Biblical References for Dressing Modestly

The Bible very clearly commands both men and women to dress modestly…

…distinction in dress between men and women as well as the necessity to avoid certain types of clothing altogether. It doesn’t always spell these things out with precision; if we can see the whole picture of scripture we will see with precision the standards of the Word of God. Modern Christians are little concerned with knowing what they believe and why, let alone living what the Word says. Most are content to be church members, Bible study attendees, etc. This eases their conscience while they continue to go on with their lives, living them according to the dictates of their own heart. This is evident by the fact that the divorce rate among evangelical Christians is precisely the same as the world. People are content with living self-centered lives without surrendering to Christ. This is the case with denominational and Message believers. God’s purpose is much higher than assenting to certain beliefs and then living any way we choose. This is called hypocrisy and this is the normal state of the church of this age.

The Bible surely gives men and women a standard of appearance. I have written a book entitled Holiness to the Lord which is in print, but has been edited and expanded and will be reprinted at some point, spring 2018. I don’t intend on going into great detail here; instead this will be a reference tool simply to point out the very basics of this vital subject.

Genesis 3:6-10  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.  7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.  8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.  9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, ‘Where art thou?’  10  And he said, ‘I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.’

Adam and Eve were free to walk naked in the garden of Eden because they were innocent and free from sin. When Eve committed adultery with the serpent and Adam took his wife back after she lived with the serpent and had sexual relations with Eve outside of the time of life this caused them to realize they were naked. To bring relief to their guilt they found the largest leaves in the garden, the fig leaves and sewed it together in order to cover the part of their body that they sinned with. This brought some relief to them, until the presence of the LORD came into the Garden and once again, because of their guilt they hid from God. Notice that their clothing was a loincloth. They were wearing modern-day bikinis. Adam once again realizes, even with this loincloth, in the presence of God he is naked. That is, his clothing was insufficient.

Genesis 3:21  “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”

The word “coats” in the Hebrew is “kuttoneth” and in the International Study Bible Encyclopedia it is described like this:

Here the ‘coat’ (Hebrew ketho?neth) was the ordinary ‘inner garment’ worn by the Israelite of the day, in which he did the work of the day (see Mat 24:18; Mar 13:16). It resembled the Roman ‘tunic,’ corresponding most nearly to our ‘long shirt,’ reaching below the knees always, and, in case it was designed for dress occasions, reaching almost to the ground.

From Gen. 3:21 we see that God intends clothing to fully cover the nakedness of mankind and not merely cover the very basics of private parts. He designs that the body should be covered from the neck to below the knees. This is the standard that the Lord had for clothing from the beginning. It was to dress modestly covering the body, not revealing it.

Deuteronomy 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.”

It has been said that this is the only Scripture Brother Branham had for women wearing a dress and a man wearing pants, but it is far from being that. It is one of them, but not the only. In this verse God is stating that a man should dress as a man and a woman as a woman. A woman wears a dress and a man wears pants. It is as simple as that. We’ve had almost 100 years of feminism beating against the created order of God so this seems outdated and old-fashioned, but it is a simple fact of modesty that amongst Christians, up to 100 years ago, it was absolutely unheard of for a woman to wear pants. It is an abomination in the eyes of God, that means he detests it and considers it dishonorable in his sight.

1 Timothy 2:9-10 “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;  10  But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.”

The word here for apparel means it is not a general term for clothing, but it is katastole in Greek. This is a specific garment. Kata means letting down or long and stole is a dress or a long shirt. Putting it together it speaks of a long dress. John Gill, famed commentator writes of this verse:

“ . . . that women adorn themselves in modest apparel: the word rendered ‘apparel’ signifies a long robe, which reaches down to the feet; and the word translated ‘modest’ signifies that which is clean, neat, and decent, yea, beautiful and ornamental; and the sense of the apostle is, that he would not have them to come to public worship in rags, and in dirty and filthy garments, but that their bodies should be covered with clean and decent raiment.”

A sister is to wear a long dress not pants or a tight fitting short dress. She is to wear a dress that is considered modest, it is not tight fitting or short, but long (below the knees) and loose fitting so it doesn’t show every portion of her figure. Her clothing should signify what is on the inside of her, that she is shy (shamefacedness) and sober (sobriety).

John 21:7 “”Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.

Here we see the apostle Peter was fishing in the heat of the day wearing nothing but his undergarments. We aren’t to suppose he was literally naked because this would be impractical while dealing with fishing nets, boat rigging and the fish themselves. He was without his outer garment which covered him from neck to ankle. He had something in the order of shorts on. To come into the presence of the Lord Jesus, the apostle put on his outer coat. While shorts were ok among the men he was working with when he was to go to see Christ he had to be dressed modestly.

Isaiah 47:2-3 “Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. 3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.”

Notice the reference, when a woman’s thigh was uncovered God considers her naked. It is a shameful thing to have to uncover the thigh in public. Again, God intends for garments to be used as a covering. He intends that women dress as women and men dress as men. He intends that each dress modestly.