Dear Mr. Rushmore, I read your article “Modesty: Biblical Investigation, Contemporary Application” . . . It was a very interesting article, but I became a little concerned about some of the things that were written. I know a very beautiful woman who likes to wear revealing outfits and she does it very tastefully. She also loves and worships the Lord and her character is very holy and very admirable, in my opinion. When I see her, I recognize that her outer beauty was a true blessing from above, but I never lose sight of her inner beauty. But is she still committing a sin just because there may be other men out there that might have different (perhaps lustful) thoughts when they see her in these revealing clothes? Shouldn’t it be the men that see these kinds of women and lust after them that are the sinners rather than the women themselves? What about men like myself that see these women, recognize their beauty (both inner and outer), yet they don’t lust after them? ~ Sincerely, Concerned Male, Syracuse, NY
Adam and Eve, the first man and the first woman, were created by God and placed into the Garden of Eden. They were naked – with God’s implicit approval (Genesis 2:25; cf. 3:11). It well may have been the case that had sin never entered the world (i.e., neither through Adam and Eve nor through any of their descendants), we might all be running around naked in paradise – with at least God’s implicit approval.
However, the introduction of sin into the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve forever altered man’s habitation. Several consequences ensued that changed both the habitat in which mankind lives as well as the circumstances attending his domicile on earth. These changes from the mankind’s former blissful existence in paradise include: (1) Adam and Eve (representative of their subsequent posterity, too) became aware of their nakedness and were ashamed (Genesis 3:7). (2) Adam and Eve became afraid of God (Genesis 3:8-9). (3) Eve (and subsequently all women) was assigned labor pains in childbirth and consigned to the rule of her husband (Genesis 3:16). (4) Adam was charged to laboriously farm unwilling fields infested with weeds and thorns (Genesis 3:17-19). (5) Adam and Eve lost their access to the tree of life (and the Eden paradise itself) and were advised that they would experience death (Genesis 3:19, 22-24). (6) God explicitly withdrew his approval of mankind’s nakedness by clothing Adam and Eve (at that time still the only two human beings on the planet) (Genesis 3:21).
Adam and Eve derived their first clothing from “fig leaves” and made “aprons” (Genesis 3:7). These “aprons” were essentially loin-cloths,” which is what the original Hebrew word translated “aprons” means. God apparently disapproved of their “aprons” and instead clothed Adam and Eve with “coats” made from animal skins (Genesis 3:21). The “coats” with which God clothed Adam and Eve were long shirt-like garments. The original Hebrew word that is translated “coat” also appears as “garment” and “robe.” Despite Adam and Eve’s meager efforts to clothe themselves, God obviously considered them yet unclothed and needing yet to be clothed. Following Adam and Eve’s sin in Eden, a sense of modesty awakened in them, which though they attempted to address, they did not address it to God’s satisfaction. Therefore, God essentially defined modesty for them (and us) by substituting garments of his choosing for the first couple’s fig leaves.
Throughout the religious historical periods of Patriarchy and Judaism (in the Old Testament) and Christianity (in the New Testament), God continued to enjoin his definition of modesty upon humanity. For instance, one opting for provocative attire in Old Testament times was acknowledged as a sinner. “And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart” (Proverbs 7:10). Likewise, persons in the New Testament are also commanded to practice modesty (1 Timothy 2:9-10).
Finally, notice the text of 1 Timothy 2:9-10.
“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; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.”
Modesty is coupled with godliness and contrasted with immodesty in this citation. From the time Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, immodesty or degrees of undress and godliness have been and continue to be biblically incompatible. Therefore, anyone who dresses immodestly in public sins and further contributes to the sins others may embrace, such as lust, because of that immodesty. Friends don’t let friends dress immodestly (Ephesians 5:11)!
