The True Meaning of Modesty

I have heard many people claim that a decent Christian woman should dress modest. I've heard sermons about the importance of women dressing modestly. The two most common verses used as the basis for modest dress are I Timothy 2:9 and I Peter 3:3, usually from the King James version. Here is a more modern translation.

In I Timothy 2:9 the bible says, "I want women to show their beauty by dressing in appropriate clothes that are modest and respectable. Their beauty will be shown by what they do, not by their hair styles or the gold jewelry, pearls, or expensive clothes they wear."

In I Peter 3:3, "Wives must not let their beauty be something external. Beauty doesn't come from hairstyles, gold jewelry, or clothes."

Here is what most pastors are not telling you. First, the Greek word used to translate into the English word "modest" is "kosmios". The original Greek word simply meant to place in order, to arrange. The word kosmios actually comes from the Greek word "kosmos", which is where we get our modern word cosmos, universe, and world. The Greeks looked at the great kosmos/universe as something that was well organized and controlled by their many Greek gods. When the Greek word Kosmios was used, it reminded the ancient Greeks of the adornment of the stars in the sky, how carefully they were placed and organized.

Second, the context of the verses also help clarify the true meaning of the word modesty. Both verses immediately speak that beauty does not come from hairstyles, gold jewelry, or expensive clothes. The modesty concept taught in the bible does not concern itself with length of a skirt or how much skin is showing; instead, the verses focus on how expensive and rich the person is looking. It has more to do with finances and looking extravagant than how much skin was showing. Actually, a poor and person of modest finances would commonly have less clothing and might even go naked. It was common for the poor people to go naked, or mostly naked during biblical times.

Gold jewelry and expensive clothes defined the life style of the more wealthy people during biblical times. The emphasis taught in I Timothy and I Peter is that a Christian women should influence people by what she does, not what she wears. She should not try to impress someone by fixing her hair up really nice, putting on jewelry and nice clothes.

Ironically, if you walk into many churches throughout the country on a Sunday morning, you will see most women dressed up nicer than they get dressed the rest of the week. For some people, they have special clothes they wear on Sunday, they sometimes call them their "Sunday clothes" or "Church clothes". Kids are told not to get their church clothes messed up. Why? Because we want them to look nice.

It is rather sad that many churches and pastors have missed the true meaning of I Timothy and I Peter, in regards to how people should dress. He is not concerned with how much skin we are showing, remember He created us naked and said it was good. Instead, God is always concerned about how the riches of the world and influences of wealth affect our lives. He is less concerned with the outward appearance and mostly concerned with the inward, which is really clear in I Peter 3.

Based on historical information, we know the most modest financial person in ancient Greece or Rome would have been fortunate to own one piece of clothing. That clothing probably would have been torn, ripped, thin, and maybe pieced together from rags or fragments. That single garment was very important to a modest/poor person, as they were never sure when they would earn enough money to buy another piece of clothing. Therefore, it was common for the working class to remove that single piece of clothing while they worked, to protect it from further damage. The Bible even hints of this practice (John 21:7), as we find Peter had removed his clothing while he was fishing. More than likely, Peter did not want to get what might be his only garment ruined by the smell of fish, or worse torn by the sharp fish hooks. Therefore, the clothing worn by those of modest finances was probably more revealing than the clothing worn by the wealthier. Instructing a woman in the Greek/Roman culture to dress more modest would not result in her covering up more skin. It could result in her showing more skin.