Homily 8 — First Timothy 2, verses 8 to 10

“So I want men to pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without anger and doubting. In the same way also, I want women to adorn themselves in modest clothing, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly garments, but with good works, as is fitting for women who profess godliness.” [a]

“When you pray,” says Christ, “you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have it in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6, verses 5 and 6). What, then, does Paul say? “I want men to pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without anger and doubting.” This does not contradict the other saying — far from it! — but is in full harmony with it. But how, and in what way?

We must first consider what “go into your inner room” means, and why Christ commands this, if we are to pray in every place. Or are we not to pray in the church, or in any other part of the house, but only in the inner room? What, then, does that saying mean? Christ is urging us to avoid showing off, when he tells us to offer our prayers not only privately but secretly. When he says, “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6, verse 3), it is not the hands he has in mind; he is telling them to guard with the greatest care against display. And he is doing the same here. He did not limit prayer to one place, but required one thing only: that there be no empty glory in it.

Paul’s aim is to set Christian prayer apart from Jewish prayer. So notice what he says: “In every place lifting up holy hands.” This was not allowed the Jews. They were not permitted to approach God, to sacrifice and carry out their services, anywhere else; they had to gather from every part of the world to one place and perform all their worship in the temple. Against this he sets his command, and freeing them from that necessity, he says in effect: “Our ways are not like the Jews’ ways. Christ commanded us to pray for all people, because he died for all people, and I preach these things for all people; so it is good to pray everywhere.” From now on the question is not the place but the manner of the prayer: “pray everywhere,” but “everywhere lift up holy hands.” That is what is required. And what is “holy”? Pure. And what is pure? Not washed with water, but free from greed, murder, robbery and violence: “without anger and doubting.” What does this mean? Who is angry while he prays? It means without bearing a grudge. Let the mind of the one who prays be pure and free of every passion. Let no one approach God as someone’s enemy, or in a sour temper, or with “doubting.”

What is “without doubting”? Let us hear. It means that we should have no misgiving about being heard. For it is said, “Whatever you ask, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21, verse 22). And again, “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone” (Mark 11, verse 25). This is to pray without anger and doubting.

“But how can I believe that I will obtain what I ask?” By asking for nothing opposed to what he is ready to give, nothing unworthy of the great King, nothing worldly, but only spiritual blessings — if you approach him “without anger,” with pure hands, “holy hands.” Hands busy with almsgiving are holy. Approach him this way, and you will certainly obtain what you ask. “For if you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?” (Matthew 7, verse 11). By “doubting” he means misgiving.

In the same way, he says, he wants women to approach God without anger and doubting, lifting up holy hands: that is, they are not to follow their own desires, nor to be greedy or grasping. For what if a woman does not rob or steal herself, but does it through her husband? But Paul requires something more of women: that they adorn themselves “in modest clothing, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly garments, but with good works, as is fitting for women who profess godliness.” But what is this “modest clothing”? Clothing that covers them completely and decently, without needless ornaments. The one is fitting; the other is not.

What? You come to God to pray with braided hair and gold ornaments? Have you come to a dance? To a wedding? To a festive procession? There, braided hair and costly clothes would have been in season; here not one of them is wanted. You have come to pray, to beg pardon for your sins, to plead for your offenses, entreating the Lord and hoping to win his favor. Why do you dress yourself up? This is not the dress of someone pleading for mercy. How can you groan? How can you weep? How can you pray with fervor, dressed like this? [e]

If you do weep, your tears will make the onlookers laugh. The woman who weeps ought not to be wearing gold. It would be mere acting, mere hypocrisy. For is it not acting, to pour out tears from a soul so overgrown with extravagance and love of show? Away with such hypocrisy!

God is not mocked! This is the costume of actors and dancers, who live on the stage. Nothing of the kind suits a modest woman, who should be adorned “with modesty and self-control.”

So do not imitate the courtesans. It is by dress like this that they draw their many lovers. Because of it many women have fallen under shameful suspicion, and instead of gaining anything from their ornaments, they have harmed many by getting that name. An adulteress may have a name for modesty, but that name does her no good on the Day when he who judges people’s secrets makes all things plain. In the same way, a modest woman who by her dress manages to pass for an adulteress will lose the benefit of her chastity. For many have been harmed by that opinion. [g]

You say: “What can I do if someone else suspects me?” But you give the occasion, by your dress, your looks, your gestures. That is why Paul says so much about dress and so much about modesty. And if he would take away the things that only signal wealth, like gold and pearls and costly garments, how much more the things that show studied display: painting the face, darkening the eyes, a mincing walk, an affected voice, a languishing and provocative look, the exquisite care in putting on the cloak and bodice, the finely worked belt, and the close-fitting shoes? He has all these in view when he speaks of “modest clothing” and “modesty.” For such things are shameless and indecent.

