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What is Modesty?

Let's look at the words modest, modesty, shamefaced, and sobriety. The word modest
literally means "orderly, well arranged, decent." This is as it is used in I Tim. 2:9 and 3:2.
It is an ordering of the whole life. Now we'll go all the way back to archaic readings. The
word modest means "lacking in vanity, not bold, not self-asserting, retiring in manner,
moderate, observing conventional standards of dress and manners, free from
coarseness and indecency, not showy." The word modesty means "freedom from
coarseness or indelicacy, a regard for sobriety in dress, speech, and conduct; shyness,
silent, reserved." The word shame-facedness in I Tim 2:9 means "a sense of shame,
modesty." In some translations, shamefacedness is translated shamefastness, "a quiet
and serious air, reverence and respect, modesty and seriousness." When he talks
about shamefacedness, it literally means "modesty which is fast or rooted in the very
inner self-government, a system of checks and balances. We need to have a constant
rein on the passions and desires of this fleshly body. We need to have this inner barrier
erected against whatever may be opposed to modesty, shamefacedness and
sobriety.soul of man." So this is what He is wanting, something that is rooted in, and
grounded in
shamefastness behaving according to a standard that is proper or decent or pure.


The word sobriety means literally "soundness of mind; sound judgment." We should
have an

Now, why all this? Listen to the passage in I Tim 2:9-10, "In like manner also, that
women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not
with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women
professing godliness) with good works." People should know what we are or what we
profess to be by the way we dress and the way we do things. Do not expect the world to
carry around a spiritual x-ray to check you out on the inside to see what you are. God
said they have a perfect right to look at you on the outside and draw their conclusions.
Our clothing will show our shamefacedness or lack of it. This will rule out clothing which
exposes or causes unwholesome thoughts.

Clothing may be non-verbal but it gives some very powerful, consistent, accurate
representations of what we really are. Clothing is symbolic of the moral standard of any
given culture. Pick a culture, whatever it may be, and you can determine a great deal
about their moral standard by their clothing or lack of it. This is based on three things (1)
the degree of exposure, (2) manner of concealment, (3) and emphasis. In the face of
this, some people will still insist that there is no relationship between dress and
morals....that we're fine people regardless of what our manner of dress may say, male or
female. I have never tried to defend David; I think David absolutely sinned, but
Bathsheba should not have been bathing in full view of the King's court, and she very
well knew it! There IS a connection between dress and morals and what ensues. We
might as well face it.