Wearing suits to church has been a common American tradition for decades.

Jim, is Pluto even a planet anymore?

Reverence is foundational to corporate worship. There is a lot of room for debate as to what reverence “looks like”.

There is way less debate as to what “planned irreverence” looks like.

Just an observation.

I don’t wear a suit most of the time these days, but the question isn’t that peripheral.

The pentateuch’s stipulations for the priesthood can’t be transferred directly to NT believers, of course, but some inferences are inescapable:

• Attire can be an extremely important vehicle for conveying meaning in a worship context
• God is not completely uninterested in how worshipers dress

The Aaronic/Levitical priesthood is defunct, but what has replaced it? Priesthood of believers.

So, the absence of NT teaching on the topic means conclusions on this should be pretty flexible, but the OT context is sobering and means the topic is, at the very least, nontrivial.

By framing the issue to be about wearing suits, the discussion/question focuses on the wrong issue. The real question is not about suits but about what clothing is appropriate and inappropriate for a church service. Just as American/Western culture influenced the wearing of suits, that same casual culture today is influencing people to “dress down” for church. We say we don’t want the secular culture to affect us in negative ways, but how do we know that the casual culture isn’t affecting us in negative ways? American Christianity has reacted to the opposite of suits to wearing almost anything (or sometimes very little). I suspect that more than a few pastors are hesitant to bring this issue up because they fear offending people or having people not attend the church. I wear a suit every Sunday service (with a small rose on the lapel, when roses are in season - don’t remember why I started wearing roses, although my wife loves roses and they look nice). Granted, the NT does not give specifics about type of clothing, only principles about modesty, etc. But I wonder if those pastors who wear flower shirts and shorts when they preach the Bible are not actually reflecting the worst parts of our casual culture and giving the implied impression that we can take the Bible and following Christ casually as well.

For me, how I dress says how seriously I take worshipping God. It’s an outworking of an inward conviction that I need to take church seriously. If people don’t want to dress up, fine. I think I ought to.

Most men in our church do not wear ties. Most make do with polos or dress shirts. A few brave souls wear sport coats. Perhaps two old men wear suits. I wear a suit, and my boys wear shirts and ties, and coats if we’ve managed to clean all the food off them from the week before.

“Dressing up” for church is going out of style, and it will probably continue to do so.

In 2012, Christianity Today published an extensive but helpful article that thoughtfully answers some of your questions. You can find that article here.

By framing the issue to be about wearing suits, the discussion/question focuses on the wrong issue. The real question is not about suits but about what clothing is appropriate and inappropriate for a church service.

Wally, I agree with your opening sentences. “Wearing Suits to Church” is a title that provokes thought, which is handy for a blog post. Most importantly, my blog post was given in reply to a specific question submitted by a reader of Shepherd Thoughts. The original question was, “Why is it so important to wear suit coats for church services, rather than a simple shirt and tie? I have been a stickler about always wearing a suit coat for church services, even when my pastor does not.”

This question leads to your observation about raising the right question. Here are some principles that I find especially helpful, for any culture and any church.

1. Dress in a respectful way. You are worshiping the Lord God. If anyone deserves respectful attire, it is Him. This may not require a tuxedo, but not all clothing shows appropriate respect (Malachi 1:8).
2. Dress in a holy manner. Worship is not a ballgame. It is stepping away from the affairs of this life, the evil and the trivial. It is “setting apart” yourself to give undivided attention to the Lord. If there is ever a time not to be pressed into the mold of the world, it is corporate worship (Rom. 12:1-2).
3. Dress modestly. Dress in a way that does not draw attention to yourself. Avoid clothing that stands out from the crowd (Mark 12:38,James 2:3). A full suit, complete with a vest, handkerchief, cuff links and wing-tips may be respectful and common in Southern U.S. church, but it would certainly be immodest in a village church in South Africa!

