Don McClain W. 65th St church of Christ / April 15, 2007 2

Someone’s at the door – Could one of you answer it – I’m not dressed!

I’m dressed – I’ll get it

It’s probably my

friends – we’re going

to Wild River

Country

Deut 22:5 – A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the LORD your God.

1 Tim 2:9-10 – that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety & moder-ation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, 10 but, which is proper for women profess-ing godliness, with good works.

• “Orderly, well arranged, in good taste, & in a way that will yield the respect & honor of saints” (Thayer).

• “The well ordering is not of dress & demeanor only, but of the inner life; uttering indeed & expressing itself in the outward conversation” (Trench).

• “It describes one who disciplines himself & who may thus be regarded as genuinely moral & respectable” (Kittel).

• “Not forward, but shy or reserved. Behaving according to a standard of what is proper, decent, & pure. And has particular reference to not displaying one’s body either in the removing or putting on of clothing” (Thayer).

• “The sense of shame & honor, which hinders one from doing an unworthy act. It implies reverence for the good as good [and not fear for reputation alone]. That which shrinks from over-passing the limits of womanly reserve & modesty” (Trench).

• “It is that habitual inner self-government, with its constant rein on all the passions & desires, which would hinder the temptation to these from arising” (Vine).

• “Soundness of mind, self controlled, good judgment” (Thayer).

• “An entire command over the passions & desires, so that they receive no further allowance than that which the law & right reason admit & approve” (Trench).

• “The fear or reverence of God” (Vine).

• SUMMARY: A Christian woman is to dress as one who feels a sense of shame when lines of decency are crossed, & as one who is restrained by God’s principles of virtue.

• Solomon referred to “the attire of a harlot” (Prov 7:10); clothing meant to stimulate unholy thoughts (Matt 5:28).

1 Pet 3:1-2 – Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that

even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they

observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.

1 Pet 3:3-4 – Do not let your adornment be merely outward -- arranging the hair,

wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel -- 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a

gentle & quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

1 Pet 3:5-6 – For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daught-ers you are if you do good & are not afraid

with any terror [not afraid to do what is right]

• Robert Collen (“East of Cathay; The Silk Road”): Some Roman women unraveled silk & rewove it into flimsy gauze (see through) material.

• Roman philosopher Seneca (4-64): “I see clothes of silk, if clothes they can be called, affording protection neither to the body nor to the modesty of the wearer, & which are purchased for enormous sums, from unknown people.”

• Pliny: “Render women naked” – “Made of glass”

• Clement of Alexandria, late 1st century: “Fabrics foolishly thin, & of curious texture in weaving. For these superfluous & diaphanous [transparent] materials are proof of a weak mind, covering as they do the shame of the body with a slender veil. For luxurious clothing, falling close to the body, takes its form more easily, & adhering as it were to the flesh, received its shape, & marks out the woman’s figure, so that the whole body is visible.” He associated such clothing with “vice” & not with “modesty” (The Instructor”, II, xi).

Genesis 2:25; 3:7-11, 21• Adam & Eve tried to hide their shame with a

“covering” for their midsection, but they were still naked & ashamed (3:7, 10).

– Hebrew: “Girdle, belt, loincloths, apron.”– Greek: “Compound word meaning “around” plus

“life” (euphemism for the area of the body where life comes from). Used in Jer 13:1-4.

Genesis 2:25; 3:7-11, 21• God made them “tunics” of skin to

cover the shame of their nakedness.

– Kuttonet (Hebrew) or Chiton (Greek LXX): “a tunic, generally with sleeves, coming down to the knees, rarely to the ankles.

– The word is used to refer to Joseph’s coat of many colors (Gen 37:3; cf. Job 30:18).

Exodus 28:42And you shall make for them linen trousers to

cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the waist

to the thighs.

Isaiah 47:2-3Remove your veil, take off the skirt, uncover the thigh,

pass through the rivers. 3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame will be seen