After lengthy internal discussion, one major US corporation reduced its dress code from ten pages to two words—dress appropriately.¹

There are some who think that T-shirts, shorts, jeans with holes, and flip flops are appropriate dress for work. There are others who adamantly disagree. Who is right?

Clearly, the leaders of the above organization presumed a dress code and they apparently assumed that their view was self-evident to all. But in a world where relativism is widely embraced as a personal metric of ethics, why did the leaders expect unity with workers on the definition of appropriate dress?

The leaders may have missed a key lesson from Galatians 3. Standards of deportment are not necessarily self-evident. The role of law is to define standards of deportment for those who may not know them. The apostle Paul explained why the Mosaic law was given: it was given for those who did not understand the depth of their own depravity. The law established a divine standard of deportment. The ancient Israelites failed to meet the standard, which revealed their impotency and need for divine empowerment. To meet God’s deportment standards required God’s empowerment, that is, the grace of Christ.

It is the same today. We need a divinely defined standard of deportment and the grace of Christ to empower us to live accordingly.

Christ’s grace empowers people to be self-governing under God, that is, they take responsibility to do what is right before God. Such people obey God’s ethical standards revealed in Scripture.

The common metric of ethics today is pragmatism—whatever works. Most people are persuaded by empirical data (experience) rather than Scripture. The reason to behave in a certain way is based on how well it works not on whether it is right or wrong. From a Christian worldview, the reason to behave in a certain way is first consistency with Scripture and secondarily favorable results. Scripture provides the standard for making ethical decisions. But only recipients of Christ’s grace will be empowered to value Scripture this way and be self-governed under God.

The dress code dress appropriately will work for those who are self-governed under God. They will make wise choices because they value biblical ethics. But for those who are not self-governed under God, they will not value biblical ethics and, therefore, will not make wise choices.

If a company wants a sound dress code, they need workers to be self-governed under God. Short of this, the leaders will be forced to go back to a detailed dress code. People who are not self-governed under God are like the ancient nation of Israel, their fallen human nature will not allow them to consistently make the right choices. But people who are self-governed under God will take responsibility to dress appropriately according to God’s standards.

Here is your business tip: While it is commendable to simplify codes of conduct and allow decisions to be made at the lowest possible level, one must not forget the reality of human depravity. Don’t assume that all workers will consistently make wise choices—choices aligned with biblical standards. Only those who are self-governed under God will make wise choices because they are internally motivated to obey God’s standards. However, those who are not self-governed under God will be governed by their depraved nature and will not consistently make wise choices. These people will need detailed codes of conduct and accountability. This will cost time and money, which should remind us that managing sin is always costly.

Business Tips is a publication of
Strategies@Work, LLC
http://StrategiesWork.com
info@StrategiesWork.com