Is it a sin to wear jewelry & braid your hair?

Of course you probably knew how I would answer this one. I do not:

Wear gold.
Wear pearls.
Costly Array.

or Broid my hair. Broiding is interwoven with ribbons in my understanding.

I do try to be shamefaced and sober as well.


Shamefaced now that would probably make a good thread too.

 

shame·faced adjective

1. showing shame: showing a feeling of shame or embarrassment

2. timid: timid or easily embarrassed

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That would be a good topic. Can someone who has lived a sinful lifestyle then become shamefaced after conversion? Can they be embarrassed at the very mention of something they once did without thought?

Hmmmm........ Good idea for a thread. One to ponder.

Diane

 

And the streets of heaven will be paved in gold. Solomon had so much gold it was as common as stones.....

I wear a gold cross necklace and gold wedding rings with one diamond and two small emeralds. I have a gold charm bracelet with little trinkets that stand for new grandbabies, etc. and wear whatever earrings match my clothes. I do not broid my short hair and I don't waste money on costly clothes, but buy when I need things only.

I also wear make-up, color my hair, wear dresses that fit me well, wear panty hose and heels, keep my weight at close to marriage weight (I weighed 89 lbs when I married so I'm very happy to have gained to 114 lbs.) I smile ALL the time because I have such joy in the Lord!

I have had my new vehicle since Nov. and my husband has used it for several business trips out of state because he needed the room. It now has almost 7,000 miles on it. I went to Wal-Mart tonight for the first time in weeks. I go to church and the library. I love being at home.

So..... now you know.
Diane

 

Broided also means plaited, both old words,plaited is still used here, both mean braided hair.
2Tim. 2: 9in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair...
NKJ

 

QUESTION: TIMOTHY said:

 

Peter did not have a problem with women wearing gold, or braided hair. So you must take 2Tim. 2 and 1 Pet. 3 and reconcile them, or accept that they give two different instructions. Something I've noticed people who insist women wear or not wear something do not take all the bible has to say on the subject, but choose verse they want to mean what they want.

I think the key to what a woman wears is in verse 4, this is how a woman should judge what she herself wears.

4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God

1Pet3:
3Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—4rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. 5For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, 6as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. NKJ

1Pet3:
3Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaitingG1708 the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel KJV


G1708
elaborate braiding of the hair:—plaiting

 

I don't think these verses mean that we are not to wear ANY gold, pearls, or costly array, but rather that those should not be our identifying marks. As women professing godliness, our identifying marks should be modest apparel, shamefacedness, sobriety, and good works. These things don't draw attention to ourselves as excessive jewelry or expensive clothes would. Our most outstanding feature should be that we are godly women, not what outrageous thing we are wearing today.

By personal conviction, I wear dresses only; but the term "modest" in context here is related more to what is decorous or proper. I feel that, in almost every situation, a dress or skirt is proper for me to wear, but there are times when certain dresses are more suited to the occasion. For example, I don't normally wear my denim skirts, cotton tops, and sandals to a church service, but I would wear those to a picnic. I fix my hair differently for different things too, and I wear certain jewelry based on what activity I'm doing.

Susan

 

Isn't an even more important issue the LENGTH of a woman's hair? If we shouldn't braid it, doesn't that say the expectation is that it should be long enough to braid? You can only comfortably braid hair that is at least 17 inches from the crown of your head to the ends, for an adult.
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If you took the above post seriously I recommend counseling.
Gina

 

It is my understanding that in that time, women who wore those flashy things (it was flashy then) and braided their hair were prostitutes. People who wear those things in our culture (which, btw didnt even exist when the passage in question was written) are not trying to be flashy.

 

You know, I have been following the coulottes thread, coverings thread and this one. I dress modestly always. I do wear a little jewelry and I would braid my hair if I could do my own. God is blessing our home, marriage and our church in many ways. I have met some gals in a mama and baby group that are not Christian, and we have very good deep discussions about Christianity. I feel God has put me with them for a reason. Also, it is nice to remember where He has brought me from. I love the Lord and have committed my life to serve him all my days, as has my husband. If God is so against this stuff and I am living in rebellion, why does he still bless?

 

Tatertot,
I do not think you are living in rebellion from what I understand of you. I don't think I was living in rebellion for the first nine years of my walk with Christ either. You may have been saved much longer, I do not know.

I did not wear dresses or coverings for that time. That is what I mean by that. I was doing what I knew God wanted me to do at that time. And He did indeed bless me. He blessed me and continues to bless me even though I sin still sin daily. Why? Because He is merciful and full of grace.

But, there are a lot of if verses in the Bible. If you do this, then I will do this, etc.

