Transcription
In 1 Timothy 2:9, Paul wrote that Christians should not adorn themselves with gold or pearls or costly array. How does this verse apply to believers living in our modern Western culture, and what exactly qualifies as costly array? Dr. David K. Bernard responds by examining what the Bible says about Christians' jewelry and expensive clothes.
Welcome to Apostolic Life in the 21st Century, a podcast dedicated to helping modern-day believers live out the teachings of the first-century church. This podcast is part of a teaching ministry of Dr. David K. Bernard. Dr. Bernard has dedicated his life to studying the Bible and helping believers apply its message to their daily lives. In Apostolic Life in the 21st Century, Dr. Bernard answers your questions about what the Bible teaches and how those teachings apply to everyday life.
Thank you for joining us for this episode. The Assemblies of God International has a position paper titled "Holiness," and that paper includes a section with the heading "Holiness and Jewelry." So, in that, it states the following: "I'll read it to you: The scriptures teach us that the wearing of ornamental jewelry and expensive, showy clothing is not in harmony with the Christian lifestyle. Paul wrote, '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.' That's obviously 1 Timothy 2:9."
So, the question I have is, how do we make sense of this verse? Because some of these words, at least from the King James version, are not ones that we use a lot today. How do we make sense of this and apply it to modern life? And as part of your answer, could you address this idea of "costly array" that Paul mentions? I'll say many of our audience members who are listening to this podcast, they may be familiar with the well-known Instagram account "Preachers and Sneakers," and the person who is responsible for that account likes to single out celebrity preachers and point out how expensive their clothes are. You'll have a picture of the preacher along with maybe a screenshot of that particular item that they're wearing in a catalog. So, could you comment on that idea of "costly array" along with this idea about jewelry that Paul talks about?
Yes, I, let's, um, this is an important, um, point. And for detailed description discussion, I have two books: *In Search of Holiness*, which lays out the biblical teaching, which would include ornamental jewelry and moderation of dress, and then *Practical Holiness*, which is a follow-up, and it includes answers to objections, a more detailed discussion of certain passages of scripture, uh, and also some interesting information of church history that this teaching actually is very common throughout church history, especially when there were revival groups. So, the early post-apostolic church, um, as well as the, the Methodist, the, um, actually the early Presbyterians as well, um, the, um, Holiness movement, the Pentecostal movement. So, what we're talking about is really very common teaching among conservative Christians throughout history of various backgrounds, although today it's not so common. Uh, so let's talk about this.
But let me go to 1 Corinthians, or you, you mentioned 1 Timothy. Let me read it in the New King James: 1 Timothy 2:8-10. Now, there's also a, a related passage in 1 Peter 3. So, I think it's interesting, the two foremost apostles of the New Testament, both Paul and Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, felt specifically to address this for the New Testament church. You also have some teaching, uh, from the Old Testament, which was not as comprehensive because the Old Testament people were not filled with the Spirit. They were not given the same guidelines of holiness, uh, but we do find examples that are relevant.
Uh, I would also say, when you talk about holiness, outward appearance is only one small portion, maybe 10%. So, I don't want to get off track of thinking this is the most important subject. I really do feel the matters of the heart, your spirit, your attitude, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, that's much more significant. But because this is visible and countercultural, and although common in Christian history, now it's uncommon among Christian churches, well, then we stand out as different. And so, of course, this subject gets a lot of attention because of that. Uh, so let's read from the text.
The Apostle Paul, uh, inspired by the Spirit, 1 Timothy 2:8: "I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works."
So, he starts off by saying, "I want the men to worship God in holiness." I'm paraphrasing. And then he mentions two, uh, potential temptations or besetting sins of men. And I think it is true, it's a generalization, it's not true of every individual, but overall, men would be more prone to skepticism, uh, about God and religion. Women seem to respond earlier in revival movements, and women seem to outnumber men in churches because men are slower to have faith. And wrath, violent rage. 90% of partner or spousal abuse cases, men against women. So, yes, if a woman has a temptation with wrath and doubting, this would apply to her, but it's a generalization, but very real. "Men, I want you to worship God in holiness, and let's make sure to deal with two besetting temptations that are very common to men: violent rage and skepticism."
