Mark Twain, a humorist who grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, was quoted as having said:
Clothes make the man, naked people have very little influence on society.
My Comment:
If we do not put on Christ, cloth ourselves in Him then we are naked of righteousness before the Father and not clothed in the righteousness we need to enter the Father's House.
Clothes Make the Man is a 1915 American film featuring Oliver Hardy based on the novella Kleider machen Leute by the Swiss author Gottfried Keller from 1874.
But the proverb goes way, way back in history:
The proverb as it is recorded in Latin by Erasmus (Adagia 3.1.60) is: “vestis virum facit” meaning “the man is his clothing” or the variant: “clothes makes the man.” In the Adagia, Erasmus quotes Quintilian’s (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus) work, Institutions (orat. 8 pr. 20): “To dress within the formal limits and with an air gives men, as the Greek line testifies, authority.” Quintilian is, in turn, citing the work of Homer who wrote his epics about 7 or 8 B.C.. In the Odyssey (6.29-30, 242-3, 236-7), the key lines are: “From these things, you may be sure, men get a good report” and “At first I though his [Ulysses] appearance was unseemly, but now he has the air of the gods who dwell in the wide heaven.” Thus the impact of making a good impresion by way of fine threads and bling was not lost on the great classic writers.
Variations of this proverb appear earlier than Erasmus however they appear in obscure works: “Euer maner and clothyng makyth man” (Prov. Wisdom, 1400) and “Ffor clothyng oft maketh man.” (Peter Idley’s Instructions to His Son, 1445).
Not to be one-upped by classical writers, Shakespeare (who wore his fine Elizabethan white ruff with great pride and dignity) weighed in on the matter through Polonius: “The apparel oft proclaims the man” (The Tragedy of Hamlet, written around 1600).
So when the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans about dressing up in our Lord Jesus Christ, this phrase was most likely well known in that day - that clothing makes the man.
What Paul wants us to think is that being dressed up in Christ's righteousness, His perfection, is not just pretense. Through faith that we are viewed by God the Father as being perfect if we believe the Lord Jesus lived the perfect life for us, we are not only acceptably dressed but thinking this way, by the grace of God and the movement of the Holy Spirit, these beautiful qualities, this 'costume' we wear actually by the work of the Holy Spirit becomes us, we become by the grace of God just like Jesus and on the Day of Christ Jesus the work of the Holy Spirit our tailor is finished - and we are just like Him. Each day we are to put on by the work of the Holy Spirit the Lord's qualities and find more and more that we are like Him. See how you are becoming like Him in whom you have by faith dressed by the Father! Look in the mirror of His love and see how wearing Christ before the Father makes you more loving, kinder, more joyful, more peaceful, more patient, more faithful, more gentle, more good, more self-controlled!!
Famous actress is quoted as having said that when she puts on the clothes of the character she is to become in the play wearing that person's clothing helps her become that person. When we through faith put on our Lord Jesus Christ and wear His righteousness before the Father and angels in Heaven and realize deep down that we are regarded as being perfectly righteous and all our sins are paid for - then it is that we live in Him knowing that the Holy Spirit He has promised us will take His righteousness and make it really our own as we live throughout this life - until we are perfected (Phil 1:6 He who started this good work in you will carry it through until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus) knowing all this when we are daily confronted by others He brings to us and circumstances that come to us - we like an actor who is dressed for the part - actually become just like Christ in our own behavior or closer and closer to it by the working of the Holy Spirit - we are like the dummies dressed by a Master Tailor in the best of all coutre clothing watching ourselves become by His grace those persons we want to really be - just like Him, our Lord and Savior in all our ways.
Clothes make the man, naked people have very little influence on society.
My Comment:
If we do not put on Christ, cloth ourselves in Him then we are naked of righteousness before the Father and not clothed in the righteousness we need to enter the Father's House.
Clothes Make the Man is a 1915 American film featuring Oliver Hardy based on the novella Kleider machen Leute by the Swiss author Gottfried Keller from 1874.
But the proverb goes way, way back in history:
The proverb as it is recorded in Latin by Erasmus (Adagia 3.1.60) is: “vestis virum facit” meaning “the man is his clothing” or the variant: “clothes makes the man.” In the Adagia, Erasmus quotes Quintilian’s (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus) work, Institutions (orat. 8 pr. 20): “To dress within the formal limits and with an air gives men, as the Greek line testifies, authority.” Quintilian is, in turn, citing the work of Homer who wrote his epics about 7 or 8 B.C.. In the Odyssey (6.29-30, 242-3, 236-7), the key lines are: “From these things, you may be sure, men get a good report” and “At first I though his [Ulysses] appearance was unseemly, but now he has the air of the gods who dwell in the wide heaven.” Thus the impact of making a good impresion by way of fine threads and bling was not lost on the great classic writers.
Variations of this proverb appear earlier than Erasmus however they appear in obscure works: “Euer maner and clothyng makyth man” (Prov. Wisdom, 1400) and “Ffor clothyng oft maketh man.” (Peter Idley’s Instructions to His Son, 1445).
Not to be one-upped by classical writers, Shakespeare (who wore his fine Elizabethan white ruff with great pride and dignity) weighed in on the matter through Polonius: “The apparel oft proclaims the man” (The Tragedy of Hamlet, written around 1600).
So when the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans about dressing up in our Lord Jesus Christ, this phrase was most likely well known in that day - that clothing makes the man.
What Paul wants us to think is that being dressed up in Christ's righteousness, His perfection, is not just pretense. Through faith that we are viewed by God the Father as being perfect if we believe the Lord Jesus lived the perfect life for us, we are not only acceptably dressed but thinking this way, by the grace of God and the movement of the Holy Spirit, these beautiful qualities, this 'costume' we wear actually by the work of the Holy Spirit becomes us, we become by the grace of God just like Jesus and on the Day of Christ Jesus the work of the Holy Spirit our tailor is finished - and we are just like Him. Each day we are to put on by the work of the Holy Spirit the Lord's qualities and find more and more that we are like Him. See how you are becoming like Him in whom you have by faith dressed by the Father! Look in the mirror of His love and see how wearing Christ before the Father makes you more loving, kinder, more joyful, more peaceful, more patient, more faithful, more gentle, more good, more self-controlled!!
Famous actress is quoted as having said that when she puts on the clothes of the character she is to become in the play wearing that person's clothing helps her become that person. When we through faith put on our Lord Jesus Christ and wear His righteousness before the Father and angels in Heaven and realize deep down that we are regarded as being perfectly righteous and all our sins are paid for - then it is that we live in Him knowing that the Holy Spirit He has promised us will take His righteousness and make it really our own as we live throughout this life - until we are perfected (Phil 1:6 He who started this good work in you will carry it through until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus) knowing all this when we are daily confronted by others He brings to us and circumstances that come to us - we like an actor who is dressed for the part - actually become just like Christ in our own behavior or closer and closer to it by the working of the Holy Spirit - we are like the dummies dressed by a Master Tailor in the best of all coutre clothing watching ourselves become by His grace those persons we want to really be - just like Him, our Lord and Savior in all our ways.