Be Careful, Your Theology is Showing
“When I see what you’re wearing, your theology is showing.”[1]
Does that statement leave you in dumbfounded confusion?
I don’t know about you, but last I looked in my closet, none of my clothes outline the finer points of total depravity or eschatology. Maybe a couple of indirect Scripture references. But these hardly detail my doctrinal beliefs in their fullness to whoever crosses my path on a given day.
Would I be correct in assuming you are not probably much different?
So, what does this pastor mean when he can tell our theology by the clothes on our back?
In the last article we explored how clothes have become a means of self-expression. Just as the world uses it for rebellious reasons, our clothes communicate something about us as believers. It reflects our understanding of who He is, who we are, and the gospel implications communicated by what we put on every day.
Typically, when we think of the Bible and clothing, the command for women to be modest in 1 Timothy 2:9 comes to mind…at which point every girl in the room groans and guys tune out.
However, a biblical theology of clothing goes back to the very beginning in Genesis 3. We need to start there to understand why we are clothed and thus reveal the huge problem with our society’s move toward becoming less clothed.
Oh, and by the way, this applies to girls AND guys.
Why Clothes?
The world likes to believe “our desire to wear clothing first emerged not because we felt shame…but because clothes were seen as magical, offering protection against the ‘evil eye.’”[2]
Let’s line that premise up next to the measuring rod of Scripture.
Nakedness was a part of the “very good” creation. Before sin entered the world, “the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Gen. 2:25). The word ashamed means “feeling shame, guilt, or disgrace; feeling inferior or unworthy; reluctant or unwilling to do something because of shame and embarrassment.”[3] None of that existed in Edenic paradise. Adam and Eve did not need to try to create some magic or mystery around their physicality. Their perfection gave them an innocence in which they could see the full beauty of each other’s body without shameful thoughts about themselves or one another. They had no capacity to turn their sexual desire into something evil. Therefore, “in the state of innocence and primitive integrity, nakedness was man’s richest clothing.”[4]
(How’s the world’s viewpoint holding up so far?)
One act of disobedience ended man’s innocence and purity. The subsequent verse begins the story of the end of the perfect creation. Have you ever noticed the first result of their sin? “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings” (Gen. 3:7). Their nakedness became shame and their lack of clothing immodest.
Adam and Eve insufficiently attempted an immediate solution by making their own clothes (Gen. 3:7-10). The Hebrew term for loin coverings in verse 7 implies that their fig leaf fashion may have only covered their private parts. Yet, it did not remove their guilt. When they heard God walking in the garden, they hid because they felt shame over their sense of nakedness. Contrary to worldly thinking, from that moment on, nakedness outside the marriage bed has always been associated with guilt, shame, and judgment (Dt. 28:47-48; Is. 20:2-4; 47:2-3; Jer. 13:26; Eze. 23:10; Mic. 1:11; Heb. 13:4).
God deemed their man-made covering insufficient and instead provided them His own coverings: “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them” (v. 21). The Hebrew word for these garments means a “tunic; a basic garment reaching the knees and so a common garment for common wear and work.”[5] In other words, He created something that covered their bodies. In addition, making them garments out of animal skin implies that an animal died to acquire it. Back in Genesis 2:17, God said that Adam would die if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet, they did not die. Instead, He killed an animal and used its skin to cover their guilt and shame.
Does that sound familiar? Where else in Scripture do we read of an “Animal” who died in the place of mankind?
On the next day, he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! – John 1:29
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. – 2 Corinthians 5:21
Just like Adam and Eve, all our self-righteous efforts to cover our sin, guilt, and shame are an insufficient, filthy garment (Is. 64:6). However, just like that animal, Christ, the Lamb of God, offered Himself as the substitutionary atonement on our behalf (Is. 53; Heb. 9:11-10:18). He watched His garments be gambled away as He suffered humiliation on the cross for our guilt and shame (Mt. 27:35). As a result of His sacrifice, He clothes us with garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness not our own (Is. 61:10). We do not have to try to cover our sin or suffer shame because He has justified and clothed us with Himself (Ps. 32:1-5; Gal. 3:27; 1 Jn. 1:9). He wears a robe dipped in blood so that we could wear heavenly robes of white linen for all eternity (Rev. 3:5, 19:7-8, 13-14).
Our earthly clothing, therefore, serves as a daily picture and reminder of the gospel.
John Piper summarizes these glorious truths well: “Our clothes are a witness both to our past and present failure and to our future glory. They testify to the chasm between what we are and what we should be. And they testify to God’s merciful intention to bridge that chasm through Jesus Christ and his death for our sins.”[6]
Our Romans 1 World
Based on that quick biblical survey, is it any wonder that worldly thinking says clothing has nothing to do with shame? In fact, I would dare say our depraved culture has totally lost its sense of shame.
But should we be surprised when we look at the progression of Romans 1:18-32? It shows the culture will reject God and slowly decline into idolatry, sexual immorality, homosexuality, and finally a depraved mind that does things which are not proper. What is the end result? “Although they know the ordinance of God…they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them” (v. 32).
America has rejected God. They have elevated man over Him and indulged in their fleshly lusts and passions. Clothing (or lack thereof) has become a means through which they do it. The fashion industry has helped them do it. The media promotes the growing indecency. They rewrite the narrative by training us to view modesty as that which brings shame. The people follow right along. Just like Adam and Eve, they have listened to satanic deceptions, seared their consciences, and become callous toward God’s design for fallen humanity (Eph. 4:19; 1 Tim. 4:2). The result is an increasingly acceptably naked culture that despises those who would dress with any sort of decency.
Believers must not celebrate this but rather see public nudity as “not a return to innocence but rebellion against moral reality. God ordains clothes to witness to the glory we have lost, and it is added rebellion to throw them off.”[7]
How Do We Respond?
We must pursue a renewed understanding of clothing. We should feel shame in revealing our nakedness outside the marriage bed. We should not shy away from the daily reminder of sin and refuse to follow the world’s attempt to rebelliously get rid of it. As we pick out our clothes each day, we must have the gospel in our minds.
Consider then: how do your clothes reflect the gospel that saved you? Are you clothing yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel, showing that you value the debt He paid for you by dressing in a way that displays and glorifies Him? Or does it follow the world’s philosophy of self-expression and rebellion?
Friends, this is what it means for our clothes to display our theology.
A proper theology of clothing then naturally leads to considering the controversial topic of modesty. We cannot ignore it because Scripture commands it. Don’t worry, though, because just as a theology of clothing applies to guys, dressing modestly does too. We will talk about that next.
Madelyn Moses serves as the producer of Side by Side Productions, currently working on a docuseries on a biblical view of singleness, launching Fall 2023. She earned her MA in Biblical Studies from The Master’s University (Santa Clarita, CA). She resides in Bucks County, PA and attends The Master’s Church of Bucks County in Richboro, PA.
[1] Holland, Rick, A Modest Proposal, Part 1: A Theology of Modesty, Grace Community Church, January 25, 2004.
[2] James Laver quoted in Tim Gunn’s Fashion Bible, Gallery Books, 2012, pg 110.
[3] Merriam-Webster, “Ashamed.” Merriam-Webster. Accessed February 22, 2025.
[4] Alsop, Vincent. “Avoiding Immodest Fashions.” Modest Apparel, ed. by Jeff Pollard. Pensacola, FL: Free Grace Broadcaster, 2011, 20.
[5] Swanson, James. Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament) 1997.
[6] John Piper. 2007. “Stripped in Shame, Clothed in Grace.” Desiring God. February 4, 2007.
[7] Ibid.
