DRESSING and DECENCY

By Venerable Dr Ifechukwu Ibeme

Websites: http://www.scribd.com/ifeogo ; http://priscaquila.6te.net ;
Comment on The Chapel of Grace Blog: http://thechapelofgrace.wordpress.com

The Church is not a respecter of cultures, else we should still be killing twins from old cultures and be
promoters of sexual promiscuity and other perversions from modern culture.

For the Christian Church, Cultures (swinging human trends, tendencies and traditions) is born out of
convictions, concepts and conducts which are vile, vain, godless, darkened, hardened, callous (Eph
4:17-19). Therefore, Cultures should be subjected to the corrective of the Scriptures (settled Divine
Truth). Any cultural ideology and practice that fails the principles and precepts of the Gospel is to be
opposed and rejected by the Church. In their stead, the Church should demonstrate Scriptural
principles and patterns for the world to see and learn.

NAKEDNESS IS NOT FOR HUMANS WITH A GODLY SENSE OF SHAME BUT FOR ANIMALS WITH NO
SENSE OF SHAME.
Genesis 3:7-8
(7) And their eyes were open and they were conscious that they had no clothing and
they made themselves aprons of leaves stitched together.
(8) And there came to them the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the
evening wind: and the man and his wife went to a secret place among the trees of the
garden, away from the eyes of the Lord God.

Genesis 3:21
(21) And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins for their clothing.

It was the consciousness of shame for their nakedness which Adam and Eve felt that made God to
mercifully clothe them with leather coats as covering for their nakedness.

Before then, they were fully covered with God's Glory but when they sinned, they lost that glorious
covering to become naked and ashamed. Unlike animals who never had glory and are never ashamed of
nakedness, it is dehumanizing for humans to be naked. God had to cover the inglorious nakedness of
Adam and Eve properly with coats of leather instead of the skimpy twigs and leaves they attempted to
use which was inadequate.

By that provision of leather coats for adequately dignifying covering, God has made dressing with
adequate clothing to be a proper temporal cover of shame of nakedness — but also a reminder of the
glory we lost and badly need to cover our shame. Pagan cultures may display nakedness as vogue but
the godly Scriptures despise it as vile.

Anyone who does not feel ashamed of nakedness has an animalistic spirit and not yet living (or no
longer living) by a godly human consciousness.

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DRESSING IS ADORNMENT OF CLOTHING TO COVER NAKEDNESS.
Watch how you dress, because it says a lot about who you are and what you are up to.

Many today (even among the Church!) think that the goal of dressing should not be scriptural but be
entirely cultural – to follow popular trends and personal tendencies. In today’s hippie counterculture,
dressing is called fashion and is meant to display nakedness (INDECENCY) not to cover it (DECENCY),
madness not soundness, and vulgarity not modesty. Before now, it has always been known that when
getting dressed is done in order to uncover nakedness or exhibits nakedness, it is said to be indecent
dressing. But today seeking such values is disdained as offensive and unfashionable.

For Christians, learning from the fallacies and filthiness of the world’s cultures is a rejection of the
wisdom of the Lord as revealed in the Scriptures.

What sublime wisdom could we glean from the Scriptures as God’s purpose for clothing and dressing
which we owe the duty to show and witness as example to this degenerate and godless world?

FIRSTLY, The Scriptures make us understand that God is the Author and
Finisher of proper human dressing.
God is author of descent outdoor dressing
Genesis 3:21
(21) And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins for their clothing.

God is author of proper worship dressing

Exodus 28:39-40
(39) The coat is to be made of the best linen, worked in squares; and you are to make a
head-dress of linen, and a linen band worked in needlework.
(40) And for Aaron's sons you are to make coats, and bands, and head-dresses, so that
they may be clothed with glory and honour

THOSE WHO SEE DRESSING AS MUNDANE TEND TO REFUSE BRINGING GOD’S CONSIDERATION INTO
THEIR DRESSING, BUT THOSE WHO KNOW THAT DRESSING BEGAN WITH GOD BRING DIVINE
CONSIDERATIONS INTO THEIR DRESSING.

