How Can a Christian Woman Swim Safely Without Offending God in Dress?
1) Direct Answer
A Christian woman can swim without offending God by keeping modesty, separation, and a feminine testimony. Choose private or women‑only settings; avoid mixed bathing and beaches. Wear a loose, opaque, feminine swim garment that does not reveal the form when wet, covers the body well (neckline high, sleeves at least to the elbow, hem well below the knee—mid‑calf is safer), and is not transparent, tight, split, or clingy. Do it for health or family refreshment, not for show. Keep a meek, shamefaced spirit, and if there is any doubt in the heart, don’t do it.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- The Bible says women are to “adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety” (1 Timothy 2:9–10). Modesty is not only the cloth, but the spirit—yet it does govern how we dress.
- “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man” (Deuteronomy 22:5). So the outer garment should remain clearly feminine, not the form or style of men’s wear.
- Peter points to the hidden man of the heart, with a meek and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:3–4). The inside life shows on the outside.
- We must not be a stumbling block (Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus said a man can commit adultery in his heart by looking with lust (Matthew 5:28). So we guard our brothers by not displaying the body.
- God covered Adam and Eve with coats, not mere aprons (Genesis 3:7, 21). Isaiah 47:2–3 shows that uncovering the thigh is counted as nakedness; Exodus 28:42 shows covering from the loins even to the thighs. Now notice, Scripture treats exposure of the thigh as nakedness—so coverage below the knee is a safe, clean standard.
- “Love not the world” (1 John 2:15) and “be not conformed” (Romans 12:2). Beaches and mixed pools are built for display; separation keeps the testimony clean.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Water makes thin fabric cling and show the body. So choose garments and fabrics that stay opaque and loose when wet.
- Mixed settings put a woman’s body before men’s eyes. Even if her intent is pure, the effect can still stumble others and stain her witness.
- A feminine outer garment honors Deuteronomy 22:5. If functional underlayers are used for coverage, keep them under a proper, loose, opaque swim dress so the visible outfit remains clearly feminine.
- If you have to ask, “Is this too tight, too short, too sheer, or too revealing when wet?” it’s already a warning from the conscience. Better to please the Lord than to fit the culture.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Salvation is in the new birth, but the new birth shows itself. You see, holiness is beautiful when it’s simple, modest, and separate. Walk softly, cover cleanly, and keep your testimony above reproach.
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.
Perfect strength by perfect weakness
61-1119 §154
How many women in here this morning---I say this in the name of the Lord Jesus---how many of you are ashamed of that short hair you're wearing, want God, by His grace, to let it grow out? God bless you. How many men are ashamed that you let your wife smoke cigarettes, and wear trousers that actually belong to you? And the Bible said, "It's an abomination in the sight of God." Do you know God can't change? He can't change. He has one nature, that's holiness. He can't change. If you don't become like Him, you'll not...
Church Ages, part 10: The Laodicean Church Age
60-1211E §95
The Bible said, "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her." Is that right? Well, then, if the woman dresses herself sexy, and puts herself before a man, who's to blame for it? The woman is. She produced it. That's exactly right. Now, you might be as pure as a lily to your husband. You may be a young girl that's never did anything wrong in your life, be a virgin when you marry your husband. But if you dress like that and cause men to look at you like that, he's committed adult...
From that time
61-0520 §61
I was speaking this morning of this woman, immoral woman, washing Jesus' dirty feet, wiping them with her hair. Some of our Pentecostal sisters would have to stand on their head to get enough hair to wash their feet---cut it all off. That's right. It used to be wrong for you to do it. It's still wrong for you to do it. The Bible plainly teaches that if a woman cuts her hair, her husband has a right to divorce her, put her away. Said if she cuts her hair she dishonors her head (her husband), and a dishonorable woman...
And thy Seed shall possess the gate of His enemy
62-0121M §69
A woman might be as ugly as all get out. She might be big, fat, little, skinny, black-headed, brown-eyed, blue-eyed, gray-eyed, one one way, and one the other. But if that woman is clean... Lady, there ain't a man in the country but what would take off his hat to them, if he's got an ounce of man in him (that's right), because she's... She produces what she is, and men appreciate it. So God'll appreciate a man that'll be what he is. Or men that professes Christianity, let's be a Christian filled with the Holy Ghost...
Greater than Solomon is here
63-0605 §25
...can't understand when I come home. Every year, when I go away and come back, I find our women of America getting more clothes off of themselves. And yet calling themselves Christians, singing in choirs. And them women standing there, many of them nothing but a small four inch clout on, and the minute they received Jesus Christ as Saviour no one had to tell them they were naked. They folded their arms, like this, to walk away from the presence of where men was standing. If the presence of Jesus Christ will bring th...