WHY A BISHOP MUST BE VESTED
Although there is no New Testament instruction for the Bishop to be vested, there was in the Old Testament. We should remember that what God does not will, He clearly points it out in Scripture. What is not so witnessed to there, we can accept as his work.
- It makes a lot of sense. Judges wear uniforms. Soldiers wear uniforms. Policemen wear uniforms. Even though policemen regularly interact with ordinary citizens, they don’t dress like regular citizens unless they are undercover. (There is no such thing as an undercover bishop.) Every special office has its own uniform or dress code to distinguish its members from people of other offices.
- There is ample biblical precedent. Even though the Old Testament regulations do not apply to the New Testament church, no detail recorded in Scripture was recorded in vain. Why did God command that the priests be so elaborately garbed in ceremonial clothing?
- God works through Christian traditions. Concerning traditions, Luther wrote, “We should not discard or alter what cannot be discarded or altered on clear Scriptural authority.”