MAN AND WOMAN
C. A. Coates
“There shall not be a man’s apparel on a woman, neither shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever doeth so is an abomination to Jehovah thy God”. Divine order is ever to be observed, and it is most important to have regard to this in a day when every feature of that order is being so largely set aside. In Christianity the man and the woman each have their distinctive clothing, and are only suitably adorned as they appear in it. The whole tendency of things today is to subvert divine order, but that order is to be maintained in God’s assembly.
Nature itself teaches a woman to be retiring and modest. Her glory is her long hair which is “given to her in lieu of a veil”. Her distinctive glory according to nature suggests what is her true moral glory. Her “clothing” would represent her whole deportment and appearance, not excluding her actual dress. It is to be suitable to the place which she has of expressing in her own person how the assembly is subjected to the Christ.
So Paul, representing the authority of the Lord, says, “Let a woman learn in quietness in all subjection; but I do not suffer a woman to teach nor to exercise authority over man, but to be in quietness”, 1 Timothy 2: 11, 12. He also says, “Let your women be silent in the assemblies, for it is not permitted to them to speak; but to be in subjection, as the law also says ... it is a shame for a woman to speak in assembly”, 1 Corinthians 14: 34, 35. There might be cases where sisters were more spiritually intelligent than brothers, but they are not to teach. J.N.D. said that in such cases the saints would be more edified by the observance of divine order than they could possibly be by the superior intelligence of the woman. I have no doubt that the disordered state of the church is reflected in the uncomely behaviour of women at the present time, one feature of which is the hideous fashion of cutting their hair short. It is a reproach to see women preaching, or putting themselves into prominence; it is a setting aside of their true glory—a putting on of man’s apparel.
But then, on the other hand, “neither shall a man put on a woman’s clothing”. The men are not to retire from the place accorded to them; they are to “pray in every place (that is, not only in the assembly, but at home, or wherever occasion arises), lifting up pious hands, without wrath or reasoning”, 1 Timothy 2: 8. The public expression of praise or prayer, the setting forth of things in ministry, and the responsibility for order and edification in the assembly, rests with the men, and it is well for all believing men to see that they do not retire from the responsible service of the house of God. It might be as uncomely for a brother to be silent in the assembly as for a sister to speak there. It is well to reflect upon this, and to see to it that we appear in the habiliments which are suitable.
It is a day in which women are taking a prominent place in public religious activities, but it seems to me that this is a reproach upon the men. If the men had been wearing their proper apparel, and filling up their responsibility according to divine order, there would not have been occasion or room for the women to take the place which they have taken. But to violate divine order in regard to these things is serious; it has the character of “abomination to Jehovah”.
‘Outline of Deuteronomy’, pp.282–284