by J. A. Davidson (Northern Ireland)
The metaphor of clothing is ascribed to the Lord Himself. "The Lord reigneth, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith He hath girded Himself," Ps.93.1. "Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment," Ps.104.2. "All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad," Ps.45.8. Thus is signified His infinite and admirable majesty and beauty; the transparency and brightness of His works and warfare, or the sweet comeliness and fragrant graces manifest toward His beloved. Attire befits the occasion, apparel indicates the importance of the gathering and appearance is indicative of character itself.
God believes in dress and He has suitably clothed creation, "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field," Matt.6.30. He adorns the countryside with richness and beauty. None of God's creation is unclothed as He provides adequate protection from the harshness of winter and the summer vestments of beauty and glory. The fields and hedges are clothed in verdant green, the foliage of the trees and shrubs declares His handiwork. He has carpeted the mountains with spreadings of brown, green and purple and even the rare flower of the desert has beauty surpassing even Solomon in all his glory. The twist of the plant, the blade of grass, all creation is a miracle of Divinely ordained dress.
The nocturnal sky is clothed with heavenly glory, the smallest star to the largest planet is garbed with sparkling brilliance. Paul writes, "All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory," 1Cor.15.39-41. The apostle is considering the resurrection of the dead and "glory" as essentially something additional to the body. The foliage of the tree, the feathers of the bird declare each after his kind and identifies the species and natural habitat. Every living thing wears weather proof clothes of wool, skin, hair or feathers. The membranes of scales are the garments of the fish, the elegant plumage are the wardrobes of birds, the busy bee is given leggings of fur by an all wise Creator.
It is foolish to argue as some professing believers do, that God only looks on the heart, the inner man and therefore our outward appearance is of little relevance. The Bible does not teach such a position. "Doth not even nature itself teach you?" 1Cor.11.14. The assembly teaching of 1Cor.11 is based on the principle of the distinctions which God has made from the beginning of creation. If you are a man, be a man with uncovered head and short hair; If you are a woman, be a woman with the natural glory of her long hair and her head suitably covered in the gathering. These pages will be read in different countries, climates and customs of national dress but the basic Scriptural principle is that any attempt whether visually or orally to negate the distinctions between male and female is an abomination unto the Lord.
OLD CLOTHES:
The metaphor of ‘putting off’ and ‘putting on as a garment’ in Paul's writings shall have our primary consideration in this paper.
"The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light," Rom.13.12. It is not appropriate to appear in night clothes during the day. We once lived in darkness and sin but now as children of the day we must dress with appropriate dignity and glory. The old clothes were "rioting and drunkenness" (public); "chambering and wantonness" (private); "strife and envy" (personal). Where there is strife and envy among the Lord's people, these are old rags of the flesh which should be promptly discarded. "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof," Rom.13.14. This is a practical exhortation for ‘the armour of light’ is at once a dress and a protection primarily against the flesh.
"But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communications out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him," Col.3.8-10. The old man is the man of old; all that is connected with the old Adamic man before salvation. We are to strip off and put away from ourselves these old filthy, threadbare, outworn, foul, corrupt, useless garments which we habitually wore before salvation. "Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts," Eph.4.22.
"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice," Eph.4.31. These are not things with which we were born and manifest in our proneness to sin which we put on and so they are to be put off. ‘Habit’ is still a word used for dress (e.g. ‘riding habit’) which is to be put away; discarded as an old garment.
"In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ," Col.2.11. Paul's expression ‘putting off;’ Hebrews ‘laying aside,’ Heb.12.1; James ‘lay apart,’ Jms.1.21, are similar to Peter's expression ‘laying aside,’ 1Pet.2.1, as an act of will rather than an act of faith. The ‘flesh’ as to the origin of these evils is to be kept in the sphere of death but the habits are to be put away.
—to be continued (D.V.)