Expert: Dean Gade - 11/9/2010

Question
Hi! So I have probably the most important question a female believer could ask: why do people refer to 1 Timothy 2: 9,10 and 1 Peter 3: 3,4 in reference to make-up, and especially using both passages to forbid jewelry. What are we to learn from the Word of God from both of these passages and are both apostles forbidding jewelry? Please thank you for utmost time and devotion to answering my question. God bless,

Answer
Debra,

To answer your question: "Why do people........".   They do it because they are still under the Law and do not yet know about or walk in the Christian liberty of God's grace.

Paul and Peter were instructing us about the good life we have as we walk by the Holy Spirit with one another in the fellowship of the church.  They make a contrast between trying to impress others by our own efforts and pride versus letting others see how God is changing our character and attitude as we get to know Him and reflect His grace before others.

To explain it further:  God is changing us by His power as we grow closer to Him, as we trust in Him more and more and trust in ourselves for happiness in this world less and less. Our tendency as flawed humans is to have people like us because we "look good" by outward means rather than "being good" in their sight.

When God sent Jesus into the world to draw all people to His love for our salvation, He purposefully DIDN'T give Jesus a especialy attractive body:

Isa 53:2-3
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
RSV

God wants us, men and women, to be attractive to the world by what we are becoming and not by outward adornments.

BUT, Paul and Peter are not making a law against jewelry.  They are simply saying that it is better to be attractive by letting our "light" shine from within us:

Matt 5:14-16
14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
NIV

Col 1:10-14
10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light . 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
NIV

Sadly, many Christian leaders prefer to make lists of new laws rather than nurture those who know the Lord and His salvation until they reflect the glory of our God to those around them:

2 Cor 3:15-18
15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their minds; 16 but when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
RSV

How we look DOES effect how we come across to those of the world, but those in the church who try to lay laws on us pertaining to outward forms do as much damage to attracting outsiders as those who are "babes" in Christ.