Cain's religion

Every once in a while someone writes an article or posts a YouTube video or gives a talk about how we ought to dress for worship. I've heard and seen and read a lot of those over the last thirty or so years. I generally hold my tongue on this topic, except maybe to rant a bit to my wife or to a close friend. But I think it's a good time to make some comments about that where other people can find them.

I'm much less interested in how people dress for worship than I am in the way these questions touch on certain principles. So let's try and get to the "question behind the question" by the most direct route.

It seems to me that a whole lot of what people say about our attire in the gatherings is really Cain's religion: it's offering God what He does not want and did not ask for, while ignoring His commands (Genesis 4:1–7, Jude 1:11).  It's giving God what I think He ought to want, not what He says He wants. 

There are very few guidelines for how we are to dress for worship. As far as I can tell, the New Testament lays down only three:

1. we are to dress modestly, not displaying wealth (1 Timothy 2:9, 1 Peter 3:3–6)
2. men are to have their heads uncovered (1 Corinthians 11:1–8)
3. women are to cover their heads (1 Corinthians 11:1–8)

It's a pretty short list, but I have trouble finding anything else in the New Testament. We might look at James 2:1–9, but I think that's really more about how we react to people based on their appearance. It's not entirely unrelated, but it's not quite the same thing.

 

If we look back into the Old Testament, we don't find much more. We might consider the Lord's words to Samuel, that we look at outward appearance, but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). I'm not sure to what extent that applies to how we dress, but I suppose we might consider it a general principle.

So really,  Scripture doesn't have that much to say about how we dress. And that seems odd to me, because there are plenty of people willing to take very dogmatic stances on the topic. Even more odd, I can't recall hearing or reading a single person whose teaching on the topic cited what little Scripture does says.

1 Timothy 2:9 and 1 Peter 3:3–6 condemn dressing with ostentatious displays of wealth. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has seen preachers who dress like bankers, and it strikes me as strange. Haven't they read the epistles? Do they think they're above bowing to Scripture? Do they think 1 Timothy and 1 Peter don't apply to them? The epistles seem pretty clear in their condemnation of overdressing.

1 Corinthians 11:1–8 tells us men are to come into God's presence with their heads uncovered, while women are to cover their heads. I've been involved in many gatherings that practice this (to at least some extent), but I've worshipped with many more Christians who seem entirely ignorant of what Scripture has to say in this regard. It doesn't seem quite so common for men to cover their heads during worship as it is for women to go uncovered, but I've seen both.

Again, it strikes me as odd that someone who'd come up with all sorts of reasons we should dress a certain way to worship would then pass over one of the very few commands we do have. But in my experience it's very rare for someone preaching or teaching (or even ranting) on the topic of attire to mention 1 Corinthians 11:1–8, even obliquely.  

I suppose it's the whole issue of women covering their heads that really makes me scratch mine. The same people who seem to quail at the idea that we'd just say what the Holy Spirit says – that women are to cover their heads in God's presence – are then willing to bemoan our "casual culture" and demand Christians dress differently on Sunday than they do the rest of the week. Isn't that odd? They dismiss the express commands of the New Testament on the grounds that "that's a different culture" then they turn right around and urge Christians to ignore this culture and dress better. So which is it? 

If you're comfortable demanding men wears suits to meeting, but you're uncomfortable telling women to cover their heads, you ought to examine yourself very carefully. You are acting like Cain.

It seems hard-wired in fallen men and women that we are willing to do what we think God ought to want, but we're not so willing to take Him at His word and do what He has said. We're like Naaman (2 Kings 5:13): we'd gladly do some great thing for God, but we really don't want to do what He commands. 

And don't let's think this is limited to attire. It's exactly what's behind every works-based "gospel". 

It seems to me an effective antidote to the religion of Cain lies in three short words that Joseph said to his brothers: "I fear God" (Genesis 42:18). It seems to me that at the root of Cain's religion is the idea that I know better than God: that I have every right to judge what He says and does and thinks. What Scripture calls wisdom is just the opposite: it starts with fearing God.

It's very easy for us to soft-pedal the fear of God – especially we who lean more "free grace." We are very aware of the dangers of legalism – and with good cause! – but we should be careful not to allow ourselves to use Galatians as an excuse to ignore 2 Corinthians 5. We are all going to stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ. The effect of that on Paul was, "knowing therefore the terror of the Lord..." (2 Corinthians 5:11). The Lord Jesus taught, "fear rather him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). We ought to be very careful about softening what Scripture says about fearing God: it's not just an Old Testament truth!

If I were to fear God – truly say, "I fear God" like Joseph did – I'd be very reluctant to put my own words in place of His. I'd be very cautious about suggesting a dress code for meeting that wasn't based solidly in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Peter 3 and 1 Corinthians 11. I'd be very cautious about any hint of a suggestion of putting words in God's mouth, because I'd be very aware that I would have to answer for that someday.

And frankly, we have a glut of so-called preachers and teachers who seem entirely unconcerned about ever being called to account for what they teach and preach (James 3:1).

Is there a problem with casual behavior in the church? Yes! Yes, there is. We really do need to be shaken up and reminded that judgment begins in the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). We ought not to wander into the place where Christians are worshipping with a glib, casual attitude. But let's don't think we can remedy that with an equally irreverent and Cain-ish teaching that substitutes our own words for God's. Don't let's think we can put our own words in God's mouth and He won't mind too much.