Is it Sinful for Women to Wear Pants?
- lukegoulds92
- Dec 5
- 3 min read
Is it sinful for women to wear pants? It is a common belief among the “Pentecostal” churches. William Branham, the founder of what is known as the “Message Churches”, had these things to say…
“How could you draw a bobbed-hair woman through that Filter? Tell me. How could you ever draw a woman that wears slacks through There, when “It’s an abomination for her to put on a garment pertains to a man”? See, God’s Filter would catch her out there, it wouldn’t let her come in.”[1]
“How could a bobbed-haired woman ever come through this Filter? How could a woman with shorts on ever come through It, or slacks, when the Bible says, ‘It’s an abomination to God, for a woman to put on a garment that even pertains to a man’?”[2]
“Who’s powerful enough to tame this legion stripping the clothes off of our women, in the name of preachers, Methodist, Baptist, and even Pentecostals? Painting their faces like Jezebel, and bobbing their hair, and wearing pants just like men. Our preachers, not enough get up about them to tell them about it. Devil-possessed! It was the legion that tore his clothes off of him. Who is this roaring devil?”[3]
The first error he made is a misinterpretation of Deuteronomy 22:5. Go read that verse for yourself. Did Moses say anything about pants? What kind of garments was Moses talking about? They cannot be pants because pants were not worn in those days. Men and women wore tunics and robes according to most sources. So, what was the difference? One source says that women wore longer tunics, while men wore shorter tunics.[4] Women typically wore more jewelry than men.[5] Even if there were not any sources, Deuteronomy 22:5 is not enough evidence to point out what defined men and women’s clothing. One has to look at culture to define that. In today’s culture, women’s pants exist. It cannot be sinful for a woman to wear women’s pants.
The second error he made was binding a law that has been “abolished” by Christ at the cross (Eph. 2:15). He Himself said that the Old Testament would not be abolished until He fulfilled it (Mat. 5:17-18). It is the New Testament alone that we must obey as a law system (Rom. 7:1-4; Heb. 10:9). The only thing the New Testament demands of women’s clothing is modesty (1 Tim. 2:9). That modesty is decided by an individual’s conscience as long as whatever is worn does not cause a stumbling block for others (Rom. 14).
His third and final error was binding only a part of the law of Moses. Why bind the dress code, but not the dietary restrictions of Leviticus? Why not bind the law that says to put to death those who work on the Sabbath? Why not blow a trumpet during the new moon? Why not stay in tents during the festival of booths? Many people like to pick and choose which parts of the Old Testament they want to obey and which parts they want to neglect. Sounds like Pharisees, does it not? James 2:10 says, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”
In conclusion, one should be careful not to insert words into a Biblical text that are not there. We should never use the Old Testament as a law system, but as a lesson (Rom. 15:4). And if we do not want to be hypocrites, we should be consistent in our teaching and our lifestyle.
[1] 65-1207 – Leadership
[2] 65-0911 - God's Power to Transform
[3] 61-1119 - Perfect Strength by Perfect Weakness
[5] ibid
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