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1Pe 3:3-5

That women adorn themselves] kai tav gonaikav ev katastolh koamiw. The apostle seems to refer here to different parts of the Grecian and Roman dress. The stolh, stola, seems to have been originally very simple. It was a long piece of cloth, doubled in the middle, and sewed up on both sides, leaving room only for the arms; at the top, a piece was cut out, or a slit made, through which the head passed. It hung down to the feet, both before and behind, and was girded with the zona round the body, just under the breasts. It was sometimes made with, sometimes without, sleeves; and, that it might sit the better, it was gathered on each shoulder with a band or buckle. Some of the Greek women wore them open on each side, from the bottom up above the knee, so as to discover a part of the thigh. These were termed fainomhridev, showers (discoverers) of the thigh; but it was, in general, only young girls or immodest women who wore them thus.

The katastolh seems to have been the same as the pallium or mantle, which, being made nearly in the form of the stola, hung down to the waist, both in back and front, was gathered on the shoulder with a band or buckle, had a hole or slit at top for the head to pass through, and hung loosely over the stola, without being confined by the zona or girdle. Representations of these dresses may be seen in LENS' Costume des Peuples de l'Antiquit�, fig. 11, 12, 13, and 16. A more modest and becoming dress than the Grecian was never invented; it was, in a great measure, revived in England about the year 1805, and in it, simplicity, decency, and elegance were united; but it soon gave place to another mode, in which frippery and nonsense once more prevailed. It was too rational to last long; and too much like religious simplicity to be suffered in a land of shadows, and a world of painted outsides.

With shamefacedness and sobriety] The stola, catastola, girdle, &c., though simple in themselves, were often highly ornamented both with gold and precious stones; and, both among the Grecian and Roman women, the hair was often crisped and curled in the most variegated and complex manner. To this the apostle alludes when he says: mh en plegmasin, h crusw, h margaritaiv, h imatismw polutelei? Not with plaited hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly raiment. The costly raiment might refer to the materials out of which the raiment was made, and to the workmanship; the gold and pearls, to the ornaments on the raiment.

With shame-facedness or modesty, meta aidouv. This would lead them to avoid every thing unbecoming or meretricious in the mode or fashion of their dress.

With sobriety, meta swfrosunhv. Moderation would lead them to avoid all unnecessary expense. They might follow the custom or costume of the country as to the dress itself, for nothing was ever more becoming than the Grecian stola, catastola, and zona; but they must not imitate the extravagance of those who, through impurity or littleness of mind, decked themselves merely to attract the eye of admiration, or set in lying action the tongue of flattery. Woman has been invidiously defined: An animal fond of dress. How long will they permit themselves to be thus degraded? Those beautiful lines of Homer, in which he speaks of the death of Euphorbus, who was slain by Menelaus, show how anciently the Grecians plaited and adorned their hair:-antikru d� apaloio di� aucenov hluq� akwkh? douphsen de peswn, arabhse de teuce� ep� autw.

aimati oi deuonto komai, caritessin omoiai, plocmoi q� oi crusw te kai argorw esfhkwnto.

II. xvii., ver. 49.

Wide through the neck appears the ghastly wound; Prone sinks the warrior, and his arms rebound.

The shining circlets of his golden hair, Which e'en the Graces might be proud to wear, Instarr'd with gems and gold bestrew the shore, With dust dishonour'd, and deform'd with gore. POPE.

Or thus, more literally:- Sounding he fell; loud rang his batter'd arms.

His locks, which e'en the Graces might have own'd, Blood sullied, and his ringlets wound about With twine of gold and silver, swept the dust. COWPER.

The extravagance to which the Grecian and Asiatic women went in their ornaments might well be a reason for the apostle's command.

Kypke, however, denies that any particular article of dress is intended here, and says that katastolh is to be understood as coming from katastellw, to restrain, repress; and he refers it to that government of the mind, or moderation which women should exercise over their dress and demeanour in general, and every thing that may fall under the observation of the senses. All this, undoubtedly, the apostle had in view.

