A Response to “Pagan Christianity?”
3.7 Chapter 6 Review – Sunday Morning Costumes: Covering Up the Problem
In Chapter 6 of their book, Viola and Barna address the question of what clothing Christians ought to wear to church meetings, and advocate for the use of causal, everyday clothes. As usual, their argumentation is very confused, and even contradictory. In some places, they make arguments to the effect that “dressing up for church” is a definite wrong and against Scripture. But in other places, it seems that they are simply arguing against a legalistic enforcement of formal dress and make some allowance for it.
What is plain is that Viola and Barna think that “dressing up for church” is a significant problem. In fact, they say it is “a violation of the New Covenant” to think that God cares at all that we dress well for church. I have no idea what they think it means to violate the New Covenant. Likely enough, this is just another example of their sloppy abuse of the English language, but in my ears, this sounds as though they are accusing Christians of apostatizing and rejecting the gospel: just because they feel they should wear their best clothes to church! An astounding claim, indeed. Viola and Barna also think that “dressing up” is an act of dishonesty. They say, “Dressing up for church violates the reality that the church is made up of real people with messy problems” and that it “fosters the illusion that we are somehow “good” because we are dressing up for God” and “constitutes a false witness to the world.” The latter is the most serious claim, as it is an accusation of real, objective sin. Frankly, though, I find this line of reasoning to be utterly nonsensical. Is clothing really meant to serve as an allegory for the inner reality of the heart? Does putting on neat clothes really constitute a claim to sinless perfection? Ought we to wear messy clothes to reflect the reality of our messy lives? What clothing choice would best represent the truth that I am a sinner, declared just before God by the imputed righteousness of Christ? Just to ask these questions is to reveal the absurdity of these claims. My sense is that this thinking stems from modern cultural concerns surrounding authenticity. Our culture believes that the highest good is to be authentic to oneself, which means acting according to one’s natural inclinations in every moment. When it comes to clothes, this means wearing whatever is most natural and comfortable to you, without consideration for social custom or the expectations of others. Needless to say, the Christian worldview does not allow for such thinking.[1] We believe that the natural self is wicked, and needs to die (Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5). It certainly does not need to be expressed! “Authenticity” is an idol. The Christian life is about denying self and serving others in submission to Christ.
Citing James 2:1-5, Viola and Barna say the rich are reproved “for dressing differently from the poor.” And yet, that is not what the text says. Actually, the passage opposes anyone in the church for showing partiality to the rich in the church over the poor, this status being revealed by the clothing. There is not a hint of a command in this passage for the whole church to dress exactly like the poor; only that the poor should not be treated differently on that basis. Viola and Barna draw the conclusion from this that God does not expect Christians to dress in fine clothing, and that we should not make this a rule in the church. This observation is, of course, perfectly correct in isolation. The poor Christian who has nothing but shabby clothing is not sinning against God by dressing this way for church. He has no other option. I do not know anyone who would say otherwise. It does not follow, however, that the converse is true and that it would not be good to dress well for church. There may actually be very good and right motivations to do so.
In my mind, the issue is not whether God cares, in a purely external sense, about what we wear to church. The physical bits of cloth that cover our bodies are not what God is concerned with. But he certainly cares about the heart behind our clothing choices. Do we dress in our best clothes to impress others? To flaunt riches and worldly status? To shame the poor? To attract attention? That would be sin. On the other hand, do we dress casually because we don’t care? Because we have a low view of church? Because we have no respect for our brothers and sisters? That also would be sin. But what if we dress well because we have a high regard for the gathering of the saints? Because gathering for worship is the most important event in our week? Because we revere God? Because we feel it appropriate for the dignity and formality of the occasion? In that case, to dress well would indeed be pleasing to God. Not because of the clothing itself, but because of the right spirit in which the clothing was selected. “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
Much to my surprise, a comment in the “Delving Deeper” appendix directly contradicts many of the claims from the main chapter. They say “If you feel that dressing up for church gatherings is a positive thing and you can do it unto the Lord with pure motives, then by all means do so. But we should be careful not to judge or look down on those who do not dress up for such gatherings.” Ah, yes! Let’s not be judgemental! This comes at the end of a whole chapter in which we’ve been told that dressing up for church constitutes lying about ourselves and violates the commands of Scripture. Do they stand by those claims, or not? They’ve just spent an entire chapter making sweeping condemnations of those who dress formally for church. Who’s being judgemental here? If Viola and Barna only meant to condemn those who do so for sinful motives, they ought to have made that clear in the chapter. But if the sinful motives were the real concern, that should have been the focus of the chapter from that start.
The truth is, it does not entirely suit the agenda of Pagan Christianity? to admit that there may be right and good motives for dressing well for church. On a deeper level, what Viola and Barna really oppose is any sense of formality in the church. In my view, this is exactly the opposite of what is needed in the church today. Western culture in general has moved toward making everything we do causal and informal, to its great impoverishment. It is a move from an outward-focused perspective, where our first priority is our duty to others, to an inward-focused perspective, where our rights and our freedom to live “authentically” is paramount. We must not allow this tendency to affect how we approach God.[2] This does not necessarily mean that we must dress in a particular way for church. As I have argued, it is the state of the heart that counts. But we certainly should consider the heart behind how we dress, and perhaps should consider how our clothing reflects on our view of church. I will confess that clothing is somewhat of a blind spot for me personally, but in light of this discussion, I will be taking more thought to it going forward.
[1] This clip gives a brief critique of the idea of authenticity: Cooper, J. B. (2023). What is Wrong With Authenticity. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp3-7A7mBgg
[2] For further consideration of these issues, I would point you to the following resources: Morse, G. (2022). Casual Church: What Happened to Christian Reverence? Desiring God. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/casual-church; Piper, J. (2020). How Should We Dress for Church? Desiring God. https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-should-we-dress-for-church
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