When God made man, humanity was without sin such that human nakedness was covered with God’s
glorious covering. With the assurance of a Husband to his wife, Christ assures us that, in heaven and the
resurrection this glorious covering will be restored by clothing the Church with sparkling unwrinkled
linen garment (Eph 5:25-27; Rev 19:8).
Ephesians 5:25-27
(25) Husbands, have love for your wives, even as Christ had love for the church, and
gave himself for it;
(26) So that he might make it holy, having made it clean with the washing of water by
the word,
(27) And might take it for himself, a church full of glory, not having one mark or fold
or any such thing; but that it might be holy and complete.

Revelation 19:8

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 (8) And to her it was given to be clothed in delicate linen, clean and shining: for the
clean linen is the righteousness of the saints.

From pagan mindset, dressing is human culture to satisfy mundane passions and pride (1John 2:16) but
from godly mindset, dressing is spiritual ordinance to fulfil divine purposes.

In the Scriptures, gold standard for “dressing to cover nakedness” INSTITUTED BY GOD is not
prescription of specific designs and styles but is known to follow some FIVE REVEALED PRINCIPLES.
Those who are in COVENANT with God should ensure their cultural TRADITIONS and TRENDS or their
personal TENDENCIES and style or design PREFERENCES never disregard these sublime PRINCIPLES from
Divine TRUTH.
.
1. SEXUAL DISTINCTION PRINCIPLE: DRESSING SHOULD DISTINGUISH BETWEEN MALE AND
FEMALE SEXES (Deut 22:5).

Deuteronomy 22:5
(5) It is not right for a woman to be dressed in man's clothing, or for a man to put on a
woman's robe: whoever does such things is disgusting to the Lord your God.

2. MODEST PROPRIETY PRINCIPLE: DRESSING SHOULD PORTRAY PROPER MODESTY AND SOBRIETY
(1Tim 2:9-10).

1 Timothy 2:9-10
(9) In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with decency
and propriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
(10) But (as becomes women professing godliness) with good works.

3. DIVINE SANCTITY PRINCIPLE: DRESSING SHOULD MANIFEST HOLINESS TO GOD (Exod 28:40).

Exodus 28:36-38
(36) You are to make a plate of the best gold, cutting on it, as on a stamp, these words:
HOLY TO THE LORD.
(37) Put a blue cord on it and put it on the front of the twisted head-dress:
(38) And it will be over Aaron's brow, so that Aaron will be responsible for any error in all
the holy offerings made by the children of Israel; it will be on his brow at all times, so that
their offerings may be pleasing to the Lord.

4. DIVINE DIGNITY PRINCIPLE: DRESSING SHOULD BRING GLORY TO GOD (Exod 28:39-40).

Exodus 28:39-40
(39) The coat is to be made of the best linen, worked in squares; and you are to make a
head-dress of linen, and a linen band worked in needlework.
(40) And for Aaron's sons you are to make coats, and bands, and head-dresses, so that
they may be clothed with glory and honour.

5. SPIRITUAL ORDER PRINCIPLE: DRESSING SHOULD RECOGNIZE SPIRITUAL HEADSHIP DURING

WORSHIP (1Cor 11:1-16).

1 Corinthians 11:1-5

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 (1) So take me for your example, even as I take Christ for mine.
(2) Now I am pleased to see that you keep me in memory in all things, and that you give
attention to the teaching which was handed down from me to you.
(3) But it is important for you to keep this fact in mind, that the head of every man is
Christ; and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.
(4) Every man who takes part in prayer, or gives teaching as a prophet, with his head
covered, puts shame on his head.
(5) But every woman who does so with her head unveiled, puts shame on her head: for it is
the same as if her hair was cut off.

1 Corinthians 11:10-13
(10) For this reason it is right for the woman to have a sign of authority on her head,
because of the angels.
(11) But the woman is not separate from the man, and the man is not separate from the
woman in the Lord.
(12) For as the woman is from the man, so the man is through the woman; but all things
are from God.
(13) Be judges yourselves of the question: does it seem right for a woman to take part in
prayer unveiled?

