Women today do not dress in "modest" apparel according to the definition of "modest" in dress and adornment as it was understood by the Apostle and the Roman Empire, in which the Early Church lived.
The Roman Empire had a class system, but we don't.
Roman law defined "modest" and "immodest." Women can be defined most clearly in the roles of
meretrices and
matronae, that is, either as prostitutes or as respectable, married women. Women were described as belonging to one or other social group, at either end of the social scale. The status of the common prostitute was in direct appostition to the Roman matron.
Pudicitia, or purity and modesty of manner, was the chief virtue of a Roman
matrona. "Modest" applied to the matrons, and "immodest" applied to prostitutes.
"Modesty" in dress and adornment was NOT a "holiness standard" but the SOCIAL CONVENTION of the time. According to T.A.J. McGinn in
Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law "The
lex lulia specified certain articles of clothing -- such as the
stola and
vittae -- as peculiar to
matronae and forbade these to be worn by prostitutes." The respectable woman's outer garments were a
tunica, which from the 1st cen. BC, came to be called
stola and a
palla. The
stola was a long, loose gown that came to the feet, and the
palla was an outer garment that might cover her head.
The long dress falling down to her feet and the large mantle drawn over the head epitomized modesty. A woman of the class of respectable, married women did not expose any more of her body in public that a Catholic Nun does today.
If a woman wished to be considered respectable, she did not dress
ostentatiously.
1 Tim. 2:9 and
1 Peter 3:3-6 is referring to ostentation --the characteristic of the high-class prostitutes -- the
hetairai. 1 Timothy was sent to Ephesus where thousands of high-class prostitutes were attached to Diana's temple.
Everyone knew what "modesty" in dress and adornment meant. The Apostles did not create a special dress code for Christian women, who were matrons and already dressed "modestly," to cause them to stand out in a separate class from the rest of the Empire's class of matrons. The "separation" was not between Christian women and the "world" but between them and prostitutes.
The Greek word translated "modest" is
kosmios which means "
orderly, i.e. decorous." The English word, "decorum," means propriety and good taste in dress." The English word, "orderly," means "neat; well-arranged." The English "propriety" means "conformity with what is proper or fitting or with accepted standards of behavior. ...accepted standards of behavior in polite society." The English word "decent" means "not obscene; conforming to approved social standards; respectable." Another word in the same word group as
kosmios is
kompsoteron, which means "
well dressed, i.e. nice." The Apostles simply said for women to dress decently and with propriety. "Modest" in dress and adornment in the Roman Empire had its bearing in SOCIAL CONVENTION. If modern day women dress themselves conservatively, or in conventional dress, they are dressed "modestly."
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