How Should We Dress for Worship?

by Bryan Gibson

To the best of my knowledge, only one New Testament passage deals with this subject in any kind of direct fashion—James 2:1-13. Read carefully the first four verses of that passage: “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 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?” It is clear from this passage that we cannot make fine clothing a requirement for our worship assemblies. Some may not be able to afford such clothing. But is that really the case with the majority of us? Most of us have nicer clothes we could wear to the assemblies, if we chose to do so. Some have decided, based on this passage, that it just doesn’t matter what we wear for worship. While there is definitely no established dress code for worship, I still believe this is a dangerous conclusion, for several reasons.

First, would we say the same the same thing about other occasions? For example, would we say it doesn’t matter what you wear to a funeral? What about some formal banquet, to which we were invited? Would we say it just doesn’t matter, and then wear the first thing we came across in the closet? Most of us would agree that certain types of clothing fit certain occasions.

Secondly, doesn’t our clothing often indicate the attitude we have toward a particular occasion? It would seem that dress for worship is becoming increasingly casual. Maybe we need to ask why that has become the case. Does it perhaps indicate that attitudes toward worship are becoming increasingly casual? When Joseph was called to appear before Pharaoh, he certainly did not take a casual attitude toward this meeting. “He shaved, changed his clothing, and came to Pharaoh” (Genesis 41:14). Certainly, we should not take a casual attitude when we appear before God to worship Him (Psalms 89:7). So what we are saying is that the casual clothes may not be the problem as much as the casual attitude that prompted the wearing of those clothes.

Thirdly, even though the attitude of certain individuals may be fine, when enough people dress casually, the whole “atmosphere” can become very casual. In other words, when you look around and most everyone is dressed in casual and comfortable attire, it can create the feeling of being at a “get-together” rather than a place where fear and reverence should be the prevailing attitudes.

So while we are not interested in establishing a rigid dress code for worship, we do urge everyone to thoughtfully consider the principles mentioned above.