1 Timothy 2:9, commentary and pictures

The verse commands women to clothe themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, meaning modesty, reserve, humility, restraint, self-control and good judgment. It forbids showy outward adornment with elaborate or braided hair, gold, pearls and costly or expensive clothing, including rings, earrings, chains, diamonds, flowers, ribbons, lace and decorated hats. The fitting adornment for women professing godliness is not outward display but good works and inward character, the hidden ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is of great price in God's sight. It requires God's people to come out from the world and be separate, not copying worldly, extravagant or immodest fashions, but keeping a plain line of distinction as witnesses for God. Outward appearance testifies of the inward heart, so costly display adds nothing to character but reveals love for outward things and inward poverty, while plain modest dress honors God, protects purity and gives persuasive witness to others.

Words and Forbidden Adornment

The verse commands women to adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, which means modesty, reserve, humility, restraint, self-control and good judgment. It teaches women to dress modestly and soberly, not adorning themselves with broided or elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or costly clothing, but with what befits women professing godliness. Pride and extravagance in dress are an especial danger, and pursuit of display reveals what occupies the mind and affections and shows conformity to the world.

Modest apparel excludes display and show, gaudy colors, profuse and excessive ornamentation, and anything designed to attract attention to the wearer or to excite admiration. It excludes ruffles, feathers, and needless trimmings, and calls for dress that is modest, simple and inexpensive, free from unnecessary display. Money so saved is a trust not to be spent on pride or display.

The forbidden adornment includes broided and elaborate hair, gold, pearls, costly array and expensive clothing. In particular this forbids plain gold rings and glittering rings as useless and misleading in influence, large showy earrings, gold chains and pins, diamonds, flowers and artificial flowers, costly ribbons, bows, puffs, lace, and hats decorated in that manner. Wearing gold to improve appearance or gain influence conflicts with humility before God, remembrance of the fallen condition, and the cost of redemption through the suffering and death of Christ.

Shamefacedness and sobriety also require modest, reserved, chaste, virtuous and circumspect conduct, speech and deportment. Those preparing for immortality and to endure the test of the day of God and enter a pure heaven must reject familiarities tolerated by the world, flirtation, boldness, overly familiar behavior with men, and impure words or suggestions. They are to be slow to speak and constantly on guard, speaking carefully with meekness, humility, kindness and courtesy, avoiding excessive joking, jesting, laughing and frivolous talk, which is unbecoming, reveals lack of Christian refinement, grieves the Spirit, brings spiritual darkness and drives away pure heavenly angels.

Being clothed in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety does not mean going with eyes dropped down unable to look anyone in the face, but being modest in appearance, words and dress. Seeking to make a display of dress is not in accordance with the mind of God, for dress does not recommend anyone to God yet hangs out the colors and shows on whose side a person stands as representatives of Christ.

Godly Adornment and Character

The fitting adornment for women who profess godliness is not outward display but good works, godly character, and a life that honors God. The verse calls for modest dress with self-control, reserve, restraint and good judgment, rejecting elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls and costly clothing as the place to seek beauty. Pride and extravagance in dress are an especial danger, for pursuit of display reveals what occupies the mind and affections and shows conformity to the world.

True adornment is inward, the hidden person of the heart with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is of great price in the sight of God. Its substance is meekness, humility, modesty, prudence, the graces of the Spirit, likeness to Christ, the kind word and thoughtful consideration for others, and its value is not set by outward clothing. Christians are therefore not to decorate the body with costly clothing or expensive ornaments in order to give value to the person, and exactness often given to outward appearance must be given with far greater consequence to inward adorning and to bringing the mind under discipline to form right character. Such inward adorning is set beside the image of the king's daughter as glorious within, in contrast to pride and display and to living without self-denial and without the robe of Christ's righteousness.

Outward appearance testifies of the inward working of the heart, showing what engages the mind and on whose side a person stands. Modest and simple attire, free from display, ruffles, feathers and needless trimmings, reflects godliness, refinement and a mind not occupied with vanity, while gaudy clothing betrays vanity and weakness. Decorating the body with jewels, luxurious things and costly display adds nothing to character or influence, but shows love for outward things and proves a heart empty of inward adornment, revealing inward poverty and lack of spirituality.

