We will be trying to answer this question as best as we can. In the past, the Worldwide Church of God attempted to strike a proper balance as to what is appropriate and inappropriate clothing, but in the process, some might have gone overboard at certain times by leaning too much to the “right” or to the “left.” Occasionally, the Church was even accused of promoting a yard-stick religion, while at other times, it was perceived to allow for appearances which were clearly not in line with biblical standards.

The following write-up is a conglomeration of discussion and communication, between the ministry and their wives, of the Church of the Eternal God and their corporate affiliates, the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada, and the Global Church of God in the UK. We believe that it will be sufficient for the wise, but if particular additional questions should arise on an individual basis, please address those to the ministry and their wives (or widows of late ministerial husbands). We also need to keep in mind that we must NEVER condemn or judge self-righteously our spiritual brother and sister for what is being worn (compare James 4:11-12; 2:1-4, 13). If a matter needs to be addressed on an individual basis, the ministry will do so. We are all learning to become more and more perfect in the eyes of God, and to increase in stature with people, and this process requires time and patience.

We have generally addressed, in a previous Q&A, proper attire during Church services. In this Q&A, we will add a few more explanatory specific comments.

As a general principle regarding proper clothing, we need to reflect God’s standards at all times, when appearing in public. As Church members today, we have to ensure that we are not conformed to this world in any way (Romans 12:2). We are to concentrate on things which are “noble” (Philippians 4:8). God’s people are to abstain from fleshly lusts (1 Peter 2:11). We read that we are to “make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans 13:14). Christ warned men not to look at a woman with evil thoughts or “to lust for her” (Matthew 5:27-28). Even though degrees of this tendency might vary, it should be common knowledge that especially men are more “attracted” and receptive to the outward “appearance” of women, from a sexual standpoint, than women might be to men in that regard. Christian women must be aware of this “male” tendency at all times, and should not dress in such a way as to be causing or contributing to “evil desires” arising in the minds of men. God warns us that we sin against our brother when we create a stumbling block for him (Romans 14:13; Matthew 18:6).

In addition, especially ladies should be aware of the fact that human nature (which we ALL still have) may want to parade the physical beauty of their bodies to others. But this would be contrary to God’s definition of true love (compare 1 Corinthians 13:4). [This tendency can also be found in men, of course, which would be equally wrong.] As one minister’s wife stated:

“As a teenager, my parents helped me understand why my peers chose clothing and makeup that would attract attention. Many girls felt powerful and enjoyed it when they drew male attention. At the root of the matter was vanity and self-centeredness. Whom was I trying to impress? It was difficult to be a non-conformist when you just wanted to fit in. The power of peer pressure is a strong influence, and a paradigm shift was required to make the decision to ensure undue attention wasn’t directed to myself. I needed to be concerned with what God thought rather than my peers and replace that false sense of self-esteem. More important than the habit of appearing modest that my parents instilled in me was the fundamental lesson of keeping God at the core rather than vanity and self-centeredness. I really grew emotionally and developed some positive character traits and a dress sense that I continued into adulthood.”

The over-riding questions that we should ask ourselves are why are we dressing the way that we are, and is it modest and becoming of the example that we should be setting for those around us? Whether we are at a pool party or at Church services, there are standards that we should be living up to. We need to ask ourselves brutally honest questions, such as, is what we are wearing too revealing or too diverting? While human nature enjoys the attention that inappropriate dress can bring, this should not be our focus. We are to be looking inwardly and developing the mind of God.

All of this means that ladies must avoid dressing in a manner that encourages immoral and wrong thoughts in men and sets a poor example for other women. This applies to proper clothing in public at all times, and not just at Church services or social Church functions. We read that everything should be done decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40). It is important to realize that God is always watching us, including, how we dress outside the privacy of our homes.

On the other hand, we also need to strike a balance between being “cutting edge” in fashion and so far behind that we draw undue attention to ourselves. Once our dress and appearance becomes distracting in either sense, it has gone astray from God’s purpose of pleasing Him and of becoming “a Jew to the Jew and a Gentile to the Gentile,” in order to win some (1 Corinthians 9:19-20; 10:32-33). However, this is not to say that we should wear inappropriate clothes just because “everybody else” in the world may do so. We are to come out of the world and be different (compare 2 Corinthians 6:17-18).

The moral decline of society has brought about immodest fashions. We hasten to add that this is true for clothes worn by both women AND men.

For instance, Christian men should not wear clothes which might give the impression that they might be homosexuals. For example, in certain parts of Europe, it is perceived as being perfectly alright for men to wear flimsy bathing suits, which would be looked at as offensive in large parts of the USA, except for certain communities. So, appearance, especially of men, is important for the additional reason of not wanting to give wrong impressions to others–lest people draw wrong conclusions.

