The argument goes something like this: The Bible says that where two or three
are gathered there is Jesus in the midst of them (Matt 18:20). That indicates
that a gathering of two or three includes the very important presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ. People wear their best clothes when they meet someone
Important (like if one had a meeting with the President). This indicates that
the esteem put on the person justifies the better clothing. Christ is more
Important than anyone and to be greater esteemed. Therefore, when going to any
meeting of the church a person should wear their best clothes.
Misuse of the verse aside (since we all know that the context of the verse
has nothing to do with the local church meeting but with the correction of a
person who has sinned against another), does the argument hold together?
Firstly, I don’t think some of the statements are completely factual and
secondly if the argument is sound I don’t think the conclusion is restrictive
enough. I’ll talk about the second point first.
Assuming that all the statements before the conclusion are accurate I don’t
think we can honestly limit the dressing up to the meeting of the church. The
(mis)use of Christ’s words would seem to indicate two or three believers from
anywhere: which would mean even in the household. So if the husband is a
believer and the wife is a believer there is an example of two gathered: Christ
is with them. Since we dress up for important people who we esteem and we think
Christ is important and to be greatly esteemed, then it follows that in the home
we should wear our best clothes, shoes and all. In fact, we’d probably have to
go to bed with the same outfit (if we allow that its okay for us to sleep in
front of someone who is Important and Greatly Esteemed).
It does seem pretty silly when we see that outworking and I don’t think even
the most restrictive fundamentalist would go there (although he or she might say
that this applies on Sunday where I heard one man proudly say that he’d wear his
tie and suit the entire day).
So where else does the argument go wrong?
Well, People don’t only wear their best clothes when they meet someone
important since they also wear their best clothes when they want to impress (ie:
a date) or to ensure that they’re not seen in a bad light (ie: by a potential
boss) or to stand out from the crowd (which is practically Impress) or even to
fit into a crowd (ie: employees of an Ad Agency). In other words, if I were to
meet the president, I wouldn’t dress up so much because he was important or even
because I wanted him to be impressed but because I didn’t want him thinking less
of me or because I wanted to fit in with anyone else meeting him.
With those things in mind I can think of several immediate reasons why
someone would want to dress up for church to Meet Christ (and allow for
not-dressing-up in the home). 1) To Impress Christ; 2) Because they don’t want
to be thought less of by Christ; 3) Because they want to fit in with the crowd
of like-dressing individuals who are meeting Christ.
Here I think we see every statement imploding. No one is going to be able to
impress Christ—he’s seen the worst in man and guess what: it’s even in those who
dress nicely or wash their hands before eating (Matt 15:11). No one is going to
be thought less of by Christ since His mission resulted in the ultimate
sacrifice for weak, sinful people (Rom 5:8). No one fits into the crowd of
like-dressing individuals when this is the same person that is said to dwell in
Us and know what is in the hearts of people (John 2:25).
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