Wearing Pants on Vistiation (aka, Soulwinning)

[IslandRose]

Ohhhhhh I see Marnie............I can't wait!

Why?

[Marnie]

There is no Biblical admonition for women not to wear pants. To even suggest that a born again woman, new believer or not, who wears pants somehow reduces her standing before G-d is exactly what the Judaizers were doing in Galatians.

Galatians 5:1 says:

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

1. Christ set the Galatians free from their bondage to the Law, in this case, observing the rite of circumcision. Christ has set us free from the doctrines of man. Doctrines like head coverings, clothing styles, hair styles, etc. This is justification by faith.

2. Christ set the Galatians free, but in order to continue living in the sphere of freedom, the Galatians had to guard against returning to obeying the Law ("slavery"). In this case it was the rite of circumcision, but it could have been any point of the Law. They were, after all, freed from that same Law. This is sanctification, a work of the Holy Spirit. To return to observing any point of the Law was to "fall from grace" back into legalism, verse 4.

The Galatians, and some believers want to add to the work of Christ things like practices of legalism, the pants issue, for example.

Again Galatians:

But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. (5:5).

1. "We," true Christians, live "by faith," not by acts of the flesh (observing certain points of the Law or doctrines of man).

2. "We," true Christians, "eagerly await," that is, we trust in the Holy Spirit, not in our works or what we "do" to live in holiness.

3. "We," true Christians, "through the Spirit," that is, we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, creating holiness of character, as we "wait."

4. "We," true Christians, "hope" for "righteousness." This refers to our actual righteousness. We have not yet realized it, we are not all G-d intends for us to be, but we, by faith, through the Holy Spirit, wait patiently, as He causes us to grow in grace, closer to G-d's standard of holiness.

Some do-it-yourself Christians want to attempt to attain holiness by not wearing pants or whatever, but G-d's way to work through us, enabling us to keep the righteous parts of the Law, not as grounds for salvation, but out of love for G-d:

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision (pants) nor uncircumcision (skirts) has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Gal. 5:6)

Somebody paid attention to today's Sunday School lesson....

[Scarletprayers]

Ohhhhhh I see Marnie............I can't wait!

Why?

Because I love reading her responses to things! Why ask why?

[Verg]

So your only wanting people who agree with you that pants are immodest to post?

Regrettably, that is how I read it as well.

That's great and all, but I can't see telling a new Chrsitian that they have to wear a skirt or a dress when it is not yet a conviction in their life.

I think she's asking "what do you say to a new believer"? since the bible doesn't specifically say one has to wear a dress or skirt.

She doesn't want to debate "pants vs skirts".

It's the "new christian" thing she's asking about. Should she tell her friend she "must" wear a skirt or dress?

That's how I see it.

[Verg]

So your only wanting people who agree with you that pants are immodest to post?

Regrettably, that is how I read it as well.

That's great and all, but I can't see telling a new Chrsitian that they have to wear a skirt or a dress when it is not yet a conviction in their life.

I think she's asking "what do you say to a new believer"? since the bible doesn't specifically say one has to wear a dress or skirt.

She doesn't want to debate "pants vs skirts".

It's the "new christian" thing she's asking about. Should she tell her friend she "must" wear a skirt or dress?

That's how I see it.

It is too easy to fall into the trap of making secondary issues a matter of one's spirituality. Let the Holy Spirit bring people to convictions on issues of that nature without us superimposing our standards upon them.

[Richard_yaash]

I think she's asking "what do you say to a new believer"? since the bible doesn't specifically say one has to wear a dress or skirt.

She doesn't want to debate "pants vs skirts".

It's the "new christian" thing she's asking about. Should she tell her friend she "must" wear a skirt or dress?

That's how I see it.

Now you tell me

However, even if that is the sole point, it begs an answer to the former. Overall, I have to agree with Marnie's reply.

[IslandRose]

The pants or skirts discussion has nothing to do with living under the law. It has to do with the admonition to "adorn themselves in modest apparel." And at some point in each person's walk, they need to come to terms with what is "modest apparel" How do they determine that? Who is the one who determines that in each life.

The world's standards are in constant flux. From never show your ankles to anything goes. Some churches and people go overboard, and some seem to have no standards at all. For myself, I tell people to seek the Lord's face in the matter. Pray, read scripture and the Lord will lead. Like I said, I used to wear pants and jeans, then when my husband went into full time Christian service, I no longer felt comfortable, so I began to pray about it. One of the verses the Lord used was Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Now I know this verse says nothing about pants, but it does tell me that I am to be an example. I know from experience that some women will look at me and say... "Well, the preachers wife wears so and so, And what I am wearing is not much worse than that." So I keep myself well within bounds, never wanting to be near enough the edge that I might cause others to fall.

[Guest Biblicist]

AMEN, IslandRose.

[AndrewA]

I have to keep on reminding myslef that pants = trousers. Pants here in UK means somthing quite different and i keep on thinking of people in thier underwear, certainly if peopel just turned up in thier pants here then yes that would create quite a stir!

To be honest this whole thing over women wearing trousers is just plain stupid hoo-ha.

All this has come about because people have wrongly interpreted the following

Duet 22:5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

SO what exactly does this mean? It certainly does not mean women should not wear trousers. I doubt anyone in those days had even seen trousers let alone wore them. Through history men have mainly worn various forms and styles of trousers and shorts and it is generally considered a male item of clothing, but I see it more as a unisex form of clothing. What exactly is the problem with women wearing trousers, it certainly does not violate Duet :22.5

Deuteronomy is an instruction against cross dressing, to dress in a way that passes you off as someone of the opposite sex. We only have to look at the homosexual community to see this happening, women dressing like men and men as women in such a way that if you gave them a quick glance you would think that they are the gender the dressed up to look like. this is what the verse is about, not a petty legalistic argument over what technically is a womans item of clothing and what is a mans.

Another point is modesty, how on earth is a woman wearing trousers being less modest than a skirt, which is prone to having men a sneaky peek to see how much thigh they can see etc.

Satan is having a laugh at how he has managed to get a group of CHristians to miss understand a verse in Bible then get everyone to argue over it, a matter that is so obvious and trivial that we should not even be giving it a certain thought.

Last thought , it is up to a church what they decide they want memebers to do and even wear, but they should not force this upon everyone else outside of the church. If my church started to bring in such rules and regulations then I would consider leaving.

[Marnie]

The pants or skirts discussion has nothing to do with living under the law. It has to do with the admonition to "adorn themselves in modest apparel." And at some point in each person's walk, they need to come to terms with what is "modest apparel" How do they determine that? Who is the one who determines that in each life.

No, its not the Law, but it is a bondage to man's doctrine, or opinion. Pants are no more modest or immodest than a dress or skirt. The moment you tell a young lady she should wear a dress for modesty's sake, you have put her in bondage to your opinion. That's not the Law, of course, but it is a form of a "yoke of slavery."