When either women or men spend much time, cost, and attention on decorating their persons, it affords a painful proof that within there is little excellence, and that they are endeavouring to supply the want of mind and moral good by the feeble and silly aids of dress and ornament. Were religion out of the question, common sense would say in all these things: Be decent; but be moderate and modest.

Ver. 9. In like manner also , etc.] Let the women pray likewise; though they are not to lead in prayer, or be the mouth of the church, which would be indecent, yet they are to join with the church in public prayer; (see Acts 1:14) and in like manner as the men, with purity of heart and hand, without murmuring and impatience towards God, and without wrath and anger towards others, and in faith, without doubting and distrust: and the apostle proceeds to point out what sort of dress he would have them appear in at the time of prayer, and at any part of public worship; and thus the Ethiopic version renders it, �so let the women be clothed in prayer�, namely, as follows; that women adorn themselves in modest apparel : the word rendered �apparel� signifies a long robe, which reaches down to the feet; and the word translated �modest� signifies that which is clean, neat, and decent, yea, beautiful and ornamental; and the sense of the apostle is, that he would not have them to come to public worship in rags, and in dirty and filthy garments, but that their bodies should be covered with clean and decent raiment; so the Israelites washed their clothes that they might be ready to meet the Lord at Mount Sinai, ( Exodus 19:14). The Jews always appeared in their best clothes on the sabbath day; this is one of their rules: f37 �for the honour of the sabbath, every man must be clothed, hyyqn twsk , �with clean or neat apparel� and clothing on the weekday must not be as clothing on the sabbath day; and if a man can make no change, he must let down his talith (or upper garment, his cloak); so that his clothing may not be as the clothing of the weekdays, when that was girt up about him.�

The apostle adds, with shamefacedness and sobriety : these are the two general rules by which dress is to be regulated; it is right and proper, when it is consistent with chastity, when it is not immodest and impudent, and more like the attire of an harlot than of a woman professing godliness; and when it is moderate as well as modest, and suitable to a person's age and station, and is not beyond the circumstances of life in which they are. There is no religion or irreligion in dress, provided pride and luxury are guarded against, and modesty and moderation preserved. Not with broidered hair , or plaited, as in ( 1 Peter 3:3), (see Gill on � 1 Peter 3:3�). The Jews had women on purpose for this business; Mary Magdalene is thought to have her name from hence; (see Gill on � Matthew 27:56�). Or gold, or pearls, or costly array: not that the apostle forbids all use or wear of such things by proper persons, whose circumstances would admit of it, and upon proper occasions, and at proper times: certain it is, that earrings and bracelets of gold, and jewels set in silver and gold, and raiment, costly raiment, were sent by Abraham, and given to Rebekah, and wore by her, who was a woman professing godliness so the church in ( Psalm 45:9,13,14) though in figurative expressions, yet in allusion to what is literal, and honourable, and commendable, is said to be in gold of Ophir, and her clothing to be of wrought gold, and to be brought to the king in raiment of needlework: but however justifiable such a dress may be at other seasons, the apostle judged it very improper at the time of public prayer, or at the time of public worship; seeing it might swell the heart of the wearer with pride, so as to forget herself and the business she was come about, and draw the eyes of others upon her; and so cause a general inattention. It was a complaint of Chrysostom's many hundreds of years ago, that some who came to public worship, appeared in such a dress, as if they came rather to dance than to pray; such apparel should be avoided: it is said of Pythagoras f38 , that he taught the inhabitants of Crotona, the men literature, and the women chastity and modesty; and by his disputations so far prevailed upon the latter, as to lay aside their garments of gold and other ornaments of their dignity, as instruments of luxury; all which they brought into the temple of Juno, and dedicated them to that goddess; declaring, that shamefacedness or chastity, and not garments, are the true ornaments of matrons.