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.
Thy loving kindness
58-0228 §26
Pentecostal Christian women out on the street with slacks on. Do you know, lady, that the Bible said that "a woman that'll put on any garment that pertains to a man, is an abomination?" And little old clothes on---shorts---and you get out in the yard just when the men are coming home from work. Do you realize that's devil possession? Listen, lady, you wear these little old dirty clothes that they sell in these stores, sexy looking. You might be as pure as a lily to your husband. But if you dress like that and get o...
As the eagle stirreth up her nest
60-0804 §27
And so the next morning, I come in and sat down. A little T-shirt on, you know, and seersucker trousers. We Baptists, we even wore a turned around collar, you know. So we got up there, you know, on occasion. So I'm ... I sat down there, and I sat down by a colored brother. Now, they had to have their meeting... That's been several years ago, and they had it up north, for their convention. Two or three different denominations of Pentecostals was having their convention. I think they've emerged now, they's called PA...
The Voice of the Sign
64-0321E §50
...round and say, "Why, Mr. Branham, that's the only kind of clothes they sell." They still got goods and sewing machines. There's no excuse. The Amish and Dunkard women still wear them. And what happens? They get out there and they carry on. A woman said, "Well, Mr. Branham, I don't wear shorts. I wear [What is them? ... Pedal pushers? Yeah.]," said, "I wear them." I said, "That's worse." I said, "The Bible said, 'It's an abomination for a women to put on a garment that pertains to a man.' " And what kind of a filthy...
Life Story
50-0200 §43
I took my ... had some seersucker trousers. My others was ... got all dirty there in the cornfield. So I laid them on my seat, and took the two seats and put them together out of my car, and pressed my trousers that night. And I had my little seersucker shirt. Nobody knew me, so I just laid it down there. seersucker shirt and little old T-shirt, and seersucker trousers, rather. I laid them down there. Next morning I got up, shined them all up. Meeting begin at ten o'clock. They had breakfast after breakfast. And I...
Door to the heart
58-0302 §31
I guess, here some time ago, a few weeks ago, I was wearing a pair of dark trousers, and I had on a pair of green socks, and a red tie. And my wife said to me, she said, "Billy, that don't match." I said, "But it's clean." I don't care whether it matches or not. I don't care whether my socks match my trousers, or my trousers match with my coat: I want my experience to match God's Bible. That's the kind of a matching we ought to do. But oh, that little life of pride! The preacher can preach against immorals as much...