I’m a bit of two minds on this subject, but in spite of my upbringing (suits to church since I was about 7) I tend to lean toward the OT priesthood not being particularly a good reflection of our worship today. Otherwise, in addition to the priestly garments, we should be building our churches to look like Solomon’s temple instead of cheaping out on them, since that’s where most of our worship takes place, and those places should show adequate respect to God. Personally, I still wear suits some Sundays. Others I might wear a casual shirt and khakis, and on Wednesday nights I come straight from work, so it’s a really casual shirt with jeans.

The NT passages on clothing and apparel do not say much that would lead one to the OT view on how to dress. Others have already posted some, but when you read a sample like this, it would seem to indicate that dressing up is not something God considers particularly important.

[Bible] 1 Peter 3:3-4 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Luke 7:25 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts.

1 Timothy 2:9 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;

James 2:2-4 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

Even if we go back to the OT, what is it that God wants from us (even considering what the law declared)?

[Bible] Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

I’m not arguing that we don’t show respect to God, but God judges our hearts. That’s where we show him true respect:

[Bible] 1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

Dave, you’ve pointed to an important NT principle - modesty. Immodesty is any attitude, attire, words or behavior that draws attention to yourself. Certainly, wearing “not enough clothes” is immodest, because it draws inappropriate attention in your direction. And in corporate worship, we should conscientiously avoid this.

But the Pharisees were also immodest, wearing long flowing robes (Mark 12:38). Many sermons have waxed eloquent about ostentatious women in church gatherings (1 Timothy 2:9); but how many sermons have exposed the problem of ostentatious, gold-fingered men (James 2:2)?

Shouldn’t I dress in a way that does not draw attention to myself? Avoiding clothing that stands out from the crowd (Mark 12:38,James 2:3)? A full suit, complete with a vest, handkerchief, cuff links and wing-tips may be respectful and common in Southern U.S. churches, but it would certainly be immodest in a village church in South Africa!

I generally agree with modesty (in many ways for men and women, and not just in clothing) and not drawing attention, although that latter probably applies more often outside one’s own church, since at home most people know you and (at least if you are a guy) mostly ignore what you are wearing. I very rarely get comments on my apparel, whether wearing a suit or jeans.

Let’s think about this; if you look at historical documents, what you’re going to find is that wearing a suit, historically speaking, a sign that you can afford it—that you are nobility, a wealthy merchant, or otherwise white collar. Tweed for professors (maybe dentists), worsteds for attorneys, bespoke for the upper crust still holds today. If you look at Shorpy’s, you’ll quickly see that the jackets the newsies are wearing (and the like) are generally a fairly coarse woolen, often are patched, and usually don’t fit very well. In other words, those jackets were for warmth, not show.

Wearing a jacket where the pockets are stitched shut (like most men’s jackets these days) was a sign that you were wealthy enough to not need pockets—often it even meant you had a servant (think like Huma Abedin for Hilliary Clinton) to carry your things for you. We can still see that in law, medicine, and politics, where some degree of suit is more or less a uniform or sign of authority, or in my former pastor teasing me when I wore a suit by saying “hey, you want to preach today?”.

So while I’m a huge fan of suits, and was wearing (h/T Tom Overmiller) cuff links yesterday at work (and regularly wear wing tips, too), pushing suits in church will simply create more problems than it solves. It’s an echo at times of class distinctions and pretensions that many people quite frankly resent.

Far better, really, to take Tom’s third point—dress modestly and appropriately—and wave to the guy in dirty overalls to pull up a chair while teaching our families at home how not to be a spectacle. Lesson 1: the only breasts I need to see are my wife’s, and those only in private. Lesson 2: most of us are overweight, and thus putting sparkly designs on the rear ends of our jeans is not a good fashion statement. Lesson 3: podiatrists’ bills are a lot steeper than the cost of good shoes. etc., etc.,

One side note; prior to air conditioning, Southerners did not wear a regular suit to church, but rather a linen coat, in the hot months. You can still buy them at nicer men’s stores, especially in the South. Shoes would have breathable, woven leather or even a partially linen upper. Think Mark Twain’s white linen suits, or those worn by Tom Wolfe.