5 Questions About Modest Dressing

Have you ever wondered what “modest dressing” entails, and why it is important? Who determines the standard of modesty, and do different standards apply to men and women? Here are Bible answers to 5 Questions About Modest Dressing.

Q1: What is modesty?

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. (1 Timothy 2:9-10)

From the meanings of the Greek words in this passage that are translated as “modest”, “shamefacedness”, and “sobriety” in the KJV, we understand that modesty involves being “well-ordered and respectable”; it involves having “a sense of shame and bashfulness”; and it also needs us to “exercise self-control”. We must be modest in our speech and conduct, and in this Q&A, we will also see that God expects us to be modest in our dressing.

Q2: Why is modesty important?

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! (Matthew 18:7)

Modesty is important for two reasons. Firstly, God expects us to live transformed lives, instead of conforming to the world of sin about us. This would include our speech, our behaviour, and even our clothing. Secondly, we do not want our dress to unnecessarily inflame lust in others. The person who looks on another to lust has committed adultery in his heart and is thus sinning (cf. Matthew 5:27-28), but the person who “offends another” (skandalizo – entices another to sin) is also at fault as well. As Christians, we do not always insist on our rights, but we ought to be mindful of the needs and weaknesses of others as well (Philippians 2:3-4).

Q3: Is there a standard for modest dressing?

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:7)

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21)

And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach. (Exodus 28:42)

When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which God had forbidden them to eat from, “their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:6). Immediately, they tried to cover themselves up by making “aprons out of fig leaves” (Genesis 3:7). The word “apron” in the KJV comes from a Hebrew word that means “belt, girdle”, and the ESV renders it as “loincloth”. Is it not interesting that Adam and Eve sought to cover their waist area out of shame, while many people in the world today parade around publicly in swimsuits that leave almost nothing to the imagination?

Even though Adam and Eve had covered their waist area with fig leaves, they still hid from the presence of the Lord because “I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10). Were they not already clothed to some extent with fig leaves about their waist? Yet, this shows that Adam realized that he was still inadequately or immodestly dressed, and he considered himself to be naked. This tells that one can still be “naked” or immodestly dressed even when one is wearing some clothes.

Before God expelled Adam and Eve, he “made coats of skin, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). God could have let them continue wearing their loincloths, but he did not. He removed their nakedness by clothing them in coats. The Hebrew word translated as “coats” means “a shirt, robe”. It would have covered their torsos and gone down to their thighs. How do we know that their thighs would have been covered? 2,600 years after Adam, we see God’s instructions to Moses concerning the standard of dress for the priesthood. The priests were to have linen breeches that covered even their thighs, “to cover their nakedness” (Exodus 28:42).

In short – God has a standard for modest dressing, and it involves us covering our torsos down to our thighs, to cover our nakedness.

Q4: Are there different standards for modest dressing, e.g. men and women, or when one is doing sports?

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21)

In the world about us, we see that there are plenty of different standards when it comes to the level of clothing that is considered acceptable. For example, if a woman were to go running with her top exposed, that would usually be considered shameful, but if a man were to do the same, most people would think that is fine. And yet, we see that when God clothed Adam, he also clothed Eve, and he gave them both the same type of clothing – coats of skins, that is, robes to remove their nakedness (Genesis 3:21). This tells us that God does not have different standards of modest dressing for men and women, but a common one.

In addition, in the world about us, we see people wearing tight-fitting clothing in public that accentuates and highlights the shape and outline of one’s private parts. We also see people wearing clothing (or in fact, very little of it) to swim and do sports. Should this be the case? Why would clothing that would be considered underwear and indecent to reveal in public, suddenly become acceptable just because it is worn in a swimming pool? God has one standard of modesty – regardless of whether it is the church building, the office, or a sports hall.

Q5: What are we going to do about our dressing?

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. (Colossians 3:17)

At the end of the day, this is a question that each of us has to answer individually. I cannot force you to dress in a certain way, nor can you compel me to. But we are all accountable to God, and we cannot plead ignorance about his standard of modest dressing as revealed in the Scriptures. May we always seek to abide by God’s standards, and respect His authority always.