SECONDLY, Pagan Cultures make dresses that have always fallen short of
God’s good thoughts of propriety for humanity.
POSTMODERN HUMANITY IS ABANDONING GOD’S SCRIPTURALLY REVEALED COAT CLOTHING TO
REVERT BACKWARDS TO MAN’S CULTURALLY CONTRIVED APRON COVERING. THIS HAS BECOME
FRENZY AMONG THE YOUTHS.

When humanity fell into sin and lost his/her divinely provided glorious cover, they became ashamed
(Gen 3:6-11). Though they knew they were naked yet they did not know the proper way to go about
dealing with their nakedness. The best they could think out was cover themselves with skimpy indecent
APRONS (Hb= ”chagorah” vs 7), so God had to set a more respectable pattern for them by clothing them
with proper COATS (Heb= “kethoneth” vs 21) made from animal skins. God had to get them adequately
dressed up to cover their shameful nakedness before sending Adam and Eve away from the garden into
the wild world (Gen 3:21-24).
Genesis 3:6-11
(6) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and
did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
(7) 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.
(8) And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the
day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among
the trees of the garden.
(9) And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where are you?
(10) And he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was
naked; and I hid myself.
(11) And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree, of
which I commanded you that you should not eat?

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 Genesis 3:21-24
(21) Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and
clothed them.
(22) And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good
and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat,
and live forever:
(23) Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground
from which he was taken.
(24) So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden
Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way of the tree
of life.

THIRDLY, Present trending culture of INDECENT DRESSING that displays

rather than cover nakedness is modern paganism but not civilization.
Our youths and even the not-so-young do not understand what has hit them and what is manipulating
their way of life into instinctive folly rather than inspired wisdom. How come that dressing is now
perceived as means of revealing nakedness instead a means of concealing nakedness? Why this
renewed tendency towards designers’ obscene nudity instead of tailors’ decent dignity. Why dress for
salacity instead of dressing for sanity and sanctity? Many presume recent skimpy trouser fashion is
normal Western cultural dressing due to their temperate climate; but this is entirely incongruous. If you
wear trousers to cover cold why wear spaghetti to be exposed to the same cold?

INDECENT DRESSING (I.E. DRESSING TO DISPLAY NAKEDNESS) is not incidental personal aberrations but
a Cultural Revolution and globally syndicated rebellion. Indecent dressing is part of an organized
countercultural nonconformist movement which spread in America and Europe during the 1970s.

It began after WW II, when as part of the BEATNIK nonconformist movement of the 1950s by delinquent
middleclass university students and their eccentric lecturers. This became the HIPPIE countercultural
movement in the 1960s and metamorphosed into the WOODSTOCK movement in 1970s. These
rebellious movements all wanted to replace tradition with trend, replace tenets with tendencies, replace
objective standards with subjective preferences, replace sound-minded life with psychedelic life, replace
modest and descent dressing with sexy and cray fashion and replace purpose-driven lifestyle with
passion-driven alternatives. Today they and their worldviews have gained respectable tags as
postmodernist movement or postmodern culture, which is rapidly propagated globally through the
Entertainment Industry, Literature, Information Technology, the Mass Media, Mass production and
Philosophical reengineering.

WordWeb Dictionary defines the two movements as follows:

1. Noun: "beat generation"

A United States youth subculture of the 1950s; rejected possessions or regular work or
traditional dress; for communal living and psychedelic drugs and anarchism; favored modern
forms of jazz (e.g. bebop)
=beatniks, beats
~youth subculture
⊃beat, beatnik 

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 2. Noun: "hippie" (pl. hippies)
|hi-pee|
Someone who rejects the established culture; advocates extreme liberalism in politics and
lifestyle
=flower child, hippy, hipster
~crusader, meliorist, reformer, reformist, social reformer
⊂flower people, hippies, hipsters. 

