Dressed with Good Works
by Edwin Crozier
Paul wanted the men of the congregation to pray. Buy his statement in I Timothy 2:8 is not so much about the prayer as it is the holy hands lifted while praying. Paul wants Timothy to teach the men to get rid of anger and quarreling. They are not to lift in prayer hands that had been lifted against their family, their brethren, or their neighbors in violence.
Paul’s point is not quite as stark as the one made in Isaiah 59:1-3, but it is along the same lines. God’s ear is not so dull that it can’t hear the prayers of these men. But when their hands are covered in blood, God will not listen to the appeals made while lifting those hands.
No doubt Paul did not mean that the only sins that would hinder these men's prayers were anger and quarreling. Immorality, theft, idolatry, and more would all hinder their prayers. Their hands needed to be clean. Their hands needed to be engaged in good.
Likewise, Paul instructed the sisters to wear respectable apparel. They needed to dress modestly and with self-control. Paul pinpoints a specific example of this modest and controlled dress. They should not be dressing ostentatiously. They should not be trying to put their wealth on display.
However, may I suggest that, just as with the men, Paul’s specification of one aspect of immodesty and lack of self-control does not preclude others. Paul’s goal is for sisters (really all Christians) to dress in a way that professes godliness. Sisters are not to dress in a way that attracts attention to their wealth, their sexuality, or themselves. Rather, they should dress in a way that points people to God.
I’ve often wondered why, after telling the men to be at peace, he opens his statement about the women with “likewise.” The points seem so different. He tells the men to quit fighting and the women to dress presentably. How is the one like the other? It occurs to me that Paul is addressing peace vs. competition in both points. While the competition between men can tend to be more violent than that between women, it’s the same point. Men are not to compete with one another by showing strength, power, and control. Women are not to compete with one another by their dress and self-promotion.
In both cases, Paul’s point is to focus on God, not on self. And, in both cases, the emphasis is really on what Paul says at the end of his instruction to the women about their dress. They are to dress in good works. By telling the men to lift “holy hands” instead of hands full of anger and quarreling, he was making the same point to the men. They are to be engaged in good works with those hands. Women are to dress in good works.
No doubt, we individually will have to draw lines about peace and modesty, but the point is not so much about drawing close to the lines of peace and modesty. The point is about pursuing good works so that when people see us, they don’t see us, they see God (compare to Matthew 5:16). If, in dress or behavior, we are busy trying to attract attention to ourselves, whether by our wealth, ability, power, control, sexuality, talent, etc., we are lifting unholy hands in prayer and dressing unrespectably.
Let’s pursue what is good in all ways and lead others to God rather than to ourselves.
