taken from the Encyclopedia Britanica: “The adoption of pants as a popular item of dress for women in Western society traces its roots to the mid-19th-century dress- reform movement. Most women usually wore long skirts. The freedom to wear pants was tied to the women’s rights movement, a radical and controversial crusade at the time. In the United States, Elizabeth Smith Miller designed an early version of pants like clothing for women around 1851. It consisted of a skirt extending much below the knees and loose “Turkish” trousers that gathered at the ankles, and it was worn with a short jacket on top. Known as “bloomers,” this garment took its name from designer Amelia Jenks Bloomer. Other early supporters of pants for women were physician and reformer Mary Edwards Walker and suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Mary Edwards Walker was a woman’s’ right advocate and known as a homosexual suffragist. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, though married and had seven children- the whole entire time had a homosexual relationship with Susan B. Anthony.” I am so sorry to even speak of these things but I want you to know who is designing fashion and what the mentality was behind women wearing pants. The Britannica continues: “There were short-lived revivals of pants-wearing in public by women, such as during World War I (1914–18), when civilian women who took over jobs traditionally held by men sometimes wore pants. During World War II (1939–45), pants were more widely worn by civilian and military women, both at work and socially. Although women continued to enjoy wearing pants after the war, particularly for sports or leisure, style trends for women remained fixated largely on skirts or dresses until the 1960s and ’70s. Then, buoyed by the women’s rights movement, pants became firmly established as popular and appropriate clothing options for women at home, in public, and in many workplaces.”
My good sisters in Christ, we see the type of women who pushed the pants agenda, we see the mindset. But God wants gender distinction. Men have worn pants for hundreds of years. Pants on a woman clearly outline areas which God wants covered.
There is such a great moral decline today. We cannot live in denial that it is not happening or that it is all going to go away soon. Nor should we as Christians compromise and develop the mindset of, “Well, if you can’t beat ‘em-join ‘em!” The next generation of Americans is going to be facing a culture that is so foreign to that we ourselves and past generations here have known. Nevertheless- God’s people have faced cultures like this many times in the past. All you have to do is study Ancient Rome, Greece, previous civilizations to understand what believers in those times were up against. There are a number of other things we could address in the world of fashion such as jewelry, shoes, trends which come and go, etc., and I absolutely have my thoughts which I believe I can defend. Even so, the Spirit of God’s leadership is evident in a believer’s life and a godly woman certainly will possess the discernment necessary to arrive at biblical conclusions.
In closing girls-let’s just call it like it is- even among the best of us-every once in a while we slip up. Not intentionally-but it happens. Ever wear something to church that looked perfectly suitable at home and by the time you got to church things were not quite in the same positions they were at home! Or you assume a skirt will fit you the same way it did last winter only to discover when you sit down in church it suddenly got about four inches shorter! It happens-these are mistakes. My girls and I call them “Wardrobe Malfunctions.” So, we either fix it or get rid of it and move on. One thing we can all agree on is that it is not the easiest thing for women to find modest apparel these days.
If you understand the principle of God’s design for clothing, if you understand the meaning of modesty, and if you understand we must establish boundaries-you will not wear anything that is certain to go against God, but those things only which will be pleasing to him-distinct- not offensive and an excellent testimony. If our clothing is going to make a statement-let the statement be-Acts 4:13 “And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”
Thank you so much for reading!
– Liz
