Summer is here. The days are longer, but the shorts are shorter. I’d like to offer a few biblical principles about modesty. In this feminist age, addressing feminine modesty is akin to saying “Hitler wasn’t all that bad.” So, wish me luck.
To begin with, modesty in apparel isn’t a matter of square footage (or lack thereof). Modesty begins as a matter of the presence or absence of God’s glory. In Eden, Adam and Eve didn’t required clothing because God’s presence endowed them with garments of borrowed light. Sin precipitated the need for clothing to cover the shame of glory-less nakedness. So, clothing spins a tale. It always has and always will. From Eden on clothing said, at bare minimum, God has withdrawn His glorious presence from mankind due to Adam’s sin. However, in eternity, clothing will tell another story, for the white robes of the saints will speak of our righteousness in Christ.
The question, then, for Christians is, “What story do my clothes tell?” Clothing can suggest a wide range of things: one’s occupation or gender, sexual invitation, lazy indifference, attentiveness, disrespect, vanity, and so on. Wearing a clown costume is lawful, but wearing it to a funeral would be insulting. It’s a bit surprising, then, to hear that godliness requires you to think about what others think when you get dressed. The WLC teaches as much: “The duties required in the seventh commandment are, chastity in body, mind, affections, words, and behavior; and the preservation of it in ourselves and others; watchfulness over the eyes and all the senses; temperance, keeping of chaste company, modesty in apparel […].”
This commandment obliges each of us to actively love our neighbor by modesty of apparel. Furthermore, we’re particularly required to keep our eyes watchful so as not to indulge sensual lusts. So then, a Christian’s garments should tell a story of Gospel hope, not of carnal despair.
We have become an immodest culture. Our jokes are crass. Our entertainment feeds our basest desires. Our clothing is precariously perched and this belies how insecure our culture is. God’s glory has departed, and we are left with shame of face. We reach for the fig leaves of our own devising, when the Father call us to be clothed in the righteous robes of Christ, which cover us and fill us with true holiness. May we go to God for forgiveness for the ways in which we have dressed, spoken, thought and acted without modesty. And may He grant us a contentment in His promise to clothe us in the white robes of Christ, and strength to guard both our own and our neighbor’s chastity. If you humble yourself before God, He promises to restore you to the robes of glory-light of Eden 2.0. You are not left in the shame of sin’s nakedness, but are clothed with the promise of the Gospel.
Ben Zornes – June 9, 2024