I felt the Lord's leading in this area after nine years of being a Christian. I read the Scriptures in English and got caught up on verse six. It kept popping out at me. Verse six seemed to say that it was not only the hair. It couldn't be.

I discussed it with a friend and she assured me it was only the hair. So, I left it at that. But, God did not.

A year or so later I felt led to truly study the issue from all areas, history, original language, other Scriptures and context.

I could not fight it anymore, I understood what it was saying. It was saying, in English that God wanted me to wear a headcovering.

I was very afraid, because I knew I would be made a spectacle since no one was wearing anything like this where I lived. There were no Amish or Mennonites to hide among. It would be only me in a small town, in a small Baptist church standing out like a sore thumb.

I tried to get out of it. I tried to see if wearing a lace headband would work. But, no I needed to cover my head.

I am saying that God knows your heart and He knows whether or not you are in rebellion, only Him.

I do not think you are in rebellion.

But, if you know to do something and you don't than it is sin.

 

No, it doesn't. Diane posted a note from Trench indicating that it means, "that which is made fast by an honorable shame." The idea is that women (and men, really) ought to dress with an appropriate shame of their nakedness. It is saying to dress modestly. Sadldy today, many dress with no such shame.

I've read many of the posts on what is and what is not modest. I think this term for modesty helps us. If you look up the passages in the Bible that link shame to nakedness, you will find that (1) nakedness does not always refer to being totally nude -- if you are not covered properly, the Bible will refer to that condition as nakedness; (2) the shame of nakedness is an appropriate feeling; i.e., God intends for you to feel shame when you are not covered properly; (3) you are Biblically naked if you are not covered down to your "thigh." The Hebrew word for "thigh" is not well-defined, so it's hard to be dogmatic here. There are places where it could refer to the entire leg, other places to what we think of as the thigh, and others to the groin area. To be safe and because there are places in the Bible that tells us to "gird up our loins," my family standard is to cover our thighs, basically down to the knee.

Andy

 

1Pet3:
3Do not let your adornment be merely outward; arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel; (NKJV)


the word "merely" was added by the nkjv translators, and does not appear in the kjv or any other english translation i've checked. in fact, this is one of the verses that convinced me the nkjv is unreliable and overly influenced by the spirit of this age.

 

i take the verses to mean exactly what they say - no gold, no pearls, no broiding, no expensive clothing, etc. on women. i don't see how it could have been said any plainer.

 

someone has kindly pointed out that the moderators do not like bible version debates in this forum, so please ignore the last sentence in my post about the nkjv -unfortunately too much time has passed and i can't go back and edit it.

 

1 Tim 2:9 says this .;;;.In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
Paul had just admonished men to be holy, without wrath and doubting. In a similar way, he now instructs women how to behave.
There is much contention over what "modest" is. What is acceptable dress in one culture is offensive in another. What is modest in one era would be considered risque in another. Yet, despite the hazards of trying to define modesty, the scriptures demand that we make an attempt.

Our English word "modest" comes from a Latin word meaning "moderate." This is significant because it means that the word "modest" is promoting the idea of being moderate. Whatever the culture or styles of the day, a modest person is one who will not embrace the extreme. Those who embrace styles and fashions that differ from their culture's norms, are usually not modest.

Therefore, it is appropriate to at least partially define modesty by a comparison to those around us. The attitude of "who cares what others think. I'm an individual. I march to my own drum," is an extreme and selfish attitude that violates modesty. A person can become extreme on opposite ends of the spectrum. Those who hold to the styles of the 1700's, in an attempt to be modest, are also extreme.

So, moderation is one of the key elements of modesty. Paul goes on to reveal that immodesty puts an undue emphasis on the external looks while true godliness places the importance on the hidden man of the heart.

Peter makes a similar statement about the dress of women, in 1 Peter 3:3-5

 

Thank you Timothy that makes a lot of sense.

Andy, I was studying this again last night and in my reading I found some similar things that nakedness is not what our culture teaches it is. It is being in undergarments as well as having thigh exposed.

My personal understanding of shamefaced is that women are to be opposite of bold and brazen. The Proverbs 7 woman was impudent (bold and brazen).

I think it also means not holding the gaze of men.

With the millions who have venereal diseases, the millions of abortions per year, the millions of unwed teen pregnancies per year, the many who are in jail for sex crimes, don't we think that modesty would help lower that number a little bit?

In this country the numbers of these sins and consequences has gone up since the clothes came off. Don't we realize that there IS a relation to that?

How beautiful this country would look (and other countries) if all of the men were walking around in prayer while the women were appareled in good works and modest clothing covering their bodies.