Verse 9: "In like manner also." So, just as I want the men to worship God in holiness and to to remove besetting sins or temptations that could damage or undermine their holiness, so I want women to worship God in holiness and pay attention to besetting temptations or sins that could undermine their holiness. And I would say the same thing. He talks about women, but to the extent that men have this issue, then it applies to men as well. And I would say in our culture, men do have more issues here. Uh, throughout history, um, usually, I would say the, the emphasis, men are more visually oriented, and so they put pressure on women to conform to their expectations of beauty and extravagance. And women try to outdo themselves in various cultures with makeup and jewelry and an extravagant dress more than men tend to do because of that disparity. But, and so Paul is, in his culture, that was the case. It would be more prone for women to try to attract the male through various forms of jewelry than vice versa.
So, he gives some proper things: "Adorn themselves in modest apparel." Notice the scripture is not saying be ugly, be plain, don't pay attention, be unkempt, slovenly, you know, try to look, um, unattractive. No, actually, "adorn" means to make yourself attractive. So, it's perfectly fine for a woman to want to be attractive, but in a proper way, with modest clothes, clothing not clothing that immodestly exposes the body, not clothing that explicitly appeals to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. And the problem with ornamental jewelry, and I'm quoting there from First John chapter 2, "the things of the world." The problem with ornamental jewelry, first of all, it appeals to the lust of the flesh. You're, you're trying to entice with the eyes in a lustful way, uh, the lust of the flesh, that is, you know, glorifying your own, uh, physical flesh. And, and again, the appeal to the eyes, but the appeal to sensuality and sexuality. And then pride, ego, you know, exalting self. "I'm rich, I'm look, everybody look at me, I'm godly," etc. So, we're trying to guard against these besetting sins that are mentioned in 1 John 2:15 through 17. Or these are these avenues of temptation. The three main avenues of temptation are all implicated here. Uh, so, but the positive statement is, yes, you can decorate yourself. So, so having different colors or ribbons or bows or or various things like that, it's not forbidden.
"Adorn yourself," but under certain guidelines: "modest apparel," "with propriety." What's appropriate to the occasion? So, what you're wearing in your home versus in public, or what you're wearing when you go to sleep, or, you know, when you take a shower, or when you're swimming with same-sex friends, or working out with same-sex friends, you know, there are different levels of propriety. So, what is appropriate to the occasion? So, we're particularly talking about in mixed company, in public. Um, and "moderation." "Not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing."
Now, braided hair, I don't think it's meaning the simple arrangement of the hair. Uh, if you study the culture and you study women in the the Mediterranean world and the Jewish world of the first century that Paul would have been directly addressing, uh, they, they typically all had long hair, as we see in 1 Corinthians 11. But some would, uh, make quite elaborate hair arrangements, and often they would braid jewelry into the hair, a string of pearls, or maybe a silk cord with gold coins strung along it, elaborate headdresses or tiaras. So, it's, um, and you look at bible dictionaries, encyclopedias, you'll see the pictures and you'll see the discussion. It doesn't seem that Paul and Peter are opposing the neat arrangement of the hair by braiding it. It's the elaborate, extravagant arrangement, particularly with ornaments woven in or or, uh, put in onto the hair. Um, and then he used examples of gold or pearls. I think this is an example of precious metal and precious jewels. Now, I don't think we should look at this legalistically, "Well, you can't wear gold jewelry, but only silver jewelry. You can't wear pearl jewelry, but you can wear diamond jewelry." I think he's given an example. While these elements may have valid uses in other contexts, on your person, you should avoid, uh, ornamental jewelry. And while other, you know, what we call jewelry, like watches, or maybe even, uh, cufflinks, or maybe, um, for some people, the wedding ring has great symbolic value. So, as far as the UPC is concerned, we're not interpreting this to forbid everything that will be called jewelry if it has a functional purpose that is more significant than any ornamental purpose, and its moderation, then there is some discretion. I think there's some Christian liberty for pastors and for individuals to for pastors to teach and for individuals to choose what is appropriate. But the principle here of ornamental jewelry is clearly stated: don't, uh, don't, don't wear this.
