Priestly Garments For Christians?

MOST CHRISTIAN leaders have, over the centuries, been wearing some special garments that separate them from the rest of the baptized believers.

They call them priestly garments or sacerdotal garments or vestments. They include accessories such as clerical collars, skull caps and mitres with rings and chains.

It is unclear where they learnt these things from. Many say they learnt them from Aaron, the Jewish high priest, who wore priestly garments to perform his ministerial duties.

But this statement raises several concerns. First, Aaron did not serve as a Christian leader under the New Covenant established by the Lord Jesus Christ. He served under the Old Covenant as a Jewish high priest.

Thus, to glorify, beautify and consecrate Aaron so he could serve God as a priest in the Holy Place of the temple, God commanded Moses to make special clothes or garments with unique materials and colours for him as recorded in Exodus Chapter 28.

Moreover, we know that God did not ask Moses to make those special garments for Aaron alone, but also all his sons. Thus, Aaron, the high priest, and his sons, who were also priests, wore specially-designed garments to perform priestly functions.

Interestingly, however, Moses, the prophet of God, did not wear any special garments to distinguish him from the rest of the congregation of Israel. Moses never wore any special uniform for ministry, because God did not ask him to wear it. Moses wore ordinary garments everyone else wore.

Similarly, none of the Old Testament Prophets: Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah and John the Baptist wore any special uniform for ministry. John, in particular, wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist (Matthew 3:4).

Now, Scripture makes it clear that Christ Jesus became the everlasting High Priest of the New Covenant by offering His sinless blood for sins thereby bringing to an end the Old Covenant high priesthood system.

And we know that Christ Jesus wore tunic which most Jewish men wore at the time; our Lord never wore special priestly garments to make Him appear differently  from His disciples and the crowd that generally followed Him. Christ Jesus did not wear clerical collars with a ring on his finger and a long chain on his neck to serve as a servant of God the Father.

If indeed, Christ Jesus dressed in special priestly garments for His public ministry, it obviously would be needless for Judas Iscariot to betray Him by a kiss. Judas told the Jewish leaders: “…The one I will kiss is the man; seize him” (Matthew 26:48).

Humble Jesus Christ wore garments everyone else could afford to wear, making Him appear as normal as His followers. So Judas had to betray Him to the Jewish leaders for His arrest with a kiss.

In fact, the early apostles were not different; they wore no special priestly garments. They wore clothes everyone else could afford to buy.

Besides, all Christians who are declared as priests are clean, beautiful, and glorious; and they are consecrated at baptism in Christ to appear before God the Father to offer acceptable worship.

For this reason, Christ commanded NO priestly garments or uniforms for His ministers to wear to distinguish and consecrate them to serve God and humanity.

And if Christ wanted His servants to wear uniforms, He would have asked the early apostles to wear them first, and it would have been recorded in the New Testament Scriptures.

Therefore, all ministers, who have chosen to dress like Aaron, must also encourage their church members, who are their sons and daughters in the Lord to also wear priestly garments because they also are all priests to God (Rev 1:6).

It is also important that those who have chosen to dress like Aaron and his sons also perform the same duties they performed in the temple.

Now, we can see that the priestly garments worn by Aaron and his sons were divinely given and purposeful, but the priestly garments worn by some of today’s ministers are divinely purposeless. They have nothing to do with the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the salvation of souls.

Clearly, you can know that today’s ministers of the gospel copied the wearing of the so-called priestly garments from the traditions of men introduced into the European Church to clericalise it against the will of God. And this is a sin or mistake which must be corrected.

By James Quansah

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