Separation From Worldly Fashion

In every age those who belong to God are to come out from the world and be separate, not copying its extravagant, demoralizing, immodest and shameful fashions but keeping a peculiar holy character and a plain line of distinction as His witnesses. Modest apparel with restraint and self-control, adorned with good works befitting godliness rather than elaborate hair, gold, pearls and costly clothing, is the mark of that separation. The standard forbids imitating the fashions of the last days, including small bonnets that expose the face and head and show lack of modesty, and hoops which are a shame, in contrast to godly women in ancient time who covered their faces with a veil in public. The line must be made more plain, for if it is erased the curse that falls on worldlings will fall on professed people as the Israel of God distinct from corrupt inhabitants of earth. To decorate the mortal body after the world in dress, conversation and actions with its vanity, pride and follies leaves no distinction from the world, while modest dress belongs to a self-denying humble life lived to God's glory, dead to the world and setting an example to others. Such readiness is preparation for death and judgment, since bodies liable at any moment to be laid on a bed of anguish must be ready for the last change and grand review, and those who dress and act as much like the world as possible yet expect heaven seek to climb up some other way and do not enter by the narrow way and straight gate. Plainness in dress is therefore urged so that influence will not lead others away from the Christian standard.

Plain modest dress is a Bible standard for church members, requiring humility and self-denial after the meek and lowly Jesus instead of devoting God-given time and money to decorating the body contrary to the spirit of the gospel and the infinite sacrifice of the Son for sin. Its plain teaching condemns frivolous dress, conversation and pleasure-seeking among professed Christians, expressing inward holiness, self-denial and devotion instead of fashion, vanity and display, and it will condemn in the judgment those who pass it by unnoticed. The widespread influence of worldliness and pride is no excuse for following others in doing wrong, for Christian dress must conform to the Bible's requirements. Women professing to keep God's commandments must awaken and change dress and outward adorning to be clothed as Christians in modest apparel, testifying as witnesses for God and giving Him glory, so that a clear demarcation is seen between him that serves God and him that serves Him not. Style of dress testifies to family, church and world that believers are being purified from vanity and selfishness and are not idolaters, and Christians should search Scripture to learn what God values in appearance and heed its instruction.

Conformity to the world in dress gives the lie to Christian profession, is a disgrace to God's cause, and leaves the professor with no true saving influence. Dressing to resemble the world undermines profession, for modest apparel sets Christians apart and helps conduct bear a holy influence that honors God. Vanity in clothing and conspicuous display of gold chains or pins is unbecoming to baptized youth professing to be dead to the world, grieves Christ and brings reproach on God's cause. Seeking attention through elaborate hairstyles, jewelry and costly clothing reflects worldly vanity inconsistent with faith in Christ, while plain dress and abstaining from jewelry and ornaments belong to Christian self-denial. Following fashion makes believers resemble the world, weakens spiritual life and dishonors the Lord, so women are to guard against dressing to satisfy its demands. Superfluous trimmings and ornaments, worldly styles that attract attention, gold chains and gaudy lace contradict profession of faith in the meek and lowly Jesus, profane the house of God and indicate a proud heart.

Adorning the person with jewels and luxurious things is a kind of idolatry, showing love for things thought to give value to the person and proving a heart empty of inward adornment. Such display adds nothing to character or influence, misrepresents truth which is of highest value, and reveals inward poverty and lack of spirituality in one overdressed and outwardly adorned. Love of fashionable dress is idolatry in small as well as large matters, the worship of self, and separates from God just as the golden calf separated Israel. Outward appearance testifies of the inward working of the heart, and pride budding and blossoming in apparel reveals the thoughts and interests of the heart. Cherishing pride in dress steals love, trust and confidence in God, mars religious experience and develops a selfishness God cannot look upon, calling for a distinct and separate people in dress, speech and deportment, transformed in mind, heart and character by truth received within. Devoting labor, time and money merely to make outward appearance attractive diverts the mind from eternal consequence, fails to cultivate traits of character of value with God, forms stumbling blocks for self and others, gratifies pride and fosters love of appearance and praise, obscures vision so inner faults marring life and staining the soul are not discerned, and to consume God-given time and means in pleasing fancy is a species of idolatry of self. The nicety given to outward appearance must with far greater consequence be given to inward adorning, the hidden man of the heart with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit of great price in God's sight, and conformity with an eye single to God's glory qualifies one to teach others without leading them to a false standard. The idol of dress swallows up all that is humble, needy and lowly in character, luxurious living and extravagant dress being a sign of the last days, and those inclined to admire appearance in a mirror have no inclination to test character by the great moral mirror of God's law. Love of dress consumes precious hours that should be given to meditation, searching of heart and prayerful study of Scripture where this warning is written. Spending on pride and ambition while people suffer hunger and nakedness violates right, dishonors God, benefits no one, incurs guilt before God, and at the judgment the poor will condemn such selfish extravagance.