The bigger problem, however, is without doubt the clothes not to be worn by Christian women, and since we were asked by several ladies to give specific guidelines, we are setting forth the following, for your prayerful consideration:

It may be difficult to find tops that don’t reveal cleavage, but great care should be exercised in that area. If a blouse is too low, it can be layered with a tank top underneath. Women should stay away from clothing that is skin-tight (top or bottom), and if the dress or skirt is above the knee cap when she is standing upright, then it is too short. Skirts should come just below the knee cap; otherwise, when a lady sits down, the skirt rides up mid-thigh and too much skin is showing. Dresses that have low necklines are to be avoided at all times and care should also be exercised in regard to dresses that could be revealing when bending forward. This is especially true when a lady has to bend over to care for a child or pick up something off the floor.

Bathing suits worn at the beach or at a pool should preferably be one-piece (barring extraordinary circumstances), as most two-piece bathing suits are just too revealing. However, a one-piece bathing suit can also be quite revealing (or even more so); so again, great care and honest evaluations should be exercised in this matter. In addition, the overall physique should be taken into consideration as well. There comes a point, especially in obese or old(er) people, when it is unpleasant [or perhaps even somewhat embarrassing] to look at their far-too-revealing clothing.

As we said, these are guidelines which should be taken into consideration by Christian men and women at all times. The overall goal for us as God’s spiritually begotten children is to please Him and not to give offense to anyone, and to overcome our carnal human nature (which is oftentimes motivated by the “pride of life,” 1 John 2:16); the society around us and its evil influences on us; and Satan the devil who wants to conquer us with fiery darts of (self-)deception and temptation. We are told that God resists the proud, but that He gives grace to the humble; and that we are to submit to God and to resist the devil (James 4:6-7). Then Satan will have to flee from us, while God will enlighten us more and more with His understanding (2 Timothy 2:7) as to how to live “circumspectly” and conduct ourselves properly in this present evil society (Ephesians 5:15-16).

James 2:2 contains a statement which, at first sight, may be difficult to understand, as it seems to contradict other biblical passages. A careful analysis of the Scripture shows, however, that there is no inconsistency, and that James addresses an important principle related to our Christian way of life.

James 2:1-6 reads, in context:

“(1) My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. (2) For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, (3) and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or, ‘Sit here at my footstool,’ (4) have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?… (6) But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into courts?”

Some commentaries understand this passage to refer to Church worship services of early Christians. If this is correct, how can we harmonize the fact that the Bible demands of us to appear before God in proper and acceptable clothing, as we will show below, while James seems to be saying that we must honor a poor man in “dirty” clothing when he worships with us on the Sabbath?

For a general discussion on proper dress of Christian men and women — including on the Sabbath — please read our Q&A on that topic.

That we ought to appear properly dressed for worship services, has been the long-standing teaching of the Church of God, and for good reason:

We must understand that we are appearing before GOD. God is a great King. God is the Creator of everything that is good and costly and priceless. He is the Creator of beauty. He most certainly is the Creator of quality. He owns all the gold and silver, and it is He who made it all. If we were to be invited by an earthly king, how would we appear in front of him? Imagine, that the Queen of England would invite you to visit her at Buckingham Palace. Would you want to appear in unwashed, dirty clothing, wearing washed-out jeans, a T-shirt, and sneakers?

How much more should we appear before GOD, the KING over His creation, in proper clothes! The famous parable in Matthew 22:10-13 about the king’s wedding feast for his son contains a spiritual lesson, but it also describes a physical principle–that we dress appropriately for the occasion. It DID matter to the king–God the Father–how the guests were dressed for the wedding of His Son, Jesus Christ.

In this context, we must not neglect culture. In the Western World, it is normally appropriate for men to wear a suit, or a nice combination, with a shirt and a tie. But even in certain parts of the Western World, it may perhaps be appropriate to wear a shirt without a tie, or to wear something else, instead. Other countries have still other customs. In the Philippines, Hawaii or Africa, people may dress up differently. But the key is – they dress up. They know what it means to dress up. In the U.S.A., Canada or in England, men don’t dress up, when they appear in worship services with an open shirt, a T-shirt or jeans.

Ladies should also wear appropriate clothing, of course. In addition, their dresses should not be too short or too tight or too revealing–but this principle would also apply in general, not just during Church services. But especially when focusing on our worship of God in an official setting, we should always think in terms of how we would want to dress if we were invited to appear before the Queen of England in an official capacity. (When discussing worship services, we are of course not talking about a ball, when we would wear a tuxedo or an evening dress.)

