1 Peter 3:3

Whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on apparel;

Does this mean that it is a sin for a Christian woman to wear a gold jewel, or to braid her hair, or to put on clothes? To ask this question is to answer it. "The unavoidable conclusion is that she must not depend on the display of the articles mentioned."[5] It is the inordinate stress of outward adorning of the person which Peter here condemned. Despite the fact that in these times there is not the same emphasis upon such ostentation as in the days when Peter wrote, one cannot resist the thought that the apostles of Christ would take exception to what is being done with cosmetics, even today. In ancient times, extravagance of dress went beyond all reason. "Nero even had a room with walls covered with pearls; and Pliny saw Lollia Paulina, wife of Caligula, wearing a dress so covered with pearls and emeralds that it cost more than a million dollars."[6]

[5] E. M. Zerr, Bible Commentary, 1Peter (Marion, Indiana: Cogdill Foundation, 1954), p. 259.

[6] William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 221.