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Summary
- The Bible never calls wearing jewelry a sin, and people in it wear rings, bracelets, earrings and nose rings, starting with the gold nose ring and bracelets given to Rebekah in Genesis 24.
- Scripture often uses jewelry as a picture of love and honor, from the bride of Isaiah 61:10 to the new Jerusalem “adorned with every kind of jewel” in Revelation 21.
- Its warnings concern idolatry and pride: the golden calf was made from earrings (Exodus 32:2–4), and Isaiah 3:16–21 condemns the haughty daughters of Zion.
- 1 Timothy 2:9–10 and 1 Peter 3:3–4 tell Christian women to adorn themselves with good works and a gentle spirit rather than gold, pearls and costly clothing.
- Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria discouraged jewelry, though Clement allowed a signet ring for sealing.
- Most churches have no rule against jewelry, while Seventh-day Adventists, some conservative holiness churches and the Amish ask members not to wear it.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version, with the King James Version for Genesis 24:22 and 24:47, 1 Timothy 2:9 and 1 Peter 3:3. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Timothy+2%3A9-10%3B1+Peter+3%3A3-4&version=ESV
- Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew lexicon, nezem (H5141), via Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h5141/kjv/wlc/0-1/
- Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women, book 1, trans. S. Thelwall, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 4. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0402.htm
- Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus), book 3, chapter 11, trans. William Wilson, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 2. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02093.htm
- “Lost wedding ring. New ring need to be blessed?” The Catholic Times, Diocese of Columbus, quoting the blessing of rings in the Catholic marriage rite. https://dio.org/catholic-times/lost-wedding-ring-new-ring-need-to-be-blessed/
- Seventh-day Adventist Church, Fundamental Belief 22, “Christian Behavior.” https://institucional.adventistas.org/en/our-beliefs/22-christian-behavior/
- “Jewelry: A Clarification and Appeal,” Ministry, April 1987, with the action voted at the North American Division 1986 annual meeting. https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1987/04/jewelry-a-clarification-and-appeal
- “The General Rules of the Methodist Church,” United Methodist Church. https://www.umc.org/en/content/the-general-rules-of-the-methodist-church
- “Outward holiness,” Wikipedia, quoting the 2015 Discipline of the Evangelical Wesleyan Church. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outward_holiness
- “Communal Values,” Amish Studies, Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College. https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/cultural-practices/communal-values/
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