Dress Reform Historical Application

The verse rejects the American costume and so-called reform dress that makes women as near like the other sex as possible, fashioning women's dress very much like that of men with vest, pants, and coat-like dress reaching about halfway from the hip to the knee. Such dress is immodest apparel, wholly unfitted for modest, humble followers of Christ, reversing God's order and the plain Scriptural relations and rights of men and women. It brings a spirit of levity and boldness in keeping with the dress, so that modesty, reserve, humility and self-control depart from those who adopt it. It destroys Christian influence and access to unbelievers, gives occasion to reproach faith, makes believers a byword and derision on a level with Spiritualists, and cannot harmonize with the third angel's message, so that joining the movement in favor of woman's rights and so-called dress reform severs connection with that message.

The verse approves instead healthful, modest reform dress that is comfortable, becoming, convenient, protects the limbs, and takes health into account. Such clothing can be modest even when it exposes the feet, while fashionable clothing may create more immodest exposure. Dresses should be short enough to clear the dirt of the streets, making them easier to keep clean and longer-wearing, and reform dress made and arranged with good taste, neatness, order and cleanliness commends itself to thoughtful, candid, sensible-minded observers rather than repelling unbelievers. It is to be defended with noble independence and moral courage to do right even if all the world differs, holding to what is right because it is right.

Applied in detail, the verse forbids small bonnets exposing the face and head, hoops, long trailing skirts sweeping filth, heavy skirts, quilts, and under-skirts hanging below the dress. It forbids pants and dress of different color or material, self-fashioned unstiffened pants clinging close to the limbs, tasteless disorderly variations such as white muslin pants with white sleeves and a dark dress with a sleeveless sack, stiffening distending only the bottom, and any deformed style introduced before the right pattern can be adopted. It forbids useless trimmings, bows, ribbons, superfluous tucks, ruffles, needless stitching, gaudy lace, gold chains, glittering gold rings, large showy earrings, hats decorated with artificial flowers and costly ribbons in bows and puffs, and extravagance to gratify pride. It requires simple clean clothing of good, plain, durable material made for durability rather than display and falling naturally, with any stiffening small and well above the bottom and under-skirts shorter than the dress, at a uniform healthful length that clears street dirt, shown among Sabbath-keepers by order, taste, neatness and uniformity at about nine inches from the floor with pants and sack made after the right pattern and put on right.

The verse does not require taking pains to make oneself a gazing-stock by dressing differently from the world merely to be odd, rejecting every fashionable or comfortable decent garment simply because a fashion has appeared, or adopting extremes to look different. If the world adopts a modest, convenient, healthful style that agrees with the Bible and conforms to health principles, adopting it does not harm standing with God or the world. Plain dress must not be made a present truth issue or a cause of enthusiasm, dissension and controversy that fills the mind and diverts minds and creates division of sentiment, but believers are to walk carefully and circumspectly, follow Christ, shun extremes, humbly keep a straightforward course regardless of applause or censure, and hold to what is right with moral courage even when out of fashion.

Practical Principles For Dress

The verse teaches that dress is to be inexpensive, because money is a trust from God not to be spent on pride, ambition or display. Economy and self-denial in dress and in appetite save means that are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, aid the suffering, the oppressed and the sick, relieve the poor, remove heavy church debts, and support missionary work and the preaching of the gospel to the untaught and unsaved. Useless ornaments, extra trimmings and costly display for gratification of pride are to be laid off and discarded, and the proceeds of selling ornaments are to be given to God's work and the cause of truth. Luxurious living and extravagant dress carried to extreme are a sign of the last days, and the idol of dress swallows up what is humble, needy and lowly in character. Love of dress consumes precious hours that should be given to meditation, searching of heart, prayer and prayerful study of Scripture, and those who admire their appearance in the mirror have no inclination to test character by the great moral mirror of God's law.

Modest dress is to be neat, clean, orderly, tasteful, becoming, simple, plain and durable, suited to age and circumstances, with good material carefully made and chosen for durability rather than display. True economy buys good material and has it carefully made, while refusing rich trimmings and costly fashion for self-gratification. Care in dress shows refinement and a cultivated mind, agrees with professed faith and godliness, represents Christ, and on the Sabbath shows reverence for the worship of God. Outward decoration must not be valued above inward adorning of mind and culture of soul, and ostentatious or inappropriate styles undermine Christian example to believers and unbelievers. The rule prescribes no pilgrim uniform of just such a color and shape, forbids changing apparel merely to follow fashion or appear like the world, and avoids both overdressing for display and lax untidiness.

The direction binds parents as well as women, for parents are accountable to guide children's dress by God's word rather than by children's wishes, notions and desires or by worldly fashion. Mothers are to keep themselves and their children neat without useless ornamentation, embroidery, needless trimming and superfluity, and are not to cultivate vanity and love of dress. They are to teach children to distinguish sensible dress from foolish fashion, to care for mind and soul and Scripture above fashion, and to foster Christian character and godliness expressed in good works rather than outward display. Time and talents belong to God for service and preparation for religious duties rather than for adornment.

