“A Woman Shall Not Wear Man’s Clothing” (3/18)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Deuteronomy 21-23.

A woman shall not wear man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 22:5).


The issue over men wearing women’s clothes and vice versa has to do with more than just apparel. It has to do with God’s expectation that men and women are distinct from one another.

From the beginning with the first couple – Adam and Eve – God gave them different roles. The woman was to be “a helper suitable” for the man (Genesis 2:18). After they both sinned, Eve was told, “Yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16). Paul used this example to support his point that a woman was not to “teach or exercise authority over a man” (1 Timothy 2:12).

Since the distinctive roles of men and women are timeless, we must respect them today. Men and women have different roles:

  • In marriage (Ephesians 5:22-25; 1 Peter 3:1,7);
  • In the home (1 Timothy 5:8; Titus 2:3-5);
  • In the church (1 Timothy 2:11-12; 1 Corinthians 14:34).
Just as men were to wear men’s clothes and women were to wear women’s clothes under the Old Law, men and women must embrace and carry out their divinely-given roles today. Let us not try to blur the lines between the two, as our society desires, but instead respect what God has ordained in these matters.

Tomorrow’s reading: Deuteronomy 24-27

[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]


Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.


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