1 Corinthians 11:1-16

Are we wrong in the 21st Century Church to not adhere to Paul’s mandate about hats in worship? I hate to think there are 16 verses in God’s Word that have no meaning to us in 2025.

As I sat here and tried to make sense of it, and before I went to Amazon to look up “women’s hats” to buy, God seemed to draw my eyes to the word “tradition” in verse 2. I looked back at what Paul had written in chapter 10 and saw he’d just had a conversation about our freedom in Christ. Are these verses in chapter 11 a continuation of that theme? It seems so to me.

Eating food sacrificed to idols isn’t an issue for us in the modern church, but the wisdom in the lesson still applies: choose to do nothing that would trip up a weaker Christian, or give a non-believer a wrong idea about what it means to follow Christ.

The ancient tradition of head-covering has a lesson for us, too. If idolatrous men covered their heads while bowing to their false gods, Paul is calling Christian men to take off their hats when they worshiped God. If idolatrous women went to their false god bare-headed, Christian women should cover their’s. It wasn’t as much about the hat, as it was being totally separate from anything idolatrous, so as not to trip up a weaker Christian or give a non-believer the wrong idea about what it means to worship the one true God.

Does God care what we wear to church? The popular philosophy is, no. But I wonder if we should care. Does what I wear separate me from the world on a Sunday morning? If I go to church wearing my short shorts and tank top, am I going to hell? Of course not. (don’t worry. I don’t even own short shorts and tank tops anymore. Relax!) We have the freedom to wear just about anything.

But if my unsaved neighbor sees me getting into my car on a Sunday morning, will he automatically know I am going to worship God, or will he think I’m going to the beach or a ball game? If my approach to worship looks that casual, would a weaker Christian think it’s ok to take a casual approach to worship?

What is permissible is not always profitable.

I know when we talk about wearing our “Sunday best” to church, we are touted as old fashioned, out-dated, legalistic. Yes, there is no dress code for church. But shouldn’t I care about how I am perceived as a Christian woman? What do my clothes say about me and my worship of Holy God?

I will go so far to say that this lesson isn’t just for the Sunday morning worshippers. I hope we present ourselves every day as people separate from the world through our choice of what we wear to work, to play, or simply to walk through the neighborhood.

You might say, “I have a right to wear what I want.” Ummm, I question that. As Christians we are called to set aside our “rights” for the sake of the Gospel, for the sake of that weaker Christian, or for that unsaved person who is watching us.

I’m not advocating for the fashion police to guard the doors of our churches. But I think I’m advocating that we guard our hearts and our witness every day, and especially on Sunday when we have the privilege of gathering with our family of faith to worship our precious Savior, our Holy God.

What does your choice of clothing say about you? Do you blend in with the world? Could people mistake you for a non-believer? Or are you living a life that is separate from the world, and looking like it?