Coming from a fundamental Baptist Background we were always taught that women should not wear pants. According to our pastors the reason for such is that the Bible says in Deuteronomy 5: 22 that “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God”
I have not intention of turning this into a theological debate, but I might very well do so sometime. This position taken by our church leaders just makes me wonder if Deutoronomy 22:5 applies for pants exclusively for women. Dogmatic preachers would say yes, but is this position Biblically correct ?
It is the culture of a society and the trend of the age that ditates what rightfully pertains to man or woman. We just cannot make a set of rules and judge which belongs to who. Doing that would be doing percisely what Jesus Christ was very vocal against that is legalism.
I can cite various examples that can be found all throughout history and in modern times. Just to cite a few, Scottish men wear “kilts” that look like women’s skirts during special occasions.
History tells us that men use to wear corsets for aesthetic purposes. Today only a handful of men do and usually it is for medical purposes.
The Greeks, Romans and even people in the Medievel ages wore Tunics, which look like a women’s blouse.
Until today in some parts of Asia, parts of Africa, and on many Pacific islands men still wear the traditional “Sarong” which is a large sheet of fabric, often wrapped around the waist and worn as a skirt.
Even people in Bible lands until today wear the same old robes and sash that people in ancient times wore.
If we were to judge men wearing the kilt, sarong, tunic and robes with our own Western Culture and tradition, it could be said that these people are in violation of Deuteronomy 22:5 because according to our culture, these kinds of clothing are associated with what our women wear.
There are pants that are made exclusively for women, before we use Deutornomy 22:5 to judge women who are wearing pants, we have to check out what it really means and consider the contextual and cultural background surrounding the verse. A lot could be said theologically about this subject and I wish to deal with this in future articles.
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