Several students in my Bible class are moving to middle school this fall. They are both excited and nervous. This is so typical for this age, but I am always interested in hearing some of the before-class conversations among the students. Last Sunday was no exception. This time it was all about going to a new school and having a dress code. What evolved was a Bible teaching moment I just couldn’t pass up.

One of the girls told me that they must now wear certain colored shirts with tan pants or shorts. Their shirts must cover their hips, even if they wear leggings. Their shorts must be at their knees. One of the boys declared that it is about time they did something about the shorts. He said, “These girls wear these booty shorts all the time.” The remark got a laugh from the kids, and I almost lost it!

So, here is my teaching moment. I kept thinking, what can I say to that? So, I gave them a short lesson on God’s dress code. Since they studied about Paul and Timothy in VBS this year, I decided that was a good place to start. I told them how Paul instructed Timothy to teach the women to dress in modest apparel (First Timothy 2:9). We talked about what modesty means. They defined modesty as “appropriate clothes”, but we talked about one of the definitions being “shy”. The same boy that talked about the booty shorts said that shy is not the way the girls are dressing. My next question was, “Why do you think the girls dress that way?” They thought a minute, but no one answered. This same boy then said, “If I was a girl, I wouldn’t want the boys looking at me like they do at the girls”. Wow. He made my point, and I didn’t have to say it. We talked about being “a peculiar people” and being pure in heart. All of this took just a few short minutes, but it was a lesson I won’t soon forget.

Not only do our schools need a dress code, but our society needs a dress code. Remember when Adam and Eve sinned, the text says, “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths” (Genesis 3:7 ESV). They were ashamed because they were naked. Society today does not know how to be ashamed. Ashamed means “embarrassed or guilty because of one’s actions, characteristics, or associations”. Adam and Eve did not have to be told they were naked. Their sin opened their eyes, and they knew. They were embarrassed because they were guilty of sinning.

Queen Vashti knew the value of appropriateness in dress. Sadly, the king had no respect for her or valued her as his wife. He asked her to appear at a drunken feast to show off her beauty. She refused. Her beauty was to be displayed for him, not the drunk men at his party (Esther 1).

The daughter of Herodias danced before her stepfather, and her provocative dance and dress led him to promise her whatever she wanted up to half the kingdom. Her request was for the head of John the Baptizer (Matthew 14).

Paul gave the young preacher Timothy some instructions on his teaching of women. He told him that women should “adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works” (First Timothy 2:9-10 ESV).

There is some interesting information about this passage in Adam Clarke’s commentary on First Timothy. He says that this was a reference to the dress of some of the Grecian and Roman women. Their usual dress was a long piece of cloth, doubled in the middle, and sewed up on both sides, leaving room only for the arms. At the top of the dress, a piece was cut out, or a slit made through which the head passed. It hung down to the feet, sometimes without sleeves. Some of the Greek women wore them open on each side, from the bottom up above the knee to reveal their thighs. This command was to direct them not to imitate those who, “through impurity or littleness of mind, decked themselves merely to attract the eye of admiration, or set in lying action the tongue of flattery.”

I have advocated for years that modesty, or lack thereof, is a matter of the heart. I think what the young man in my Bible class said proved this.

The dictionary defines modesty as “dressing or behaving so as to avoid impropriety or indecency, especially to avoid attracting sexual attention”. Let’s be honest. Do we really think this definition fits the dress of women we see today?

I often hear the argument, “Times have changed. Customs are different.” The Bible does not change. It was written for all times. There is no reason to have discussions about whether skirts are too short, tops too low cut, fabric being too shear and revealing, or what items of clothing we can and cannot wear. Modesty is a matter of the heart, wanting to be obedient to God. We will know whether what we have on is modest. We can ask ourselves, “Why do I want to wear this item of clothing? Our answer may surprise us. We should be prayerful about the items of clothing we wear. We should ask ourselves, “If the Lord comes, is this the way I want Him to find me?”

Sandra Oliver