God gives us the freedom to determine what is appropriate clothing, within the acceptability of proper dress in our cultures, but to clarify, God does not give us the freedom to violate His specific instructions so that we can follow our culture. For example, God has told us how to wear our hair. We are told that it is a shame for a man – young or old – to wear long hair. If Native Americans are called to God’s Way of Life, they cannot continue wearing long hair, following their cultural upbringing, as God has specifically said not to do it. Also, God told us that women – young or old – are to wear hair long enough to distinguish a woman from a man. You might want to review our Q&A on proper hair length for men and women.

In addition, some brethren are scattered. They cannot physically join with other members on the Sabbath, so they listen to sermon tapes, or they sit in and listen to live Internet worship services (In passing, those who can physically attend are commanded to do so, and they are not permitted to just use Internet access as a substitute and as an excuse for not “having” to attend Church services in person). If scattered brethren have Sabbath worship services “in their home,” while listening to tapes or to live Internet Church services, they still appear before God during that time, and again, we don’t want to appear before God uncombed, unshaved and unwashed, or by just wearing our pajamas.

Having said all of this, how are we then to understand James 2:2, which seems to be teaching the opposite–that is, that it does not matter how we appear before God in Church services, and that we can appear in dirty or vile clothes and God does not mind.

However, this is not what James is saying at all.

If we apply James’ statements to worship services on the weekly or annual Sabbaths, two factors have to be kept in mind.

First, James is drawing a comparison. He compares the appearance of a rich and prosperous man — who is aware of his riches and manifests them without any sense of recognition or compassion for others — with the appearance of a poor man. The translation of the words “with filthy clothes” in James 2:2 (“vile raiment” in the Authorized Version) is somewhat misleading in the context. The Greek word for “filthy” or “vile” is “rhuparos” and can ALSO have the meaning of “relatively cheap” (compare Strong’s under No. 4508). Some translations say, “shabby,” but it is used in comparison with the splendid appearance of the rich man.

Second, if applied in that sense, it is important to note that the context speaks of a person “coming into your assembly.” James does not seem to be talking about regular Church members (who know how they ought to dress when they appear before God), but a newcomer or a guest.

Albert Notes’ on the Bible writes: “The reference here seems to be, not to those who commonly attended on public worship, or who were members of the church, but to those who might accidentally drop in to witness the services of Christians. See 1 [Corinthians] 14:24.”

In addition, there is another possibility as to how to understand this passage–and that is, that the context does not even address worship services, but formal judicial or administrative proceedings within the Church.

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible writes that “assembly” refers to the “place of religious worship where saints are assembled together for that purpose; though some think a civil court of judicature is intended, and to which the context seems to incline; see [James] 2:6.”

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible elaborates:

“Assembly here is meant of those meetings which were appointed for deciding matters of difference among the members of the church, or for determining when censures should be passed upon any, and what those censures should be; therefore the Greek word here used, sunagoge, signifies such an assembly as that in the Jewish synagogues, when they met to do justice. Maimonides says… ‘That is was expressly provided by the Jews’ constitutions that, when a poor man and a rich plead together, the rich shall not be bidden to sit down and the poor stand, or sit in a worse place, but both sit or both stand alike.’ To this the phrases used by the apostle have a most plain reference, and therefore the assembly here spoken of must be some such as the synagogue-assemblies of the Jews were, when they met to hear causes and to execute justice…”

Whatever the exact context and application of the passage, it is James’ desire to show that we must not condemn another person or judge him or her based on his or her outward appearance, and that we should not show preference or partiality by honoring one person more than another, only because one is rich and one is poor. James was not saying that it is immaterial how we appear before God. When representing ourselves in Church services (or even during an internal “court” proceeding within the Church, see 1 Corinthians 6:4-5), we must be dressed for the occasion.

But others are not to condemn a “poor” person who is visiting for the first time or who has just begun attending because he is not dressed in an appropriate way. In addition, the way in which he is dressed might be the best the person can do. Also, when a person shows up for the first time for Church services, he or she may not know exactly what the proper dress standards for worship services are. And finally, rather than condemning a person or looking down on him for not dressing up, we should be lending a helping hand and give the needy what is necessary to meet the proper standard.

The same would be true in the context of a court setting within the Church. Even though proper etiquette and dress code would be important even in such a situation, the failure of applying such appropriate standards must not induce a minister to look down on a poor person–and to elevate the rich at the same time–and to render an unrighteous judgment as a consequence.

James points out that we must be careful not to condemn or mistreat one who is not appropriately dressed, because he may not know better, or because he or she does not have better clothes. James discusses our approach and conduct toward the rich and the poor. We are not to look down on a poor person, dishonoring him or her, while giving preference and undue attention to a rich person. We must love the poor person, and not reject him, even though he comes in with less than appropriate clothing, but rather than condemning, we could try to help him to dress more appropriately in the future.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link