Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 7/14/2010

Question
Dear Rev. Robert Woods,

I am Gregory P. Norton, and I attended Grace United Methodist Church (UMC).  Our Church, Grace UMC, rented out our sanctuary to another local church that affiliated with the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI, Hazelwood, MO).

I cannot speak on behalf of all Methodist, but this is how our United Methodist church do conversion:

1.  We are absolutely convinced we are saved by grace through faith without legalism.  "For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.  Not of works, that not anyone could boast"  Eph. 2:8-9.

2.  Conversion is evangelical.  We believe that salvation occurs spontaneously the moment one calls upon the name of the Lord for conversion.  John Wesley preached this often, "So that if you confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.  For with the heart man believes to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses to salvation.  For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved Romans 10:9-10, 13."  According to the Greek New Testament, belief in the heart results in righteousness, and confession with the mouth results in salvation.  The calling on the name of the Lord was tied with the promise of salvation.  

Unfortunately, some members showed us and stressed that one has to be water baptized in order to wash their sins away.  They took the text, ACTS 22:16, "And now why do you delay?  Get up!  Be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord."  They take this text to relate calling on the name of the lord as the washing that occurs ONLY during water baptism.  In other words, it is ONLY through water baptism that one's sins are washed away.  On the other hand, I have been doing some Greek New Testament study, the Greek verb for calling is a participle, and the main Greek verb is washing.  The Greek participle for calling is an aorist participle.  The action of the participle occurs before the main verb, washing.  The Greek verb for baptize is in the Aorist Middle voice.  In other words, God is the divine agent that works internally while the person response willfully to God.  That is nature of the middle voice.  The Aorist is a past event that is done in a punctiliar moment in the past with results/effects continuing.  In other words, I take Acts 22:16 to mean one is calling (e.g., sequentially before main verb, washing) in order for the act of washing to occur.  Water baptism in this text is middle voice, and the baptism is done to the person.  Either way, one has to call on the name of the Lord first and primarily for the washing.  Nevertheless, the washing hinges on one calling upon the name of the Lord for conversion.  Conversion and washing does not hinge on water baptism.

Also, the United Pentecostals got on to us Methodists because we do not believe in the "Standards of Dress" for holiness that they teach.  The UPC pastor and members continuously quoted I Tim. 2:9 for standards: "Women adorn yourselves in modest apparel, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for for women who profess to worship God."  The "standards of dress" they teach are:

1.  Skirts two inches below the knee, or HELL.
2.  Women have to wear nylon hose to worship, or HELL.
3.  Sleeves to the elbow, or HELL.
4.  Un-cut Hair, or HELL.
5.  No pants for women, or HELL.
6.  etc. etc. etc. etc.

On the other hand, we as Methodists have always had a rich tradition of believing in conversion without legalism.  We did not get into the *Holiness Movement* because the people were getting legalistic in what to wear.  MOre importantly, we stronger believe one is saved by grace through faith without legalism and without their standards of dress for holiness.  Because of this, often, when a girl in our Methodist congregation would go for conversion, they would wear a miniskirt to church and even do it bare-legged without nylons.  OUr elders and myself do not believe that it is sinful, and I admit that the girls that come to our Methodist churches in miniskirts, while doing it bare-legged without nylons, look very pretty.  On the other hand,the UPC church harasssed our girls that wore miniskirts, came to worship bare-legged without nylons, the entire congregation, and leadership because we believe in salvation conversion without the legalism, rejected that one needs water baptism to be saved, tongues to be saved, and no standards of dress for salvation.  

Now, how was my Greek on Acts 22:16?  How would you explain washing in relation to Acts 22:16, conversion, and water baptism?  What would you say about and towards the UPC's strict use of legalism and standards of dress in order to obtain conversion and salvation?

Our United Methodist congregation was pushed by the UPC distinctive doctrines, water baptism for salvation, tongues for salvation, and standards of dress for salvation.  Please Help Us!

All The Best, Your Friend in Christ, Greg

Answer
Blessings and thank you for your questions.

1.  Acts 22:16 - I agree with you, your Greek appears to be right on.  It is the calling upon the name of the Lord, repentence and belief in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that saves us.  Baptism is the direct declaration of that calling and decision to follow Christ.  Baptism does not save us, it only represents what has already happened.

2.  Legalism is the result of the Holiness movement but not it's beginning.  The Holiness movement wanted to be Holy, upright and closer to the Lord and His scriptures.  But they have moved into legalism just like the Pharasees did.  There is nothing wrong with wanting to be Holy, in fact scripture tells us to be Holy.  None of the things that you list would lead a person to Hell.  In fact, the verses we just discussed claim our salvation.  ALL of our sins are forgiven.  So even if they are right (and I don't believe they are), these things would not keep a Christian from going to heaven.  Would Jesus die on the cross for our sins (of murder, lieing etc) but then send a woman to Hell for wearing a dress that was an inch to short?   That is just silly.

3.  I Tim 2:9 - The emphasis is that women should dress appropriately when at worship, and not put on extravagant clothes that draw attention to themselves. Propriety means reverence and respect, shrinking away from what is inappropriate. The adjective (modest) means properly, orderly, decorous, becoming. Moderation may also be translated “sound judgment” or “self-control The noun (apparel) in secular writings also means conduct, bearing. But here “apparel.” Women are apt to love fine dress; and at Ephesus the riches of some (1Ti 6:17) would lead them to dress luxuriously.

