Are Christian Woman Permitted to Wear Shorts, Slacks or Trousers?
1) Direct answer
No. A Christian woman should not wear shorts, slacks, or trousers. She should dress in modest, feminine apparel that does not expose the thigh and does not borrow the man’s garment.
2) Scriptural explanation
- Deuteronomy 22:5: “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man… for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD.” Pants/trousers are the man’s garment. When a woman takes that pattern to herself, God calls it an abomination, not a style choice.
- 1 Timothy 2:9: “Women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety.” Modest apparel means a decent, humble, and covered manner of dress—loose, not form-fitting; feminine, not masculine.
- Exodus 28:42: “Make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach.” God defined the thigh as part of nakedness that must be covered. Shorts expose the thigh—so they expose nakedness.
- Isaiah 47:2–3: “Make bare the leg, uncover the thigh… Thy nakedness shall be uncovered.” Uncovered thigh equals uncovered nakedness.
- 1 Corinthians 11:3–15: God set a visible order and distinction between male and female. Our outward appearance should honor that headship order, not blur it.
- Matthew 5:28; 1 Thessalonians 4:3–7: We are to walk in holiness and not stir lust. Immodest, tight, or revealing clothing defrauds others.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- God made male and female distinct. Clothing is part of that testimony. When a woman puts on a man’s garment (trousers), the line God drew is crossed. Calling them “women’s slacks” doesn’t change what they pertain to or the way they shape and display the body.
- Shorts reveal the thigh. The Bible calls that nakedness. No believer needs a new rule—just obey the plain Word.
- “Culture changed.” Did God’s Word change? If the Scripture still says it, then the disciple still does it.
- Holiness is not bondage; it is freedom to please the Lord. The Holy Spirit will never lead a woman to dress in a way that denies modesty or blurs the sexes.
Practical counsel
- Choose modest, feminine dresses or skirts that fall well below the knee, not tight, not sheer, not split to reveal the leg when walking or sitting.
- For work or weather, add layers underneath, but keep a modest, feminine covering outwardly. There is always a way to honor God without violating His Word.
Short reinforcement
Now notice, this is not about legalism; it’s about love and obedience. The Bible says what it says. A Christian woman, led by the Spirit, will gladly keep the distinction of the sexes and walk in modesty. That’s the testimony of a heart sanctified unto the Lord.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Hear ye Him
58-0126 §19
I don't mean to be rude now. Your pastors are here to preach this Gospel. But if they don't do it, I want you to hear it this time, of this part. It's a wrong thing for a woman to cut her hair. The Bible said so. And she disgraces her husband when she does it. And the church used to not do that, but today, because the pulpit is weak, they do it. And women wear these little bitty clothes that looks like a man's clothes: slacks, or something, they call them. Did you know the Bible said that's a filthy and an abominat...
Life Story
52-0720A §88
I said, "Brother, if it will make an old man act like that, what would it do for me? I want that. That's what I want. That's what my heart hungers for, if it will make an old man act like that." I... That's what I wanted. I said, "Oh, my, them people has got something." That night I went out in the cornfield, I thought, "I better press my trousers." So I took the two seats of my old Ford, and put them together, laid my trousers back and forth like this, and put the seats down to press them, laid down in some grass...
Is your life worthy of the Gospel?
63-0630E §43
A man that's a Christian on Sunday, and goes to church, sets back there and thinks he owns the church because he does this, that, or the other, and on Monday will steal and lie. And women that'll go out on the public beaches, and--and out upon the streets, with immoral clothes on! I thought of--of the first lady, wouldn't even put on makeup, to go before the pope; and come back, and set a waterhead haircut spree for the women in the nation. And all these dresses, that, when she's become mother, every woman in the c...
Presuming
62-0117 §58
Achan. Why, when he took that little wedge, and that Babylonian garment, why, he thought ... he presumed it'd never be seen. "Well, what's that? It's just a little old garment. I'll stick it under here, and probably my family will long enjoy this. I got a wedge. If we ever get into a tight place, so I got a wedge of gold. Nobody will see it. Just wrap the thing together and put it under my coat, and go on." He presumed that it was all right. Presuming. But God's commandment was, "Take nothing out of that cursed cit...
Questions and Answers, Part 2
64-0823E §34
There was a girl come to me, which was a Dunkard girl, had just received the Holy Ghost. She belonged to the Assemblies of God, and that was in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where I was married at. And she come to me, a fine little lady, and she said, "Brother Branham, I want to ask you a question." I said, "All right, Sister, what is it?" She said, "Do you think it's wrong for a girl to---Christian girl to wear a scandal skirt?" I said, "Sister, this is one thing I just can't understand. What is a scandal skirt?" And she t...