Is it Okay for Christian Women to Wear Bikinis?

Modesty, Self-Control, and Christian Dress

As the weather warms up, people shed their winter coats. And shirts, pants, pretty much everything but their underwear. Known for women, though, as a bikini. But let's be real, most underwear covers more than most bikinis.

In 1946, designer Louis Rayard introduced a bathing suit so small it could be pulled through a wedding ring. He called it the bikini, named after the Bikini Atoll where nuclear bombs were tested because he knew his swimsuit would go off like a bomb.

It was so skimpy not even runway models would wear it. So, true story, Rayard hired a stripper to show it off. No pun intended. It should go without saying, bikinis are immodest. Women are told in 1 Timothy 2 .9, first, to adorn themselves, but second, in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control.

To be modest means to be without vanity, to be decent in character and attire. Self-control is among the fruit of the spirit. Furthermore, Christian women need to be mindful of their brothers in the Lord, and not put a stumbling block before their eyes.

Personal Responsibility, Temptation, and Wounding the Conscience

Now, some will say, hey, that's rape culture, you're saying that if a man has impure thoughts about a woman, that's a woman's fault. Men are responsible to take every thought captive to obey Christ, 2 Corinthians 10 .5.

But women need to know that if they, in their immodesty, wound the conscience of their brothers, they too sin against Christ, 1 Corinthians 8 .12. Above all, we are to glorify God in all that we do, even in what we wear.

The Body as a Temple and Spiritual Worship

As said in 1 Corinthians 6 .19 -20, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus.

So glorify God in your body. And as it's said in Romans 12 .1, this is your spiritual act of worship, when we understand the text.