Bear with me, I beg you. My aim in this frank rebuke is not to wound or hurt you, but to remove from my flock everything unfitting. And if these prohibitions are addressed to women who have husbands, who are rich and live in luxury, much more are they addressed to those who have professed virginity. [h]

But you say: “What virgin wears gold, or braided hair?” Yet there can be such studied fussiness in a simple dress that gold and braids are nothing beside it. You can take more pains over appearance in a plain garment than those who wear gold. When a very dark robe is drawn tight around the breast with the belt, the way dancers on the stage dress, so precisely that it neither spreads too wide nor pulls too narrow but sits just between; and when the bosom is set off with many folds — is this not more alluring than any silk robe? And when the shoe, glossy black, ends in a sharp point and is as fine as a painting, so that even the width of the sole can hardly be seen; or when, though you do not paint your face, you spend much time and trouble washing it, and draw a veil across your forehead whiter than the face itself, and on top of that put on a hood whose black sets off the white by contrast — is there not in all this the vanity of dress?

What can one say of the endless rolling of the eyes? Of the way the front panel of the bodice is put on, so artfully that the fastening is now hidden and now shown? For sometimes they leave this, too, uncovered, to show off the fine work of the belt, while winding the hood right around the head. Then, like actors, they wear gloves so close-fitting that they seem to grow on their hands. And we might speak of their walk, and of other tricks more alluring than any gold ornament.

Let us fear, beloved, that we too may hear what the prophet said to the Hebrew women who were so eager for outward ornament: “Instead of a belt, you will be bound with a rope; instead of well-dressed hair, baldness” (Isaiah 3, verse 24, in the Greek Old Testament). These things, and many others invented only to be seen and to draw the eye, are more alluring than gold ornaments. These are no small faults. They displease God, and they are enough to spoil all the self-denial of virginity.

You have Christ for your Bridegroom, virgin. Why do you try to attract human lovers? He will judge you as an adulteress. Why do you not wear the ornament that pleases him: modesty, chastity, orderliness, and sober clothing? This dress is the dress of a prostitute, and it is disgraceful. We can no longer tell prostitutes from virgins, so far have they gone in indecency. A virgin’s dress should not be studied, but plain and made without fuss; yet now they have many tricks to make their dress stand out. [j]

Woman, stop this folly. Turn this care toward your soul, toward the inner adorning. For the outward ornament that clothes you does not let what is within become beautiful. Whoever cares about what is outside despises what is inside, just as whoever is unconcerned about the outside gives all his care to the inside.

Do not say: “Oh, but I wear a threadbare garment, cheap shoes, a worthless veil. What ornament is there in these?” Do not deceive yourself. As I said, it is possible to take more pains over appearance with these than with costlier clothes — especially when they are fitted close to the body, cut for an immodest display, and spotlessly neat. You make your excuses to me, but what can you say to God, who knows the heart, and the spirit in which you do these things?

“I don’t do it for sexual immorality!” Perhaps not, but for admiration. And do you not blush with shame to be admired for such things? But you say: “It is only by chance that I am dressed this way, and not from any motive of that kind.” God knows what you are saying to me. Is it to me you must give account? No, it is to him who is present at your actions and will one day inquire into them, to whom all things are naked and laid open. That is why we urge these things now: so that we may not leave you liable to those severe judgments. Let us fear, then, that he may rebuke you in the words of the prophet to the Jewish women: “They come to be seen by me, flaunting themselves and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet” (Isaiah 3, verse 16).

You have taken on a great contest, where wrestling is required, not ornament; where battle awaits you, not idleness and ease. Look at the fighters and wrestlers in the games. Do they concern themselves with their walk or their dress? No. They scorn all that, throw around themselves a garment dripping with oil, and look to one thing only: to wound and not be wounded. The devil stands grinding his teeth, watching for every way to destroy you, and you stay unconcerned — or concerned only about this satanic finery. I say nothing about the voice, though much affectation shows itself in that too, nor about perfumes and other such luxuries. [l]

It is for these things that we are laughed at by the women who live in the world. The respect for virginity is lost. No one honors a virgin as she ought to be honored. They have given the occasion for their own dishonor. Ought they not to be looked up to in the church of God, as women come down from heaven? But now they are despised, and deservedly — though not those among them who are prudent. When a woman who has a husband and children and runs a household sees you, who ought to be crucified to the world, more devoted to the world than she is, will she not laugh at you and despise you? Look at the care! Look at the trouble! In your humble dress you outdo her who wears the costliest ornaments, and you take more pains over appearance than she who is decked in gold. What suits you, you do not look for; what does not suit you, you chase — when you ought to be busy with good works.

This is why virgins are held in less honor than women living in the world: they do not do works worthy of their profession of virginity. This is not said to all — or rather, it is said to all: to those at fault, that they may learn modesty; to those free of blame, that they may teach modesty to others. But take care that this rebuke is not borne out by what you do. For we have not said these things to grieve you, but to correct you, so that we may glory in you. And may we all do what is pleasing to God and live for his glory, so that we may obtain the promised blessings by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.