'... Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and
giveth grace to the humble.'--1 Peter v. 5.
The Apostle uses here an expression of a remarkable kind, and which
never occurs again in Scripture. The word rendered in the Authorised
Version 'be clothed,' or better in the Revised Version, 'gird yourselves
with,' really implies a little more than either of those renderings
suggests. It describes a kind of garment as well as the act of putting
it on, and the sort of garment which it describes was a remarkable one.
It was a part of a slave's uniform. Some scholars think that it was a
kind of white apron, or overall, or something of that sort; others think
that it was simply a scarf or girdle; but, at all events, it was a
distinguishing mark of a slave, and he put it on when he meant work.
And, says Peter, 'Do you strap round you the slave's apron, and do it
for the same reason that He did it, to serve.'
So, then, there are three points in my text, and the first is what we
have to wear; second, what we have to wear it for; and, third, why we
should wear it.