And "costly clothing." But instead, if you want to attract someone, the foremost way is through good works. And I think that is important to emphasize because our culture puts so much emphasis on physical appearance, and even explicit sexual, um, temptation, and, uh, or open sexuality. And of course, a youth culture. And if, if that's, yes, we are attracted to one another visually with beauty or handsomeness or, uh, physical attraction. But if that is the main identification, you're creating problems because, first of all, no one can measure up. And second of all, we all change over time. And if your relationship is more physically oriented, then over time you're going to run into trouble. But if it's based on godly character, good works, then through the changes of life and the changes of your body, your relationship can be constant and even grow. And so the scripture is trying to put the emphasis on that.
But if you wanted to extract some principles here, and there are other passages such as 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Peter 3 that are relevant, but I see several principles. One, a gender distinction. So, he's treating men and women differently. And "adorn the women adorn themselves in modest apparel," and he uses the word "apparel" indicates clothing of a long, flowing nature that was used by women in that time. So, first of all, we see men and women should dress differently to represent their unique, um, gender or sex as created by God. Second, modesty. Which modesty, I think, means decently covering the body, the torso, the upper limbs, to avoid, uh, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, uh, open sexual appeal, focus on an overall attractiveness, not sexuality. Um, and modest also has a secondary connotation of what's, um, not extravagant, not, you know. And, but that's stated later. So, I think the primary reference here to modesty, and it's connected with propriety. Uh, the King James says "shamefacedness," which that's an old-fashioned word, but it's a sense of shame, not not being ashamed of yourself, but being ashamed to be immodest. So, yes, we should be ashamed to say or do or some certain things or look in certain ways. So, that sense of what is proper and appropriate. So, that's the second principle.
Modesty, moderation. That's a third principle, uh, and it connects with costly array. So, you can have nice clothing, but not extravagant clothing. And then the fourth principle is, um, ornamental jewelry. And I also would put makeup in the same category. It's trying to ornament yourself artificially to draw attention to the physical appearance and to sexuality. So, I see these four principles: gender distinction, uh, modesty, moderation, and avoiding ornamental jewelry, explicitly stated in the scripture.
Now, let's talk about costly clothing and let's talk about moderation. I do believe our overall Christian life should be in moderation. So, it's not just the clothes we wear, and it's not just certain articles of jewelry. Um, so let's say, okay, I'm not going to wear a nose ring, um, but if I wear a $20,000 gold Rolex watch with jewels all over it, am I primarily using that to tell time? Would that violate moderation? So, obviously, I'm suggesting it would. So, we're not looking at legalistically at categories, we're looking at the overall picture.
Now, moderation is subjective. Um, so it's based to some extent on culture. What I mean by that is, if you're living in a very poor society, what might seem extravagant would be one thing. Where if you're living in an affluent society, that might just be considered normal and average. So, I don't think we have to live at the lowest possible level. I think you take into account what is considered normal and standard in your culture. And so, for a preacher, I don't think the preacher should live at the very top of the congregation, but what is considered moderate in your surrounding culture, your city, your country, and what is even considered moderate in your church. And especially a pastor who is, uh, of a large, successful church. The people don't want him to be to live at a low level where he, because that's an embarrassment in the community. We, we, you can't even support your pastor or as he meets prominent members of the community if he is not dressed well and doesn't live well, and he's inviting people to his home or he's taking people in his car. And if he's living in very low, beat-up circumstances, well, then he's a poor representative of the church. The church wants him to be a good representative.
