So the first argument is immediate meaning and applied meaning. The argument that Paul is not issuing a universal edict prohibiting the wearing of jewelry.
The second, is the argument of canonical inconsistency. There has never been such a prohibition in scripture.
Canaanite and Israelite men and women wore jewelry and cosmetics. The reasons were personal beautification (even seen int he prieslty costumes), currency, evidence of wealth (this is a different meaning for jewelry than we have today, although in some extremes there's some similarities), symbol of social status (unique to Ancient Near East culture -- an example would be Saul's attire as King) and finally religious function. Jewlelry had religious significance in the ANE. It identified the religious beliefs or position of the wearer, such as the Israelite High Priest. Some ascribed supernatural powers to their religious jewels/amulets. It is commonly taught, even among the Jews, that it is these amulets, religious jewels that are condemned as idolatry in
Isa 3:16-21. Finally, jewelry was sometimes used as an offering to the gods to be placed on their images or temples. Israelites even did this in
Numbers 31:50.
That's the ANE, now here's some research from Greco-Roman culture:
There are many similarities between the Greco-Roman world and the ANE. Perhaps this explains why there is less information about the use of jewelry in New Testament times than in Old Testament times. We do know that jewelry was common in the Roman Empire. The Oxford History of the Classical World has this to say:
The wearing of excessive jewellery [sic] was a practice which [Roman] legislators had long since given up trying to curb, though moralists still condemned it. Pliny rails against women who wore pearls on their fingers, on their earrings, and on their slippers, and reports with disapproval how Caligula's first Empress, Lollia Paulina, turned up to a feast wearing emeralds and pearls on her head, hair, ears, neck, and fingers.[27]
It continues, noting that rings were very common. Men wore rings as signets, while women wore them to signify engagement.[28] In fact, it seems that the Romans invented the engagement ring.[29] Rings in the Roman Empire are particularly interesting. At various times, different types of rings were used to signify social status—slave or free, citizen or non-citizen, aristocrat or commoner. These rules were enforced by law, but were gradually relaxed as more people wanted to be able to wear fancier rings.[30]
Because the Greco-Roman world was a pagan society, Jewelry in this time doubtless functioned in much the same way as it did in the ANE with regard to its religious aspects. It probably was accorded supernatural powers and used as protection from evil or a method to persuade the gods to act in a certain way.
To be continued...
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