2 Timothy 2:9,10

Vers. 9, 10. Likewise also, that women adorn themselves in orderly apparel, with shamefastness and discretion. The passage is obviously elliptical; and the connection with what precedes, indicated by ὡσαύτως (likewise), cannot be very close. Looking to the apostle's use of it elsewhere (for example, at Titus 2:3; Romans 8:26), we must regard it as intended simply to couple the women with the men in having equally with them a relation to duty, bound to a becoming line of conduct in their own particular sphere. Having expressed his wish in respect to the one class, the apostle now turns to the other, and wishes (βούλομαι again understood) that they too, on their part, would adorn themselves in seemly apparel, or in seemly apparel would adorn themselves with shamefastness and discretion. The adorning, from the structure of the sentence, seems more directly connected with the two latter epithets, pointing to qualities of mind and behaviour, while the sort of apparel proper to them is implied as a thing that should certainly be possessed, only not of itself sufficient without the other, the adornments of the spirit. That καταστολῇ is properly taken in the sense of apparel, and not, as Ellicott would understand it, deportment, including look and manner as well as dress, there seems no just reason to doubt. It points by its etymology (from καταστέλλω) to the letting down of things about one's person, adjusting or arranging them, then the apparel as so arranged (see Alford). The apostle does not further characterize it than that it should be of a becoming or seemly nature (κοσμίος), as contradistinguished from gaudy and extravagant as well as slovenly attire. And with this he couples the inward feelings, which should accompany and give adequate expression to this modest apparel with shamefastness (not shamefacedness, as in the Authorized Version, which is a corruption) and discretion. The correct import and mutual relation of the two words here employed (αἰδώς and σωφροσύνη) have been, with his usual discrimination and accuracy, exhibited by Trench ( Syn. § 20), and applied thus to the explication of our verse: “If αἰδώς is that shamefastness or pudency which shrinks from overpassing the limits of womanly reserve and modesty, as well as from the dishonour which would justly attach thereto, σωφροσύνη is that habitual inner self-government, with its constant rein on all the passions and desires, which would hinder the temptation to this from arising, or at all events from arising in such strength as should overbear the checks and barriers which αἰδω ́ ς opposed to it.” We have no English word that exactly corresponds to the latter of the two terms; but sobermindedness or discretion substantially coincides with it, though self-control, perhaps, might more closely approach the original.

In the remaining part of the verse we have a further delineation, in a negative form, of the modest or seemly attire which was noticed in the earlier: not in plaitings, namely, of the hair, but obviously meaning excessive refinements in this line, the meretricious plaitings, and modes of dressing up the hair in nicely adjusted tresses, which Clement of Alexandria, for example, condemns as unsuitable to Christians ( Paid. 3:11), condemned also by St. Peter in very similar language to that employed here (1 Peter 3:3). And gold (in rings, bracelets, etc.), or pearls, or costly raiment. These are not to be understood as any further prohibited than they are inconsistent with the seemly apparel previously recommended; only, if used at all, it should manifestly be with moderation, and so as not to befit the impression that they are displayed as the most precious personal adornments. For such the truly Christian mind will look in another direction, and lay the chief stress upon the spiritual and moral qualities, which are the noblest distinctions of rational beings, the only things which are of value in the sight of God. This, therefore, is what the apostle puts in contrast to the worldly equipments of rich jewellery and costly dress: But, which becomes women professing godliness, through good works not (with Theodoret, Œcum., Luther, Calvin, Huther, and many others), but in that which, or according to that which (taking ὅ as = ἐν τούτῳ) ὅ, or καθ ʼ ὅ, referring back to the ἐν καταστολῇ κοσμίῳ) becomes women professing godliness, by means of good works. For this has against it both an artificial construction, which should only be resorted to if absolutely necessary, and the coupling of good works with a godly profession in a way which is not usual, as if godliness were a kind of art which Christian women were to show their skill or proficiency in by their works of faith and love. This cannot be called a natural style of representation, and it is certainly nowhere else found in St. Paul's writings. The expression ἐπαγγελλομέναις must be taken here in the ordinary sense of professing, a sense it unquestionably bears again at 1 Timothy 6:21; while the verb is used in Titus 1:2, with reference to God, in the cognate sense of promising, or giving open exhibition of. By the women in question must be understood those who make profession of godliness θεοσέβειαν only used here, but substantially equivalent to εὐσέβειαν, in the ordinary way such profession was made, by taking up the Christian name, submitting to Christian teaching and ordinances, and mingling in the assemblies of Christian worshippers. And as making this profession, the apostle would have them to understand, first, that the kind of dress which becomes them is of a neat and plain as contradistinguished from a luxurious or costly one; and second, that the distinction which women of gay and worldly dispositions seek to acquire by their splendid ornaments and fine apparel, they should endeavour to reach through their good works, a distinction of a far nobler kind, and the only one that fitly accords with their calling. Such seems to be the most natural and appropriate import of the passage, only, in connection with the latter point, the apostle varies the construction, so as the better to suit the change involved in the subject itself: he does not say with (ἐν) good works, as he could say both in regard to the apparel itself, and the outward ornaments on which vain and worldly-minded females prided themselves; but through or by means of (διά) good works, since it was not so properly the works themselves which invested true Christian females with their distinctive honour or adornment, as rather the reflex operation of these, the consideration and regard, the spiritual halo, as it were, which the performance of such works threw around those who abounded in them.