3. Noun: "hippies"
|hi-peez|
A youth subculture (mostly from the middle class) originating in San Francisco in the 1960s;
advocated universal love and peace and communes and long hair and soft drugs; favored acid
rock and progressive rock music
= flower people, hipsters
~ youth subculture
⊃ flower child, hippie, hippy, hipster

Post-modern pagan culture no longer regards dressing and clothing as meant for shamefaced decency
to cover nakedness (Gen 3:7-10, 21) but for shameless fashion to exhibit the body and nakedness
especially for salacious seductiveness, rebellious revelry and promiscuous lustfulness.

Women who pursue modern flirting fashion of salacious gentile cultures are fast creeping into Churches
half-naked. These follow the past counsel of Balaam (Num 31:16) and Jezebel (Rev 2:20) to dress
moabitishly sexy or fashionably crazy with no regard for respectable modesty or decency.

In the recent decades of revising Divine Truth with mundane trend, many Christians had already been
deceived to revise or reject age-old apostolic teaching on the worship veil (1Cor 11:1-16) to
dishonorably unveil their head in Church with no reverence for apostolic ORDER of godly modesty (Rom
12:1-2; 1Tim 2:9-10; 1Pet 3:3-5) and apostolic ORDINANCE for angelic dignity (1Cor 11:1-5, 10-13).
1 Corinthians 11:1-5
(1) So take me for your example, even as I take Christ for mine.
(2) Now I am pleased to see that you keep me in memory in all things, and that you
give attention to the teaching which was handed down from me to you.
(3) But it is important for you to keep this fact in mind, that the head of every man is
Christ; and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.
(4) Every man who takes part in prayer, or gives teaching as a prophet, with his head
covered, puts shame on his head.
(5) But every woman who does so with her head unveiled, puts shame on her head: for
it is the same as if her hair was cut off.

1 Corinthians 11:10-13
(10) For this reason it is right for the woman to have a sign of authority on her head,
because of the angels.
(11) But the woman is not separate from the man, and the man is not separate from the
woman in the Lord.
(12) For as the woman is from the man, so the man is through the woman; but all
things are from God.

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 (13) Be judges yourselves of the question: does it seem right for a woman to take part
in prayer unveiled?

Socially speaking, to clothe oneself for public appearance is NOT for submission to the public BUT for
respect from them (Gen 3:7-11; Gen 9:20-23), because nakedness is social (and even spiritual) disgrace
(Ezek 16:37; Nah 3:5). Dressing recognizes and covers off the carnal shame of our naked bodies which we
carry along naturally. Today however, dresses are no longer decently tailored to cover naked shame
(Gen 3:7, 21) but fashionably designed to obscenely and crazily show off the carnal shame of exposed
bodies and figures.

Today’s New Age, “hippie” culture of fashionable nudeness is heathenish and must never be
brought into the Church’s Angelic fellowship and heavenly worship services. Even in the society,
fashionable nudity, salacity and decadence do not depict the shamefaced modesty, sobriety and
reverence that Christians should be known for (1Tim 2:9-10; Tit 2:11-13; 1Pet 3:3-4). THE GODLY
PURPOSE OF DRESSING IS TO COVER NAKEDNESS FOR DIGNITY AND DECENCY NOT FOR HEATHENISH
DEBAUCHERY OF DISPLAYING NAKEDNESS AND OBSCENE NUDITY (Exod 28:24; Ezek 16:8; Hos 2:9; Rev
3:18).

Adornment is meant for godly beauty and dignity (Exo 28:40-43; Job 40:10) not for worldly decadence
and dishonour. Over the years adornment has degraded from REVEALED dignifying decorousness to
REINVENTED elegant stylishness and now debased to REBELLIOUS fashionable salaciousness.

May God grant us understanding and readiness to live for Him by the power of His Spirit.

May the great virtues in our getting dressed draw many to come to Christ. Amen

Updated June 24, 2016

by Ven. Dr. I. U. Ibeme
Copyright  © PriscAquila Publishing, Maiduguri, Nigeria.
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