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Acceptable Dress for Church Services

Fortunately, the Scriptures clearly indicate how to handle the issue of dress at services:

"For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?" (James 2:2-4, NKJV).

Some people will be quick to point out that priests, Levites and others who came before God were told to wear special clothes that were to be clean and in good repair. Cleanliness and neatness are goals for us to individually strive for, but James makes clear that a "dress code" should not be enforced. God looks at the heart more than the clothes. Even though many Christian groups have their ministry or choirs wear special robes, there is no New Testament example of this. Indeed, the design of such robes is often not like the garments described for Old Testament priests, but like clothes worn by other religions. People in the New Testament always perceived that Christ and the Apostles were servants of God by what they said or the miracles they did, not by what they wore. The principles of cleanliness, neatness, and modesty can be taught without invoking a dress code or judging people who attend.

It is also important to realize that the Bible does not command us to dress according to "the upper class style of the day". Would services be better if all men wore tuxedos and women wore formal dresses? Should men always wear suits and ties? Should women always wear dresses and high heels? Should people buy clothes for services that they would otherwise never wear? There does not seem to be any biblical precedent for any of these things. Paul teaches that services should not be a "style show" of impressive clothing (1Timothy 2:9).