“Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;”
King James Version (KJV)
3:3 Three things are here expressly forbidden: curling the hair, wearing gold, (by way of ornament,) and putting on costly or gay apparel. These, therefore, ought never to be allowed, much less defended, by Christians.
1Pe 3:3 Whose adorning, let it not be that outward [adorning]. While urging those pure and holy lives which will sweetly preach Christ, Peter cannot pass by a foible often seen in the sex. There is a better adorning than that of the body. Of plaiting the hair. See notes on 1Ti 2:9,10. Compare Ps 45:13. The allusion is to wearing ornaments of gold or silver over the hair, a common adornment of the time. Or of wearing of gold. For the extravagant dress of Roman women of the time, see Farrar's "Early Years of Christianity", p. 5.