Jewelry and Chrstian Life

I thank God, again, for planting me in a church which instructs us to research the Word for ourselves and, through prayer, seek understanding.

This morning I watched a TV minister give quite a sermon on the wrongness of wearing jewelry and other adornments. He stopped short of calling wearing jewelry a sin, but stated strongly that the scripture stated it was not the right thing for a Christian to do. He advocated neat and plain dress versus “flashy” clothing.

He based his teaching on two scriptures.
The first is 1 Pet 3:3 which reads,
“Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel…”

The second and very similar verse is 1 Tim 2:9 that says,
“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…”

This reminded me of the fact that whole sects are founded on one or two scriptures and a limited view of our Lord is the driving force in the lives of millions.

We are taught at The Tabernacle to prayerfully go to the Word for answers, so, as soon as that program ended, I went to my trusty computer and typed in “jewelry and the bible” and many citations appeared.

We are also taught that we need to know WHO wrote the scripture, to WHOM it was written and WHY or the circumstances under which it was written.

I’d like to share with you just one site and a few of the notes made and invite you to do your own research on this issue and post comments.

http://www.actseighteen.com/articles/jewelry-bible.htm

The following is a brief exerpt of that site.

One of the first passages in the Bible to deal with jewelry is Gen 24:47, 48 which reads,

“And I asked her, and said, whose daughter art thou? And she said, the daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands. And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the LORD, and blessed the LORD God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son.”

Here we have a rather tender story of Abraham's servant giving jewelry to Rebekah, who was the woman God had specially chosen for Isaac. The servant then bows his head and worships God. If jewelry were sinful, his offering it as a gift to Rebekah, and then subsequently worshipping God, would be irreverent and inappropriate.

We find another such example in Gen 41:42, which says,

“And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck...”

Joseph was one of the greatest men of the Old Testament, and God blessed him greatly because of his faithfulness. In this verse, we find Joseph accepting jewelry as a gift from Pharaoh. If God forbade jewelry, undoubtedly, Joseph would have rejected this gift.

David, the man said to be after God’s own heart,1 writes in Ps 25:12,

“As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.”

David compares gold earrings to the way an obedient ear accepts wise instruction. Surely if jewelry were a sin, David would never have made a comparison between wise behavior and something that is sinful.

The prophet Isaiah wrote in Isa 61:10,

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”

Isaiah compares righteousness and salvation to a bride and bridegroom who adorn themselves with jewelry. Would Isaiah compare a sinful activity to the salvation and righteousness of God?

God, through Jeremiah, speaks of jewelry in this way:

“Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.” (Jer 2:32)

God compares forgetting about him to a maid who forgets her jewelry. Again, if jewelry were sinful, God would never have made such a comparison.

Now, I offer only an invitation for all of us to look deeper into ANY blanket statements we hear about the will of God in our lives. And, I thank God, again, for planting me in a place which encourages this deeper look.

May God be a blessing in your life.