What does it mean about beauty not coming from outward adornment? 1 Peter 3:1-4 and Genesis 35:1-4

A friend and I were talking about her former pastor. My friend's faith foundation began in this church. She and this pastor have known each other a long time, and they continue to converse, even after she moved away. But recently they decided to do a video chat, and this pastor immediately noticed her piercing and braids.

He was horrified, and actually condemned her to hell for this. 

Standard, old-time Pentecostalism has a number of rules regarding appearance and conduct. Some might consider them severe. However, I do not necessarily take issue with rules a church might decide are proper and productive for the spiritual health of its congregants, even if I personally would not want to attend the church. Some of these rules may at times seem severe or perhaps misguided, but people come to church voluntarily, and subject themselves to the church's rules by choice.

It's one thing to have rules, but it's entirely another thing to relegate someone to hell for breaking those rules. Especially if it's someone who is no longer part of the church. Overt sin is a serious concern, but it is a matter of internal church discipline. Therefore it should be called out and dealt with according to biblical procedures. 

But nowhere in the New Testament is anyone relegated to perdition by pronouncement. That power belongs to Jesus alone. Therefore, a certain amount of circumspection should be employed when making assertions about someone's eternal state. We are not privy to the contents of the Lamb's Book of Life. 

So although this pastor pronounced hellfire on my friend, he continued to remain in periodic contact with her after the offending video call. He acknowledged the blessing of her prayers and the encouragement and biblical insight she provided. He valued her ministry, yet somehow she was still bound for Hades. 

There were a couple of Scriptures to which he appealed, in particular, Ge. 35:1-4 and 1Pe. 3:1-4. We consider this pastor's applications of these Scriptures to be errant. Let's examine them.

Ge. 35:1-4 

Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem.

It seems clear that the link to idols and earrings in the Genesis passage is related to the person's view of the items. Notice that God's command did not include earrings, but in response to Jacob the people of Jacob's household gave him their foreign gods and their earrings. We do not how the earrings were idols. But they gave them up. They considered them to be idols. 

We note that Jacob buried these items, which means they needed to be completely abandoned and removed from sight. Burying something is a picture of it being put to death. So there is something about the connection to the object and the person that needs to be separated and put to death. We think Paul had this very thing in mind in his epistle to the Colossians: 

Col. 3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

So there is something in the inner man, conceived in the mind, which is impure and must die. These things constitute idolatry. 

The psalmist tells us about idols:

Ps. 115:4-8 But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. 5 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; 6 they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; 7 they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. 8 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

Idols have no intrinsic power, ability, or influence apart from what the idolater imputes to them. That means an idol is formed whenever a person considers the object as worthy of devotion or worship. The earrings were idols because they were regarded as idols by the wearer. This does not make all earrings idols.

In addition, the Psalmist also tells us an idolater becomes like the idol, becoming unable to perceive anything. So for my friend, if she indeed is an idolater, has no ability to spiritually perceive anything from God. She is deaf and dumb, like the "idol" of her jewelry and braids. So any prayer, spiritual insight, or encouragement from my friend to this pastor would not come from the Holy Spirit, but rather from fleshly or demonic sources. 

But the pastor's actions tell us that he does not believe she is spiritually deaf and dumb. If the pastor truly believes she is hell-bound, he is not acting like it.

Eidólon

Let's turn to the Greek word for idol:

εἴδωλον, ου, τό (eidólon), an image (for worship), by implication a false god... in Greek writings from Homer down, an image, likeness, i. e. whatever represents the form of an object, either real or imaginary; used of the shades of the departed (in Homer), of apparitions, spectres, phantoms of the mind, etc.; in Biblical writings...

That is, an idol is an object of deliberate worship (proskuneo), something to bow before in obeisance. The idolater imputes the characteristics of deity to the object. This means that simply wearing an item or arranging one's appearance do not constitute idolatry. A person cannot engage in idolatry accidently.

In addition, the Greek definition makes it clear that an idol is a product of the imagination. So an idol is conceived, enhanced, and nurtured in the mind. This means a purposeful and diligent pursuit, a devoted regard for the object. We therefore believe that it is all about what an idolater conceives the idol to be. But the idol as an object is itself irrelevant.

1Pe. 3:1-4

(NIV) 1Pe. 3:1-4 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.

4 Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.  

(KJV) 1Pe. 3:1-4 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. 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.

This passage probably came up in the conversation because it also refers to jewelry. So because the earrings in the Genesis passage are regarded as idols, the inference is that wearing jewelry is idolatry. 

But idolatry is not under discussion in this passage, but rather, adornment. The subject is winning over one's unbelieving husband to faith by means of a beautiful inner self. We also see that the passage does not forbid jewelry; instead it offers a comparison of outward adornment to inward adornment. Inward adornment is what pleases God. 

As we began to investigate the verse further, we find a surprising Greek word, translated as "adornment" in the NIV. The KJV renders it "adorning:" 

κόσμος, ου, ὁ (kosmos), order, the world... the world, universe; worldly affairs; the inhabitants of the world; adornment... (literally, "something ordered") – properly, an "ordered system" (like the universe, creation); the world... 2. as in Greek writings from Homer down, ornament, decoration, adornment: ἐνδύσεως ἱματίων, 1 Peter 3:3... the arrangement of the stars, 'the heavenly hosts,' as the ornament of the heavens...

So "the putting on of garments adorning" is "the putting on of garments kosmos." This is the wearing garments that are like the order of the universe or the marvel of the heavens.

A wife should instead turn her focus to the inward (κρυπτός, ή, όν, [kruptos] hidden, secret; as subst: the hidden (secret) things (parts), the inward nature [character]) place of her heart and please God.

 

Let's isolate three of the verses. They read,

1Pe. 3:2-4 ...when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4 Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

We shall provide a literal rendering, which will rearrange some of the flow and eliminate words that do not appear in the Greek, like the word "beauty:"

1Pe. 3:3-4 [Your husband], having witnessed your reverence and pure dealing with others, and not regarding your arranged hair, or wearing gold, or looking like the splendor of the stars in the sky, 4 but rather, the hidden things of the heart, the enduring gentle and quiet spirit; those things come before God as very valuable.

Notice that this shifts the meaning. The NIV translates it as how a wife's adornment should be viewed by her husband, while the sense of the literal translation is that the object is the wife doing the things that please God. That is, the wife engages in pleasing God. The side effect is that it is the mechanism of salvation for the husband.

Conclusion

The Bible speaks about idolatry often. But it never speaks of jewelry as intrinsically idolatrous. To the contrary, we read:

Ex. 35:22 All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, ear-rings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the LORD.

So. 1:9-11 I liken you, my darling, to a mare harnessed to one of the chariots of Pharaoh. 10 Your cheeks are beautiful with ear-rings, your neck with strings of jewels. 11 We will make you ear-rings of gold, studded with silver.

Ez. 16:11-14 I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, 12 and I put a ring on your nose, ear-rings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was fine flour, honey and olive oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. 14 And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Ez. 16:17 You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.

Jewelry can be both idolatrous and an offering to the Lord. It can be a metaphor of the blessings of God to His people. It can be a symbol of the goodness of God perverted to unholy purpose. This means we must be careful when making blanket statements about things, especially as they might come to bear on a person's eternal state. 

As a final note, we see three things mentioned as outward adornment: Plaiting the hair, wearing of gold, and putting on of apparel. A simple question: If this is about forbidding jewelry and braiding hair, why is it not also forbidding clothes?