Dressing Like a Preacher

This morning I am visiting one of our deacons in the hospital and so I pulled out a pair of newer jeans and our VBBC church logo stitched shirt.  But then it dawned on me that some preachers would say I’m not properly dressing as an IFB pastor.  However, there would be others who would say that since I’m pastoring a rural church where suits are only locally available through walmart.com, a new pair of jeans and collared shirt ARE appropriate for my situation.  But rather than listen to others, I decided to actually look into God’s Word and see what is appropriate attire for preachers.  I do this not because I am trying to assault or defend the notion that it is okay for pastors to wear whatever they want, but to understand for myself the real heart of the issue of how I as a pastor should daily dress.  If I find that jeans and a collared shirt are not appropriate then it’s time for me to change my clothes.  But let’s look first and then decide.

1. The first preacher I looked at was Noah in Genesis 5-9.  Noah clearly is described in 2 Peter 2:5 as a “preacher of righteousness” and some would contend that Noah is the FIRST preacher in time.  Either way, this does not make Noah a pastor, but surely the principles of “preacher-hood” would still work.  So as I read Noah’s life, I realized that there is nothing directly said about Noah’s method of dress, thus I have to look at his lifestyle to glean anything useful.  You see, Noah was a working man who had to build a boat so I find it hard to fathom that he would dress any other way than a working man might, at least while he was working.  This does not mean that Noah would have been immodest or unbiblical, but functional in his dress.  That is an assumption I know, but I feel it is fitting for my understanding of a preacher’s attire.  We need to be functional in our dress.  Now I could spend some time talking about the fact that Noah clearly got out of God’s will when he got drunk and was naked in Genesis 9:18-23, but truthfully that was in the privacy of his own tent and the curse of Noah on Ham was because Ham shared his father’s private “undressed shame” in a public manner with his brothers (Genesis 9:24-27).  So from Noah I found dress would have been functional and I can live with that.
2. Then I came to Elijah and Elisha in 1 Kings 17 to 2 Kings 13.  These two preachers of God were literally cut from a very different type of material, no pun intended, than any other Old Testament prophet as they were men of straight forward sermons and down to earth actions.  Many modern preachers use them as role models in so many areas and rightfully so as God mightily used these men of God to turn hearts back to God.  Yet their dress was, to say the least, not typical preacher’s attire.  In 2 Kings 1:8, Elijah’s clothes were described as “a garment of hair, with a belt of leather…”  As a matter of fact, Elijah’s dress was so distinctive that the king knew immediately that it was Elijah the prophet of God just by the description given by his servants of the clothes which Elijah wore, and, by the way, he was not the happiest to see the prophet either.  Was Elijah’s clothing “preacher-like?”  You will have to decide on that, I guess.  Then we come to the mantle that passed from Elijah to Elisha.  It was clearly very “preacher” like as it was seen as the marker of God’s call on the man of God.  But what was this mantle?  That has been a subject of minor debate for centuries as some say that it was nothing but a simple piece of cloth that God had blessed, while others believe it was a fur cloak that was the sign of the prophet’s office.  But either way, it was seen by both Elijah and Elisha as the symbol of God’s power and blessing (2 Kings 2:12-14).   Whether or not you wish to draw from this mantle that the preacher today ought to dress in such a way that is obviously distinctive, IE “garment of hair,” or even if you think that a suit and tie is the mantle of God’s blessing, I guess that is you choice.  But for me I once again see two men who seemed to recognize that the clothes they wore could be a powerful thing, but really that the power is in the blessing of God and really not in the method of style.
3. Then I looked at who I believe to be the last Old Testament prophet - John the Baptist.  What is there to say here?  He dressed in camel hair with a girdle of skin (Matthew 3:4 & Mark 1:6) and his diet was, seemingly, only locusts and wild honey.  Now some might say that this style of dress was just for convenience as it would have been appropriate for a preacher who spent a great deal of his ministry in the water and they might be right, but doesn’t that show practicality as part of the “how to dress” decision?  Clearly John’s dress was not the normal dress of the day among his people or nothing would have been said that drew attention to his unique fashion style.  Yet, once again, we hold John the Baptist as a true role model of preachers, and even Jesus said there was none greater among women than John (Luke 7:28).  So can we once again assume that common sense dress fits the description of John the Baptist and not some specific style of manner?
4. Then I looked at numerous others, such as Jesus who had nothing that drew men to Him as far as looks are concerned (Isaiah 53:2).  Or Paul who described himself as “…Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee” (Philippians 3:5) and so his dress would have, at least before salvation, been very traditional among his people, but nothing more is said of his dress after that.  Then there was Isaiah who preached in sackcloth until God told him to remove it and preach as a sign, naked and barefoot for three years (Isaiah 20:2 & 3).  Now I did found there were a few “preachers” who dressed in very fine garments, but the clothes were not their’s at all, because they were the high priests (Exodus 28-29).   And so on it went in my study.  But as I read nothing specific, as far as exact type of dress came out of the study. 

So what is my conclusion for my style of dress?  I believe my dress as a pastor/preacher should be appropriate for the situation and practical for the culture in which live.  I believe that when I stand in the pulpit to preach the truth of God’s Word I should dress in a manner that shows my respect for the power of God and the position of the pastor.  I should never enter the pulpit dressed in a manner that puts my personal desire or comfort or the comfort of those people who are seated in front of me ahead of God's glory and holiness.  But I also see that a pastor wearing jeans in his daily work routine is not a compromise either.  I believe that the conscience God gives His servants must be followed and that every pastor should always let the Spirit of God drive his decisions, even in dress style.  I may not always dress the way other preachers say a preacher should, but by God’s grace I intend to dress everyday in a manner that pleases Him!  Just for clarification…I wear a suit and tie every Sunday to church and have no plans of changing that either.