For worshipers the verse requires modest, neat dress with propriety and self-control rather than untidiness or display, reflecting the order, refinement and reverence due in God's presence and suiting the holiness of His house. Dress should symbolically represent Christ and testify to family, church and world that the wearer is being purified from vanity and selfishness and is not an idolater. For new converts accepting the gospel may require decisive change in dress, since pride in dress is a moral disease not to be carried into the new life, and true conversion ends delight in display. Plain clothing and self-denial belong to consecration to God, to be matched by faith and works, giving clearer spiritual discernment and fitness for missionary service, while continued pride in dress after great light spreads as leaven and as spiritual malaria harming new believers. Outward adorning is worthless without being clothed with Christ's righteousness, and spending God's money to clothe the body for pride robs His cause, separates the soul from God and forfeits His blessing.

Influence and Spiritual Consequences

Modest plain dress gives persuasive witness to unbelievers and honors God, while costly or immodest display lowers believers before unbelievers and gives occasion for reproach. Even what seems small, such as a plain gold ring, is useless and can wrongly influence others to imitate costly styles, and glittering rings, large showy earrings, and hats decorated with artificial flowers and costly ribbons in bows and puffs are forbidden as display of vanity and imitation of extravagant worldly dress. Such display leads others toward the same conduct, encourages comparison and pressure to imitate, and spreads pride and extravagance as leaven until the whole is leavened. It discourages the poor from worship, for poorer women may endure hardship to imitate fashionable example, stay away from church because of clothing, or be tempted to dishonesty and sacrifice of virtue, while shabby dress itself can deepen humiliation and doubt unless believers help provide dignified suitable clothing. Money and time saved by simple tasteful clothing belongs as God's trust to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, relieve the suffering, and support missionary work and preaching to the perishing, so showy dress robs God's cause, separates from God, forfeits blessing, and hinders the salvation of others. The so-called reform dress or American costume that makes women in dress and appearance as near like men as possible is immodest apparel wholly unfitted for modest humble followers, reversing God's order, bringing levity and boldness with departure of modesty and reserve, destroying influence and access to unbelievers, making believers a byword and derision on a level with Spiritualists, and severing connection with the third angel's message.

Extravagant costly dress feeds pride and vanity, endangers moral character, encourages lust in the wearer and stirs base passions in the beholder, and stifles the desire to do good. Following fashion for display consumes money, time, and health, fosters deception, and leads to sacrifice of virtue and noble qualities, trading health and happiness for artificial adornment. Preoccupation with dress displaces Bible study, prayer, worship, meditation, searching of heart, and care of mind and soul, narrows the mind and weakens the intellect. The idol of dress swallows up all that is humble, needy, and lowly in character, and those inclined to admire appearance in a mirror have no inclination to test character by looking into the great moral mirror, the law of God.

Chaste simplicity in dress joined with modest behavior reflects refined taste and a cultivated mind, protects purity, helps keep thoughts pure, and can guard a young woman from many dangers. Neat clean clothing that is easy to wash and iron supports cleanliness, with special care for garments that touch the skin, and this attention helps prevent impurity. Modesty includes reserve and chaste behavior that rejects familiarities tolerated by the world in contrast to lust and vice, and such purity is necessary to endure the test of the day of God and enter a pure and holy heaven. Modest dress belongs to what it means to be God-like and to walk modestly before God in agreement with Him, and those who so walk will receive from Christ a crown of immortality, for care for the soul and godliness takes priority over rich apparel, outward display, and possessions.

The direction on dress stands together with the command that men pray everywhere lifting holy hands without wrath and doubting, that the woman learn in silence with all subjection, and that wives be in subjection with chaste conversation coupled with fear. In modest apparel is set beside the image of the king's daughter as glorious within, contrasting modest outward dress with inner glory, and outward dress must express inward holiness, self-denial, and devotion instead of fashion, vanity, and display. Its plain teaching condemns frivolous dress, conversation, and pleasure-seeking and will condemn in the Judgment those who pass it by, so nothing in dress must divert minds from truth, and witness is borne by good conversation in Christ rather than cheap talk of hats, dress, fashion, and adorning of the person. Luxurious living and extravagant dress carried to extremes are among the signs of the last days, and continued pride in dress after great light creates a spiritual malaria that harms new believers. Outward adorning is worthless without being clothed with Christ's righteousness and the garments of His righteousness, without which none can have a place with the saints in light.