CLOTHED!

The “clothes police” all over Italy, particularly in Rome, are pretty strict when it comes to entering churches, including the Vatican.

No shorts. No bare knees. No bare shoulders. That’s the rule. Or the clothes cops will arrest, jail, and deport you summarily!

(Just kidding! In fact, in many of the souvenir shops outside the Vatican and other churches, you can buy a one-off pair of paper pants! And a temporary shawl will cover the exposed shoulders.)

But the clothing constabulary stringently maintains decorum. Non-church buildings are exempt from this clothing rule. There’s something about churches and clothing ….

Maybe it stems from the metaphorical use of clothing in the Bible. Appropriate clothing before God, that is.

A fundamental biblical understanding of mankind is that it is sinful by nature—“clothed” with sin.

For all of us have become
like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds
are like a filthy garment; …
And our iniquities, like the wind,
take us away.
Isaiah 64:6

This is an uncleanness that we can do nothing about. No way to get rid of this on our own. God has to take the initiative. Only God can cleanse.

In fact, right after the first human sin, perpetrated by Adam and Eve, one of God’s gracious acts was the literal clothing of this sinful pair. They were given garments of skin, it says, implying death of some animal or another.

The LORD God made
garments of skin
for Adam and his wife,
and clothed them.
Genesis 3:21

In other words, God has to give us appropriate clothing by which we may renew a relationship with Him. The marvelous thing about this is that these “clothes” are free!

I will rejoice greatly in the LORD,
My soul will exult in my God;
For He has clothed me
with garments of salvation,
He has wrapped me
with a robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself
with a garland,
And as a bride adorns herself
with her jewels.
Isaiah 61:10

Garments of salvation and robes of righteousness, indeed! Appropriate for the bride of Christ.

Let us rejoice and be glad
and give the glory to Him,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come
and His bride has made herself ready.
It was given to her to clothe herself
in fine linen, bright and clean;
for the fine linen is
the righteousness of the saints.
Revelation 19:7–8

This righteousness is, of course, not ours, but that of Christ, who “gave” us his righteousness, exchanging it for our sin.

He made Him who knew no sin
to be sin on our behalf,
so that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21

And so for the one who believes in Jesus Christ, God incarnate, that He paid for our sins, there is eternal life.

For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23

And our clothing?

For all of you who were
baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Galatians 3:27

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Charles Wesley, 1738

And now, appropriately clothed, we render to God the worship that is due to Him, and to Him alone.

Ascribe to the LORD
the glory due His name; …
Worship the LORD in holy attire.
1 Chronicles 16:29

Don’t let the clothes police nab you!