So, I would say the pastor should not live at the top of of what the richest people of the congregation can afford, but he shouldn't live at the bottom, bottom, but probably somewhere in the upper half. Uh, it would, should probably be less than what he can make in a secular career. That's part of ministry where you're serving others, and you're deliberately choosing to be more moderate, not extravagant. Because if the pastor's living at the very top, uh, then I think that is drawing undue attention to himself, and that seems to be saying, "Well, I'm in ministry because I can make more money with this than anything else," or "I'm in ministry because of all the perks." And that's not a good example. Uh, so that's subjective. But, you know, maybe take, uh, the average of the 10 top tithe payers, and maybe you'll see what a reasonable salary might be. I don't know. Uh, or you can compare yourself to other nonprofits. There are studies that that of churches across America, nonprofits across America.
Uh, I, I'll just give a personal example, just to be candid, okay? So, I was trained as a lawyer. I was going to be a lawyer. I graduated from one of the top law schools in the nation, and at the top 3% of the class, and so forth. So, I was headed for a career, and I felt like I would make a lot of money, but I'd be generous in tithing and offering support to the church. Instead, I went into the ministry. So, I'm making a good salary. So, for someone who's living at a poverty level, they would might say I'm rich and extravagant. But compared to, um, what I could be making in the secular world, I'm making a whole lot less. And even compared to what a pastor could make, I think I'm making a good amount, but I'm not taking advantage.
Okay, with my wife and I, we started a church in our home in Austin, Texas, and we grew it to about a thousand people of constituents. 956 were on the regular attendance roll, plus others, of course, coming. And we had 16 daughter works, so probably 2,000 people all total associated with our original effort. Today, there are 23 churches associated with the New Life Network, either we started the church as a daughter work, or we sent a pastor, take a small group of people, and they started, built up the church. So, you know, if it were a business, I could be making lots of money. But for the first, we did set up a partial salary because I felt that was right. The church needed that in its budget. But actually, because of money we'd saved, and I worked to support myself, I wrote books, I worked on ministry jobs, but it was still jobs that I worked on. I was basically holding down two jobs all my time as a pastor. Uh, so for the first 10 years, we actually gave more money to the church than what we took from the church. And then for the next four years, we only took a partial salary for that size. And it was only the last four years that we really took a full salary for that size of a church.
Now, I'm not saying this to bring any glory to myself. We live in a very nice car. We live in a very nice home. But the home was basically built from, uh, outside income, not from church income. Um, and we have a nice salary, but we have given, and we still give, generously to missions and so forth. So, I, I guess I'm just trying, and I'll give a simple example. Uh, you know, I have a car that was given to me in Austin. It was given to me by a businessman. So, you know, so when you, if you evaluate a pastor, "Well, he's driving a nice car." Well, maybe it was given to him. Maybe he had a business on the side, and he's worked double time to do that. Maybe he's supporting the church. And we know a lot of pastors that, yes, in fact, I would say the majority of our pastors are bivocational, and many of them, they support the church without them, the church couldn't survive or be severely hindered in many cases. They're the biggest contributor to the church instead of getting money through the church. So, when you try to evaluate, uh, situations, you better be careful.
I would say all Christians, including pastors, we should live moderate lives. So, we shouldn't dress so extravagantly everybody looks at us and says, "Oh, look at them, they're making a fashion statement." But just because they have some nice clothes or nice cars or nice accessories or take a nice vacation or have a nice home, we, there, there should be a principle of moderation in all those things. But we shouldn't demand that they live at the lowest level. And we should be very careful in judgment because, as I've just said, there are so many factors of people giving to them, of them working sacrificially to support the church and support what they're doing, or them actually foregoing a career where they could have excelled in that area. So, uh, I do. But having said all that, I do believe every Christian should take a serious look at your life, clothing, and your overall lifestyle. And we're thankful for God's blessings. So, there, there's plenty of scripture to say, "Enjoy the blessings of God." You don't have to live in poverty. You don't have to try to prove that you're humble or prove that you're ascetic. But on the other hand, in the eyes of the world, and the eyes of the church, people that you're trying to lead or be an example to, there is this principle of moderation.
So, four principles I see here: uh, gender distinction of outward appearance and dress, mo, uh, modesty of dress, moderation in dress and lifestyle, hair and dress, and avoiding ornamental jewelry. I do believe these are scriptural principles that are for the church today.
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