Our spirituality and what we wear

Clothes make the man, said Mark Twain. But what does the Bible say? Here is a sample of passages about the clothes we wear:

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. (Deuteronomy 22:5, NKJV; cf. 1 Corinthians 11:2-16)

You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together. (Deuteronomy 22:5, NKJV; cf. Leviticus 19:19)

… in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. (1 Timothy 2:9-10, NKJV; cf. 1 Peter 3:3)

Concerning the prohibition of cross-dressing, I believe God wants us to uphold the distinction between male and female according to creation order, but how we apply this across different cultures and ever-changing fashion trends can sometimes be quite tricky. And nobody knows for sure why a garment should not be made of different materials, though some suggest that this was to remind the Israelites that they were to be a pure people. Anyway, I think most Christians today don’t really follow all these guidelines.

Now, how about the part about “modest apparel” versus “costly clothing”? Here is a quote of Theonas of Alexandria, an early church father, in his instructions to Christian servants of Caesar in about A.D. 300:

All of you should be elegant and tidy in person and dress. At the same time, your dress should not in any way attract attention because of extravagance or artificiality. Otherwise, Christian modesty may be scandalized. (Quoted in David W. Bercot, ‘A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs’ [Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1998], p. 324.)

According to Ajith Fernando, there is a relationship between how we dress and how welcoming our church is towards the poor:

Many of our relationships are selfish. Proverbs speaks often about selfish relationships. Proverbs 14:20 says, “The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends.” Proverbs 19:4 says something very similar: “Wealth brings many friends, but a poor man’s friend deserts him.” Both verses condemn the insincerity of people who befriend the rich because of what they can get from them and neglect the poor because they are of no use to them (or so they think).

This type of behavior is not alien to us today. Just look at the way a church usher welcomes a rich and influential person at the entrance to a church. Then compare the treatment the usher gives a badly dressed and desperately poor person. That may reveal to us how utilitarian we are in our approach to people. Actually, rarely do such poor people enter our churches. They feel so uncomfortable and unwelcome in an average church that they don’t like to come in to the churches. (This gives us a strong reason to dress simply when we go to church.)

(Ajith Fernando, ‘Reclaiming Friendship’ [Pennsylvania & Ontario: Herald Press, 1993], pp. 69-70.)

Roy McCloughry puts it in another way:

… people dress up for church, seeing it as a social occasion. But this practice makes those who cannot afford such finery, uncomfortable. Worse, it may deter Christians from bringing friends to hear the gospel, since they would be embarrassed by such a display.

Even the cars in which we draw up to church, and the projects on which the church spends its money, can be barriers to the effectiveness of the church in representing the kingdom of God. If people cannot see us struggling to maintain a very different and distinctive life in our churches, how will they know that the kingdom of God is more than a myth?

(Roy McCloughry, ‘The Eye of the Needle’ [Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1990], p. 121.)

What Ajith and Roy say is really nothing new. The Bible talks about this when condemning the church’s attitude of marginalising the poor (and the poorly dressed):

My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (James 2:1-9, NKJV)

But how about the long-held tradition of putting on our “Sunday Best”? In James Rutz’s book ‘The Open Church’, Gene Edwards contributes some information about the origin of this unquestioned practice of dressing up for church:

Why did Christians start dressing up to go to church?

… you’re probably under the impression that dressing up for church is a godly custom designed to show our respect for the Lord. It’s not. While showing respect for God is always good, that’s just not the historical reason for shined shoes, fresh shirts, and attention to style.

Nor do we dress to impress each other – although many people do find it uplifting to be among well-turned-out friends.

History is a little fuzzy on this, but as near as anyone can tell, the real reason for our Sunday splendor is so that we’ll look good if we happen to run into Emperor Constantine or his aristocratic friends!

… Constantine and other heavy hitters had a habit of popping up in several of the church buildings he paid for. And when big cathedrals sprang up much later, with European royalty in attendance, the impetus to dress up grew further. Fancy church buildings were the one place that royalty mixed with commoners. Cathedrals, such as those at St. Denis, attracted royalty from all over, and it simply wouldn’t do to bump into a prince or contessa in your grubby work clothes.

(James H. Rutz, ‘The Open Church’ [GA: The SeedSowers, 1993], pp. 66-67.)

To be an inclusive church that glorifies God, we have to be aware of how our own clothing and our attitude toward other’s clothing can either welcome or alienate the poor.