"Any Biblical discussion of modesty begins by addressing the heart, not the hemline."
-C.J. Mahaney.
I couldn't agree more with C.J. Modesty does being with the attitude of the heart within the woman. He also goes on to define modesty as: propriety; the avoidance of clothing and adornment that is extravagant, showy and sexually enticing.
I believe a humble heart comes before modest dress. Thus, immodesty is a form of arrogance. We are arrogant when we say we don't care how it impacts the men that cross our path, but only our desire to remain fashionably "in". Modesty, in general, protects our brothers in Christ from temptation and sin. We are certainly not to identify with our sinful, worldly culture through our dress. We are, after all, to be IN this world and not OF this world. We are to be distinct from the culture in many ways...among them, our dress. If we think about it, our apparel is a public statement of our heart. What is my wardrobe communicating? What is yours?
Earlier, I mentioned 1 Timothy 2:9-10. Through reading and such, I have learned that Paul is warning woman from dressing and adorning themselves like the culture of the time...the Roman court and the Prostitutes. Context is important here. "Women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works."
So I don't believe it is necessarily the pearls or the braided hair, but the motivation and the heart behind it. During this time, ostentatious jewelry and braided hear was associated with both vanity and prostitution.
In regard to some of the many comments from the first Modesty post...
I am one who is 100% behind personal responsibility in the Christian life. I believe this modesty discussion is one largely on the shoulders of women. HOWEVER, there IS a place for the husbands and fathers of the women in their life to encourage them when they dress modestly and to hold them accountable when they dress immodestly. If my words in anyway disregarded the supreme importance of woman holding personal responsibility over themselves, then I was unclear. But I see that the body of Christ has dropped the ball in graciously speaking truth and demonstrating Godly care and courage. There is a difference between condemnation and imposing versus giving kind observation and allowing the Holy Spirit to then convict and carry out the good work.
Fathers are to lead their daughters in this issue of modesty. Daughters are to submit. However, much of the time that doesn't occur and the woman is now 20 years old and largely clueless about her impact upon the people in their life.
There is of course, always room for growth. We need to ask ourselves questions. We need to not only trust our own evaluation, but your friends and husband if you have one.
The other issue that arises is self-righteous judgement over those who are not Christian or those who are but newly so.
Lastly, and on a lighter note...I do believe that it is possible to not be fashionably outdated and to be modest. Basically, Modesty and Fashion are not mutually exclusive. It just takes a little extra work and it certainly cannot become our focus.
In 1 Timothy, 2:9-19, Paul insists that more time be focused on spiritual matters then the apparel for the women. Why? Ultimately, because of the gospel. Again, C.J. Mahaney brings this into perspective. Paul teaches every topic in relation to the gospel. As we should. I began with a quote from Mr. Mahaney, and I will end this post with a quote by him, "Modesty and dress and women characterized by good works are the impact of the gospel. That is the transforming power of the gospel."
6 comments:
I realize that this is a bit jumbled. I am having a hard time focusing lately because of the sickness and thus, my thoughts come out in an unarticulated way.
Kyle and I were reading Genesis 3 for our devotions tonight. The thought struck us that the original intent of clothing was to hide nakedness and sin. It was only later that clothing became an ornament. I think it's interesting how we try to make ourselves look so good, even in our clothing. We need to be sure that if we are trying to look good it should be for the right motives.Interesting isn't it how people glorify even their punishment?
Thanks for the post,
Rachel
Rachel,
That is an excellent point.
Hope you are well.
It has been too long since we really hung out.
Kate, I like where you went with this second post. I agree with you that the starting point really is the heart. Of course, this raises a question...Lets say a woman decides she wants to allure men with the way she dresses. So she puts on an outfit, but the outfit happens to be rather modest by our standards, and therefore doesn't really have the desired effect. Is this woman being immodest because of her intent even if it doesn't really manifest as immodesty?
I'm also curious about the issue of modesty amongst women. Let's face it, often times women get dressed with other women in mind! To impress, to stand out, to do whatever. Maybe that's not immodesty,but rather pride. I don't know.
Anyway, I think women will continue to struggle with modesty so long as men (Christian men included) are captivated by external beauty and are prone to evaluate and assign worth to women first and foremost by looks. Just my humble opinion.
I think both intent and action can be either modest or immodest. For instance, Dana, I would say that the women in your example is immodest, because that is her intent--whether or not she 'succeeds' in being outwardly immodest is beside the point.
Discretion and culture also play a role. In some cultures, women walking around topless is the norm; as the norm, this level of nakedness is not considered particularly sexually alluring, and not immodest. In this case, it would be the behavior and intent of the individual that would define modest vs immodest.
I have had some friends who, by my standards, and the standards many others, habitually dress in a manner considered immodest. However , their overall lifestyle, and manner of wearing the clothing, do not display immodesty--action without intent.
I think this is where personal responsibility vs the responsibility of husbands for wives and parents for children comes into play. The people mentioned above have grown up in a culture, and families, where this sort of dress is normal and okay. So, in these cases, I believe it is more a matter of ignorance than a specific intent to dress a certain way to allure the opposite sex or impress others--that is why parents should be responsible for educating their children on both inward and outward modesty.
Sorry for this quick, poorly thought-out jumble; most of what I've written seems to be horribly relativistic; what are your thoughts?
Amy F
Interesting thoughts. I do agree with you Dana... it is pride that is largely the root of this problem of immodesty. Whether it be because a girl wants to impress her female friends, or draw attention to her body from her male friends.
The cultural thing is tricky... but I do think that it is context with dress more than other issues. Usually I think EVERYTHING in the Bible is unchanging b/c God is unchanging but what we wear here ...a lose fitted t-shirt and jeans would be considered immodest in India...
Is modesty only about not making our brothers stumble? What I mean is, is there more to "covering up" than just protecting our brothers from lustful thoughts created by our apparal? Is it also about being more simple, being different than those around us so there is something physically that sets us apart?
Just some more thoughts...
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