A Theology of Woman from 1 Timothy 2:8-10: Gospel-Driven Modesty

This series is adapted from Sunday School lessons I wrote several years ago for women and teen girls. The goal was to form a “theology of woman” by looking chronologically at all of the major portions of Scripture regarding women and womanhood. What does the Bible say are the roles, duties, challenges, and opportunities that we have as women? 

Every mother and wife concerned about the purity of her son’s and husband’s hearts is likely going to champion modest dress—and rightly so. Yet, the Bible does give further reason for us to dress modestly: Our modest appearance reflects the work of the Gospel in our hearts.

This post will address the aim, attitude, and appearance of modesty.

The Aim of Modesty: Love for God

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also 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. (1 Timothy 2:8-10, ESV)

Throughout 1 Timothy, Paul is addressing issues within the Ephesian church. Two of the issues addressed here were (1) men causing division and (2) women causing distraction within the church. The men were quarreling, and the women were dressing immodestly and extravagantly. Instead, godliness should have been the aim!

Paul discusses the specifics of modesty in verse 9, then he points to the aim of modesty in verse 10. He says that a modest woman is a woman who professes godliness! A godly woman does good works (v 10) and dresses modestly (v 9) to evidence her godliness.

The aim of a modest appearance is to exemplify that a woman is committed to godliness. Thus, the primary motivation for modesty should be love for God.

A woman who loves God. . .

• Loves God’s Word.
• Loves to honor God by obeying His Word.
• Loves to show others she honors God by her modest appearance.
• Loves to worship God and share the Gospel message without distracting others by immodest dress or behavior.

So, a woman’s love for God is her motivation for modesty. To be immodest could be a poor testimony to her love for God. 

The Attitude of Modesty: Humility and Self-control 

1 Timothy 2:10 describes the modest woman as one who “professes godliness.” She has a godly heart. What are the attitudes of this godly heart?

How can you discern the sometimes fine line between proper dress and dressing to be the center of attention? The answer lies in the intent of the heart. You should examine your motives and goals for the way you dress. Is your intent to reflect the grace and beauty of womanhood? Is it to show your love and devotion to your husband? Is it to reveal a humble heart devoted to worshiping God? Or is it to call attention to yourself—to flaunt your wealth and beauty? Or worse, to attempt to allure men sexually? . . .  If you are focused on worshiping God, you won’t have to worry about how you dress because your commitment will dictate your wardrobe.¹

An Attitude of Humility

The Greek word translated “modestly” in verse 9 refers to modesty mixed with humility. At its core it connotes a sense of shame—not shame in being a woman, but shame for in any way inciting lust or distracting others from a proper worship of God.²

A woman with a godly heart is humble. In this context, a humble heart is reflected in her clothing; she does not proudly draw attention to herself. Rather, she humbly dresses in a way that focuses attention on her godly works and the Gospel message she promotes.

An Attitude of Self-control

Women are commanded to dress with self-control, which can be defined as a “practice of prudence, good judgment, moderation, self-control as exercise of care and intelligence appropriate to circumstances.”³

The ultimate aim of this self-control is godliness, a testimony to the transforming work of the gospel.

The Appearance of Modesty 

1 Timothy 2:9  gives three guidelines for how we are to adorn ourselves:

• In respectable apparel
• With modesty
• With self-control

Adorn (Greek kosmeō) comes from the root word kosmos, which can mean “order.”  Adorn means “to put in order so as to appear neat or well organized, make neat/tidy.”⁴ Following these principles will ensure that our appearance is in proper order, rightly reflecting how God wants us to look.

Respectable: Is it becoming? 

The Greek word respectable is kosmios, also from the root word kosmos. Kosmios is defined as “pertaining to being proper or suitable in terms of being attractive.”⁵ Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher, described “someone who is kosmios as the citizen who quietly fulfills the duties which are incumbent on him and is not disorderly.”⁶

One author writing to women gives several questions to ask ourselves as we make our clothing choices. Rather than simply asking, “Do I like it and does it fit?” we can ask ourselves the following questions:

1. Does it fit with who I am as a child of God?
2. Does it fit with Christlikeness?
3. Does it fit and flatter my body?
4. Does it fit and flatter my femininity?
5. Does it fit my age and stage of life?
6. Does it fit my wardrobe?
7. Does it fit my budget?
8. Does it fit my needs?
9. Does it fit the occasion?
10. Does it fit the place I intend to wear it?⁷

Modesty: Is it decent? 

Modesty is humility in dress. It is a shame to show off our bodies in order to distract or seduce others. The purpose of clothing is to cover our nakedness. We respect the men around us and aid them in their daily battles against sin by not proudly showing off our bodies.

We also humbly realize the need to honor our Savior. In humility, we place our value on what God thinks, rather than on what we think. This kind of humility displayed in dress is a way we can evidence our love for God.

Self-control: Is it moderate? 

Here, we apply the attitude of self-control to our appearance.

We ought to rein in our impulses and avoid crazy extremes in fashion, hairstyles, and makeup. We also ought to avoid spending crazy amounts of money or stuffing our closets full of crazy quantities of clothing. We ought to govern our wardrobe choices with a sense of moderation, simplicity, and self-control. If the skirt is crazy extreme, crazy expensive, or if it’s crazy for you to be buying another one, then you ought to pass it up.⁸

Immodesty is a timeless problem. In Paul’s day, it looked like elaborately braided hair studded with gold and pearls, distracting the men and distinguishing the wealthy from the poor. In our day, immodesty looks quite different.

However, the principles of modesty are timeless as well. A humble, self-controlled woman whose primary focus is evidencing her love for God will arrange her appearance in a becoming, decent, moderate way so that her good works and godly heart will take preeminence. Her conduct and her appearance support her claim to godliness, and her godliness supports her claim to be a believer in the gospel and the Lord Jesus Christ who has eternally changed her life.

—

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

1. John MacArthur, Different by Design, MacArthur Study Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 132. [↩]
2. Ibid. [↩]
3. William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 987. [↩]
4. Ibid, 560. [↩]
5. Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 627. [↩]
6. Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000), Logos edition. [↩]
7. Mary Kassian, Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2010), 105. [↩]
8. Ibid, 107. [↩]