Women should preserve modesty in both dress and attitude. By contrast, they should avoid dressing ostentatiously and focus their attention on good works appropriate for godliness. Some women might have been dressing in a flashy, even sensual, manner acceptable in their former pagan lifestyle but out of place in the church. Others might have been dressing to reflect their higher social status. For the great majority, who were from the lower classes, this ostentatious attire could have proven a barrier to their sharing in the life of the church (see 1 Cor. 11:20, 21).

J Vernon McGee has a great insight into this verse he says: The confusion that exists about this rather practical issue has been brought about by a misunderstanding of this passage of Scripture and also by an unfamiliarity with the Roman world of Paul’s day.
Let’s establish first that God has used women. In the Word of God we see Deborah, Queen Esther, Ruth, and others. In church history, we find women like Mary Fletcher and Priscilla Gurney. There are multitudes of others whom God has used in a wonderful way.
However, in the Roman world the female principle was a part of all the heathen religions, and women occupied a prominent place. The worship of Aphrodite at Corinth was probably one of the most immoral in which prostitution was actually made into a religion. The thousand vestal virgins who were in the temple of Aphrodite on top of the Acropolis there in Corinth were nothing in the world but prostitutes. They were characterized by very disheveled hair. The reason God said that a woman should have her head covered was so she would not be associated at all with religions like this. Also, in Ephesus where Timothy was at this time, women occupied a very prominent position in the worship at the temple of Diana. In all the mystery religions there were priestesses. It is because of these heathen practices that Paul is emphasizing in this passage that this matter of sex is not to enter into the public prayer in the services of the Christian churches. We need to approach this passage with these factors in mind.
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 [1 Tim. 2:9–10].
“In like manner also”—Paul has said how men are to pray in public, and now he will say how women are to pray. Note that he is saying women are to pray. That is not the issue, but he is telling them the way in which they are to pray in public. His emphasis will be upon inner adornment rather than outward adornment. Women are to pray in public, but they should not dress up from the viewpoint of appealing to God in a sexual or physical way.
I want to make it very clear that I feel that a woman should dress as nicely as she possibly can. There is nothing wrong with a woman dressing in a way that is appealing to her husband (or, if she is single, to a man).
Have you ever stopped to realize that when your husband fell in love with you he thought you were beautiful? Yes, he did. I shall never forget the night that I met my wife. It was a summer night in Texas, and we were invited to the home of mutual friends for dinner. Frankly, these friends were trying to bring us together. I didn’t want to go because I had an engagement in Fort Worth that night. My wife didn’t want to go because she was going with another fellow! But that night when I saw her—I never shall forget her dark hair, her brown eyes—there in the candlelight I looked at her, and I fell in love with her. I proposed to her on our second date, and the reason I didn’t propose on that first date was that I didn’t want her to think I was in a hurry! She’d never won a beauty contest, but she was beautiful. How wonderful it was!
I have a notion your husband thought you were beautiful also, and there is nothing wrong in dressing in a way to be attractive to him. But when you go to God in prayer, you don’t need that outward adornment. You need that inward adornment. When a woman is going to sing in church, to speak or to have any part in a church service, she ought to keep in mind that her appeal should in no way be on the basis of sex. She should seek to please God, and there is no way in which she can appeal to Him on the basis of sex at all. Such appeal characterized the pagan religions in the Roman world, and Paul is stressing that it should not be a part of the public services of the Christian churches.


4.  My opinion:  Throughout History, modesty and proper attire have been cultural issues.  Paul was dealing with issues that involved paganism, wealth and social status.  Women were dressing up with extravant pearls in their hair, expensive or provocative clothes that went with their culture.  Paul stressed many times that their should be no divisions in the church.  But Timothy was already having to deal with divisions of wealth, social status and the influence of paganism into the church.  So Paul tries to solve this problem be instructing women to dress modestly (that is not flashy, provocative, or full of jewelry that would make others envyous.  

You may ask the question, why do we dress up for church at all?  Well that too is a cultural issue that comes to us first through the times of the middle ages and continued with the Puritans.  During the Middle Ages, only the rich were allowed to sit in church and recieve the "sacraments" of scripture.  They would come in their following robes, and expensive clothes and sit in splender at church.  The peasants would come in and be forced to stand, if they were allowed in at all.  Over time, the peasants learned that they needed to wear their "Sunday Best" in order to go to church at all.  This practice of "Sunday best" still exists in the church.

The Puritans furthered this belief by creating clothing that did not have any extravagence at all.  The Amish and some Mennonites still follow this creed today.

I don't think God cares what you wear to church.  God is more concerned that you come.  However, the idea of modesty should still be carried out by muture Christians.  Meaning, you don't wear clothes that entice others to lust, envy or other sin, that show off your body,  your riches, or your social status.  As Christians, we are all equal in the eyes of God.  Furthermore, we cannot expect unbelievers or new believers to adhere to these rules until they know the full truth of God and His word.

5.  Other gifts - while I believe in all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, there is no one gift that every Christian should have (except for Love).  There is no gift that is required for salvation.  Scripture says that every believer should have faith, hope and love, but that other gifts would "follow" believers.  This means in the whole body of Christ, we should see all of God's gifts being used and operated in order and appropriately.