“What matters is not your outer appearance–the styling of your hair, the jewellery you wear, the cut of your clothes–but your inner disposition.” (1 Pet. 3:3-4a, MSG)
Through the ages the spirit of perversity has perpetuated various myths that have no Biblical foundation. The third myth we would like to discuss is The myth that attending church means that believers should put their best foot forward, which includes dressing very formally for the church service.
There may be readers of these teachings silently chuckling as they read the previous line, thinking that this is surely no longer a contentious issue for contemporary believers. Perhaps fifty years ago, but surely not today. The era of having specific outfits for church are no longer valid, yet the idea of Sunday best, or church clothes are still widely used as synonyms for formal attire.
There is clearly a move away from these prescriptions in most Charismatic churches and non-denominational home churches, and even some of the more conservative Reformed and Pentecost churches allow men to attend church without a suit and tie, but women are for instance not really allowed to wear trousers or a dress showing their shoulders. Men are certainly not allowed to arrive at church wearing shorts.
These prescriptions are not Biblical, but as early as 180 AC, thus not very long after the establishment of the Christian church, just after the foundation-laying of the apostolic fathers, Clement of Alexandria, the Greek Christian philosopher, offered the following pious guideline: “Women and men are to go to church decently attired, with natural step, embracing silence … (L)et the women observe this further. Let her be entirely covered …” (In The Instructor, Book 3, Ch 11.)
Respectability seems to be the norm here, and not necessarily expensive and striking clothes. The reason for this was simple – only the aristocracy and super rich could afford expensive clothing. The majority of churchgoers were poor, working class people who could not afford it. From the Middle Ages onwards, till about the 18th century, clothing was a specific social marker of financial welfare and high social class. It was only after the industrial revolution that mass production of good and more durable clothing was available to the man on the street, and this was part of the rise of the middle class (Elizabeth Ewing: Everyday Dress 1650-1900), and thus to a new way of dressing for church goers, where they could compete with their aristocratic brothers and sisters on a sartorial level.
Although there were preachers, like for instance John Wesley, that were very opposed to the spectacle of expensive clothes at church gatherings, the church members did slowly start considering the church as a space where your status in society was established by your dress sense, in no small measure also due to the existence of better financial circumstances and the fact that the industrial revolution made clothes more readily available (Richard Bushman: The Refinement of America, p. 352).
In 1843 a very influential reverend from Connecticut, Horace Bushnell, wrote a church etiquette essay with the title ‘Taste and Fashion’, in which he argued that “sophistication” and “refinement” are characteristics of God, and that Christians should manifest this through their clothing (Ibid., pp. 328-331). The focus thus shifted from respectability to good clothing for the sake of the honour of God. The ornate aesthetic of the church building clearly also required stylish clothes. The phrase that, throughout the years, became the brand of church attire, was coined by a Presbyterian reverend named William Henry Foote who famously said, “a church-going people are a dress-loving people”. (Ibid., p. 319).
Over the years the demands of respectability and clothing that should honour God became an unwritten norm for the formal church, which evolved into an unwritten pious, religious prescription to which we unthinkingly subscribe, offering “our best” to God.
This dress-up phenomenon when going to church is greatly strengthened by the first two myths we discussed. The false “holy space” and the false distinction between our everyday life outside church and our “holy life” within it, has contributed to the myth that “holy clothing” fits in with the solemn nature of the otherworldly experience.
The Word of God offers very strong statements against outer display. Isa. 3:16-24 illustrates God’s clear distaste of this phenomenon of dressing up: “Moreover the Lord says ‘Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet, therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion and the Lord will uncover their secret parts.’ In that day the Lord will take away the finery: the jingling anklets, the scarves, and the crescents; the pendants, the bracelets, and the veils; the headdresses, the leg ornaments, and the headbands; the perfume boxes, the charms, and the rings; the nose jewels, the festal apparel, and the mantles the outer garments, the purses, and the mirrors; the fine linen, the turbans, and the robes. And so it shall be: Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a robe, instead of well-set hair, baldness; instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.”
In 1 Sam. 16:7 God makes it clear to Samuel: “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” To the Pharisees, “the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes” (Luke 20:46), Jesus says in Luke 11:39: “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.”
This matter is addressed in James 2:1-6a: “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.”
Throughout Scripture believers are called to clothe themselves with “Christ” (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 3:27, amongst others), “that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart (2 Cor. 5:12). The true ecclesia wear glory as their garb; most people in the church are thus naked (Rev. 3:17; 16:15; Rom. 3:23; Gen. 3:7, 10-11), despite their expensive clothing.
In the next teaching we will conclude our discussion of the third myth by quickly looking at the requirements for clothing worn by the clergy.
- Selah: Ponder your “outward appearance” and your “inner disposition”, also concerning this matter.
- Read: 19-21; Ruth 1-4
- Memorise: Ruth 1:16
- For a more in-depth understanding: Read any of the books mentioned in the text.
