Hey everyone. We are going to start going through Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7) over the next few weeks at bible study on Wednesday. In preparation for the bible study please read Mathew 5:1-20 and come with your questions and comments.
Thanks. See you there.
OK. I’ve been asked by some in The Refuge to address the controversial issue of whether it is biblical or sinful for Christians to get tattoos. It is controversial because there are many well-meaning Christians that truly believe that God has told us not to mark our bodies and to do so is a sin. We will look at this issue head-on and see what the bible really says about this.
I do want to say up front that this is a very personal issue, and people have strong convictions on both sides. I believe that the bible gives us freedom to take either view for ourselves. I do not believe that this implies that we can force our views on others or say that our view is right for everyone. What I mean by that is that you are not free to tell someone that if they get a tattoo they are living in sin. Also, you are not free to tell the person who believes that it is wrong for them to get a tattoo that they are misinterpreting the bible. . . but I am getting ahead of myself.
So, where does this all come from? What does the bible say about tattoos? The word “tattoo” is only mentioned in the bible in one verse in the Old Testament. In chapter 19, verse 28 of Leviticus it says,
”Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.”
Initially, this seems pretty cut and dry. However, there are some things that we need to understand about the context of this passage. Who was it written to? What were the cultural considerations? What was God’s intention with this command?
Let’s look at some of these questions.
Who was this written to?
As I mentioned, this verse appears in the book of Leviticus. This is the book in the Old Testament that outlines the law God handed down to the Israelites, His chosen people. They were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that God had chosen to bless. He had made a convent (or promise) with them to bless them and use them to set an example for all the nations. God also promised them that he would use the nation of Israel to bring all the nations back to Himself.
The laws in the book of Leviticus (and the rest of the Old Testament) were directed specifically at the nation of Israel (the Jews) for the specific period of time before the New Covenant was established by the coming of the Messiah. They were given to set them apart from other nations and make them holy in the eyes of their God.
What Were the Cultural Considerations?
The rules in this book are often called the “Levitical Law”. These Levitical Laws can be broken down into the Sacrificial Law, and the Law of Purification.
The Sacrificial Law, required that an offering be presented to God for a sin debt. Whenever anyone sinned against God (violated His law) these rules outlined how they were to present an offering to make it right (or atone) for their sin. They had to do these sacrifices over and over again for every sin that was committed.
The Law of Purification had numerous requirements that had to be followed to make one acceptable before God. They ranged from ritualistic washings, who could be married or associated with, what manner of dress and grooming was acceptable, prohibitions against the ingestion of blood, and what foods could be eaten.
What Was God’s Intention with these Commands?
It is this question that gets to the crux of the issue. There were several intentions with this law. I will talk about a few here:
Sacrificial Law: God intended to show the Israelites that the penalty for all sin is death. If one committed a sin you had a death sentence unless someone or something else paid it for you. In the Old Testament this was paid by sacrificing an animal (usually a ram, bull, or goat). This had to be done for every single sin, over and over. This foreshadowed and symbolized the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, Jesus Christ dieing on the cross. Jesus’ death was once for all our sins because he was the perfect sacrifice (1 Peter 3:18).
Law or Purification: God intended to show Israel (and all the nations through Israel) that they were “unclean” in God’s eyes. It was our sin that makes us unclean. As a word picture for us, God related our spiritual uncleanness to physical impurities, imperfections, defects, and filth. Sin is disgusting, repulsive in God’s eyes. God was showing us that our attempts to purify ourselves are futile. We cannot clean up and come to God. Only God can wash away our imperfections and clean our sin stained clothes.
Additionally, God was using these Laws of Purification to separate His people from the other nations. Deuteronomy 26:18 says in the KJV that God chose Israel to be His “peculiar people”. They were to be special, different from everyone else. He wanted to make them stand out to all the other nations so that they would look on and see what was different about this people. Many of these laws of purification were meant to make Israel look physically different and there make their actions contrast with what was being done around them.
OK, so now that we have a little insight into what the context of this verse is, where does that leave us? Well, I think the next question we need to ask is does it still apply to Christians after Jesus Came? Are we still under the law?
This is very Important and you all need to get this: ALL the requirements of Ritualistic Law, both Sacrificial & Purification, were met, for all time, by the Messiah, Jesus Christ! Jesus is our sacrifice for all our sins. It is through Jesus that we are pure in God’s eyes. We can’t purify ourselves. Jesus fulfilled the Law. It is fulfilled in Him!
