Standards of the Church: Christian Dress

present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

There are two kingdoms in this world. The Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. There are two spirits operating in these two kingdoms, the spirit of God and the spirit of Satan. There are two kinds of people, the children of God and the children of Satan. There are two standards of living, righteous and un‑righteous. The children of the kingdom of Satan cannot love the things of God for the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither can be. Also, the children of the Kingdom of God are admonished not to love the world, neither the things that are of the world. If we love the world, the love of God is not there — visa versa etc.

The Church is in the world (geographically) but not of the world (spiritually). The word ‘church’ comes from the word ‘Ekklesia’ and it means ‘called out’. The world has a mold, a standard of conduct and dress. The Bible is emphatic in admonishing the Church not to allow the world to squeeze the Church into its mold.

Bible is a different book from all other books. Christ was a uniquely different person than any other person. Then, the institution produced by Christ as revealed in the Book should be a different institution than any other.

Christianity is a matter of the heart, not a matter of the body. To use a modern phrase, “the quality goes in before the name goes on.” Put name on etc., hurts reputation of product.

You cannot put on or take off Christianity as a garment. Neither can you put on or take off pride and worldliness as a garment. They, too, are a matter of the heart. What does happen is that which is in the heart manifests itself in what the mind thinks, the mouth speaks, the body does, in what it wears.

Illustration: Bro. F. G. Smith says in his book, “What the Bible Teaches” — ‘when we see a display sign outside a store, we expect to find inside the store what is displayed.’ He goes on to say, ‘dress is one way the pride in the heart finds expression.’ Let us look at what the Bible has to say about Christian dress in the light of present day practices. Let’s look at it from the standpoint of apparel and adornment.