The Real Reason Clergy Dress Up for Church

Adapted from pgs. 150-154 of Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna.

Around the time of Constantine (4^th century), Christian clergy started to dress differently than the “common people” because of the philosophy that clergy should wear better attire than the laity.  This philosophy came straight from secular culture and the worldly reality that there are class distinctions between human beings and thus they should be dressed as such.  Since clergy were considered high-class citizens at the time, they also adopted this practice.  But, escorting the coming of the Kingdom of God was the destruction of social class, race, gender and any other distinction between human beings that divided them into anything other than One New Humanity (Ephesians 2:14-16, Galatians 3:26-29).

Over time, the dress of the clergy has changed, but to this day clergy still dress differently than the laity that symbolically separates the body of Christ into an unbiblical clergy/laity distinction.  With God’s people, there is no such thing as “professional” and “unprofessional.”  This is the business of the Scribes and the Pharisees (Matthew 23:5, Mark 12:38) whom the Lord referred to when He said, “Beware of the teachers of the law.  They walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.” (Luke 20:46)

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