Question #285

Is it a sin for women to wear pants?

Is it a sin for female members of the church of Christ to wear pants?

The Answer:

Deuteronomy 22:5 reads: “5 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.” Some take this to prohibit a woman’s wearing slacks. It does not. In the first place, this prohibition is not limited to clothes. The Hebrew scholars Keil and Delitzsch say that this word applies to all that pertains to the sexes. While some scholars strive to make the clothing language apply to the practice in some heathen temples for men to wear the attire of women and women the attire of men, the better opinion is that the thrust of the prohibition is directed at maintaining the sacred distinction between the sexes, male and female, as God created them. The Hebrew really is the apparatus of a man, including implements, tools, utensils and weapons. The man is to be a man; the woman is to be a woman.

In most ages it would be terribly difficult to distinguish the clothing of a man and that of a woman. For example, in the Middle East men wear flowing robes that are similar to the attire of women. In Scotland men wear kilts that for all the world look like skirts. The problems always come when women start acting like men and men start acting like women. One of the great weaknesses in our American society are the movements to masculinize women and to womanize man. This reversal of the natural order has always been offensive to God.