Plain Christian Clothing

One of the MANY glaring sins we see in denominational (and NON denominational) organizations is the neglect of God's Word in the area of clothing and most people roll their eyes when the topic is raised.  When we test religious places often we see bold statement on their website that declare 'come as you are',  'God doesn't care what you wear', 'be yourself and wear what you want' etc.  We also see that those who do teach their own man made version of modesty are hypocrites even in that as they often leave their man made religious service and partake of the immodest offerings of the world (swimming, sports, entertainment etc). Some even dress their females up in skin tight leotards and have them dancing on stage calling it 'interpretive dance'.  Read an article about that HERE.


God's Word shows us in the old Testament and the New Testament that clothing is very important, note that the first thing God did when man sinned was sacrfice an animal to cover them in a long robe.  (Compare that to what we see today.)  

We have many articles in regard to Christian clothing (for men and women), please see read them and come back and finish reading here.  


This article explains why we wear clothes HERE.

There are several articles about biblical dress for men HERE and women HERE.

As a quick summary, those articles (through scriptures) will show you that women are to dress in long, loose dress / robe type garments without being costly or adorned and simply cover the body.  Men, being the leaders of the homes should also dress in long loose, unadorned clothing.  


Why should Christian clothing be plain?  God's Word says in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Peter 3 that adornment should not come from outward appearance including clothing (as shown in the above articles).   Only God's adornment of the transformed life, through the manifestation of the Holy Spirit inside a person, is to show.   

As a learning example of modern day theology in this area we will share a conversation with someone who called us seeking biblical help.  During an area of the conversation (of which there were many topics) she said at one time her household was involved with some plain dressed professed believers.
She said:
'They never said anything about my clothes or my childrens clothing so we must be okay.  But I see that you (us at dontperish.com) think that you can't have any adornment on your clothing based on your articles.  I just try to choose the most humble like if I see a bright pink shirt or a brown plaid, I think the plaid is more humble.'

We are thankful for a heart that seeks to do their best to be humble but she was not discerning the situation biblically. She chose her discernment to come through what people didn't say, and her own thoughts and feelings instead of God's Word.  This is dangerous as there is a way that seems right to man but the end is destruction (Proverbs 14:12) and without God's Word as our guide we are lost. (Matthew 4:4) We did try to help her biblically in this area and we hope she repents and seeks truth in scripture not her own fleshly thoughts and feelings.

We also need to keep in mind that we are not on this earth to please our flesh by decorating our temple.  If you are born of God and the Holy Spirit is in you then this body is NOT your own.  

 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. (1 Corinthians 6:15)

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:20)

We are to decorate / adorn our temple with the spirit of God from within, not from worldly decorations on the outside.
The only adornment we should have is that of the Holy Spirit inside us, manifesting His glory.  HERE is an article written for women that show many attributes that should adorn her life.  (Many are for men as well) 



So how do we discern what is plain and what is not?  Let's look at some examples. Most people would clearly see the adornment on vehicles.

But yet they overlook adornment on clothing...

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It is clear to see what is adorned and what is not. 
Some people will try to justify just a little adorning but by who's judgement do we do so.  Adorning with patterns is adorning whether it be a little or a lot.  If you think a couple stripes or flowers are okay what about the person who thinks more is okay?


Adornment can come from fashionable clothing as well (which is usually costly) and because we are not to conform to the ways of this world, we need to keep our clothing simple and plain. Some solid fabrics can border on being adorned such as lacy or crinkly fabrics which are attention drawing, use these with caution and the guidance of your conscience as the Holy Spirit will convince you. Again there is Romans 14 liberty here when it comes to choosing the cost of simple, unadorned clothing. If you look at a piece of clothing and are in doubt, err on the side of God and wait for other options. 

We are to be very careful NOT to make a brother or sister stumble, especially in such an area as this that is simple to make for or against decisions on what to buy and wear.  Women are notorious for looking for any avenue to justify their sinful flesh and if you bend God's word to suit yourself, you will most likely be causing other sisters (or brothers) to stumble. 

Women, when you compare a plain (solid) colored dress, shirt or skirt to one that is adorned it goes from 'plain and simple' to  'pretty and feminine'.  Women 'know' what they are doing when they dress in a way they shouldn't.  Women 'know' when they are trying to skirt the edges of immodesty and biblical dress.  Most of the men in their lives do as well but are not bold enough to stand for the truth and help her see as they are afraid of her ramifications. Women, if your husband is a godly man and he is fearful of approaching you, there is a big problem and you are in sin, not submitting to your husband and in fact participating in feminism.  

People who push back on this issue usually say 'What about color?  There are colors that look like adornment'.  Yes, we agree that could very well be true but God's Word doesn't tell us which colors are in that category so we cannot stand dogmatic on it.  What we do know is that we are not to adorn ourselves or our clothing (as we have shown you examples of worldly adornment) and we are to be a humble people with shamefaced women, therefore choosing colors that are not bright and flashy would align with God's Word.  We are not going to be the color police here and each is to have their own conviction, women and children submitting to the leading of the husband/father and households taking council from other brothers and sisters as the need arises.  This area, we would say, is a gray area that calls for Romans 14 liberty when it comes to choosing colors (not adornment).  There are people who would only wear blue and black.  Some may wear brown and green, some dark red and some may wear lavender or light blue.  Some people may wear dark colors in cooler weather and then lighter colors in the heat of summer. Can we go to scripture and declare one color sinful over the other?   Women (much more than men) are led by the flesh in this area and will tend to lean more and more to any sort of adornment she can.  This clothing issue is a Romans 12:1-2 moment, sacrificing the flesh on a daily basis by wearing simple unadorned clothing.  

The next rebuttal we usually get is "I can't find clothes like that, there aren't any!"
We would disagree with that especially if you are living in America.  We cannot say that for someone living in other countries because we are not there but the vast majority of clothing companies do produce some lines of plain clothes and there are multitudes of thrift stores, garage sales and online forums that sell affordable clothing.  

We want to stress that we are not works based here at dontperish.com.  We claim all over that we are saved by faith in Christ Jesus and if we repent and are born of the spirit of God (John 3:3) we will walk in obedience to His Word until the end.  See the gospel HERE.

Obedience is also not legalism, we also have a articles on that HERE.

We teach that through obedience a person will conform to God's Word and this is just one area of it.  It may seem like a small issue in the realm that most women dress like harlots (according to the bible) and it shows her harlot heart to the world, this article is for the Christian family who has left those ways and are striving to be biblical in all areas of their lives including dress.  If you are a biblical, godly woman whose heart truly is for the Lord and you have clothed your household in adorned clothing, that does not mean you have a harlot heart that means you were not biblically discerning.  We hope this article has helped you discern that issue now.

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