Jewelry: Does the Bible Say it's a Sin?
What the Scriptures Really Say
by Jason Young
There
are two separate verses in the New Testament that, at first glance,
appear to teach against wearing jewelry. The first is 1 Pet 3:3 which reads,
"Whose
adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and
of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel..."
The second and very similar verse is 1 Tim 2:9 that says,
"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
are these scriptures forbidding the use of jewelry by Christians?
A
number of holiness-based Christian groups have come to that conclusion,
but doing so fails to consider the numerous other passages in the Bible
that actually appear to endorse the use of jewelry. In fact, many places in the Bible show that God uses jewelry
as a blessing to his children.
One of the first passages in the Bible to deal with jewelry is Gen 24:47, 48 which
reads,
"And
I asked her, and said, whose daughter art thou? And she said, the
daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put
the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands. And I bowed
down my head, and worshipped the LORD, and blessed the LORD God of my
master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's
brother's daughter unto his son."
Here
we have a rather tender story of Abraham's servant giving jewelry to Rebekah, who
was the woman God had specially chosen for Isaac. The servant then bows his head and worships
God. If jewelry were
sinful, his offering it as a gift to Rebekah, and then subsequently worshipping God, would be
irreverent and inappropriate.
We find another such example in Gen 41:42, which says,
"And
Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand,
and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about
his neck..."
Joseph
was one of the greatest men of the Old Testament, and God
blessed him greatly because of his faithfulness. In this verse, we find Joseph accepting jewelry as a gift from
Pharaoh. If God forbade
jewelry, undoubtedly, Joseph would have rejected this gift.
David,
the man said to be after God's own heart,1 writes in Ps 25:12,
"As
an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover
upon an obedient ear."
David
compares gold earrings to the way an obedient ear accepts wise
instruction. Surely if
jewelry were a sin, David would never have made a comparison between wise behavior
and something that is sinful.
The prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 61:10,
"I
will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for
he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me
with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with
ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."
Isaiah compares righteousness and salvation to a bride and
bridegroom who adorn themselves with jewelry. Would Isaiah compare a sinful activity to the salvation and
righteousness of God?
God, through Jeremiah,
speaks of jewelry in
this way:
"Can
a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have
forgotten me days without number." (Jer 2:32)
God
compares forgetting about him to a maid who forgets her jewelry. Again, if jewelry were sinful, God would never have made such a
comparison.
In Ezek 16:11-13, God says that he has blessed his children with
bracelets, necklaces, earrings, jewels and crowns,
"I
decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and
a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in
thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked
with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and
broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou
wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom."
God
would not offer his children something sinful as a gift or reward.
Some
may argue that God once gave and blessed the use of jewelry, but because
of the vanity and disobedience of Israel, he no longer does, which is
why it is forbidden in the New Testament. The problem with such an assertion is that it is not taught in the scriptures. In fact, the scriptures contradict such an idea. Luke 15:22 says,
"But
the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe, and put it
on him; and put a ring on his hand..."
This
verse is from the parable of the Prodigal Son, given by Jesus. Surely, Jesus would not have used a sinful practice
as part of his parable.
Considering
the overwhelming body of evidence that God not only doesn't condemn
the use of jewelry but has actually given it as a gift to his faithful
children, it cannot reasonably be stated that jewelry is a sin. In light of this, let's take another look at the verses
used to support the belief that the use of jewelry is forbidden:
"Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the
hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel..." (1 Pet 3:3)
"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..." (1 Tim 2:9)
What exactly
are Peter
and Paul teaching in these verses? They are simply teaching that Christians should be
more concerned with beautifying the inward man than beautifying the
outward man. They are teaching
that as Christians, we should not be overly
concerned with outward beauty. Jewelry,
like every other good thing from God, can and has been abused by carnal
man.
It
is important not to take one or two passages in isolation and make a
doctrine out of them without first considering the entire weight of
scriptural teachings. Doing
so will inevitably lead to errant teachings and inaccurate assumptions about
God's word. These verses
that deal with outward modesty are certainly no exception. A careful and honest evaluation of all relevant scriptures
reveals that Paul is not forbidding the use of jewelry; he is merely
instructing us to use it in moderation and to place the greater emphasis
on inward adorning.
Bibliography:
1 - Ps 89:20, 1 Sam 13:14, Acts 13:22
This writing is the copyright of Jason Young and is reprinted on this site by permission as actseighteen.com has closed. View all of his available articles here.
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Page added July 26, 2015
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