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” ~ Matthew 5:17
Jesus fulfilled the law and set us free from it. If we are truly Christians (believers and followers of Jesus) we do not live under the Levitical Law.
“For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.” ~ Romans 10:4
So, the purpose for the law is now gone. It was accomplished with what Jesus Christ did for us. The bible tells us the law was given to lead us to, or train us for, Christ. . .
“So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” ~ Galatians 3:24-25
Jesus came to set us free. . . free from our slavery to sin and free from the weight of the law. Jesus, the Messiah, is the ultimate, perpetual, atonement (payment) for man’s sin debt. There is nothing further that man can offer as atonement for sin; all such attempts belittle the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Further, it is God, who makes us acceptable, through faith in Jesus, something the Law of Purification could never do. Abstaining from certain foods, not marking your body, etc. does not make one holy and/or acceptable before God.
“For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.” ~ Romans 3:20
“So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.” ~ Romans 3:28
“knowing that a man is not justified by works of the Law, but through faith in Jesus Christ; even we believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith in Christ, and not by works of the Law. For all flesh will not be justified by works of law.” ~ Galatians 2:16
There are plenty of “Religious” people running around the Christian Community who will dredge up the specific requirements of the law and try to hold them over people’s head. The simple fact is, that anyone proclaiming that you need to follow the Law of Atonement and/or the Laws of Purification has no valid biblical basis for their teachings and requirements. You will never impress God, become justified, or pay for your sins, by anything that you do or don’t do, aside from belief in Jesus. He has fully satisfied ALL the requirements of the Levitical Law portion of the Old Law for the believer.
What’s more is that the people who say this are almost always selective and hypocritical in how they apply these requirements. The person who says, “you are sinning if you mark you body by getting a tattoo”, will try to enforce Leviticus 19:28 while at the same time ignore the other parts of the Levitical Law. Here are some great examples from that very same chapter (Lev 19). If you are going to say no one can get a tattoo, then you have to obey these other laws as well:
Of course this is not applicable to today’s culture and society. Even those who say you can’t get tattoos wouldn’t go as far as arguing these points. But that is hypocritical. If you are going to hold people to the Levitical Law then you have to take the whole thing. You can’t just pick and choose the rules that agree with your preferences.
Thankfully we are free from obligation to these laws. They did have their time and place. They were good and right for the purpose God used them for in that time. Here is what Dr. Constable says about this passage of Lev 19:
God’s people were to avoid pagan practices that characterized the Canaanites (vv. 26-32). These included eating blood (v. 26), cutting their hair in the style of the pagan priests (v. 27), and disfiguring their bodies that God had created (v. 28). They were not to disfigure the divine likeness in them by scarring their bodies. These foreign practices also included devoting one’s daughter to prostitution (v. 29), seeking knowledge of the future from a medium (v. 31), and failing to honor the aged (v. 32).
Since the church contains people of every nation it is no longer necessary for Christians to observe the laws that typified Israel’s uniqueness among the other nations.
Nevertheless God still calls Christians to imitate Himself (cf. Matt. 5:48; 1 Cor. 11:1), to “be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16). Application of the imperatives in this chapter is different for Christians, but the fundamental principles of holy living remain the same.
He makes a good point here. Since the church now includes all nations (the Gentiles), God no longer has to separate one nation as set apart, special, and different (KJV: peculiar) from the others. So the commands for us to maintain our appearance in a way that make us visually look different from other people groups are no longer required. God wanted the Israelites to be different from the Canaanites in every way so that they would not be tempted to embrace their culture, false Gods, and evil practices. He also wanted to use the Israelites as His witness to those cultures of who God is.
This raises an interesting point though. Aren’t we to be His witnesses today among all the people groups that do not know Him? Aren’t we to be different from the world? These are very valid questions.
The arguments against Christians getting tattoos that make the most sense come from the New Testament. While the New Testament never directly addresses getting tattoos, there are passages that some would use to argue against them. Let’s look at some of them.
“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:18-20
The verse above is the one verse from the New Testament that I hear quoted more than any other to argue that Christians should not mark there bodies. The argument usually goes, “you shouldn’t get a tattoo because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and you should honor God with it. If you get a tattoo you are disgracing God’s temple”.
This is an interesting argument. I personally don’t agree with it, but I see nothing wrong with someone holding this belief for themselves. If you believe you are bringing honor to God’s temple by abstaining from getting a tattoo, by all means keep it up! I know that God is pleased by your dedication to Him, for He looks and the motivations of our hearts.
If your motivation is to somehow earn God’s favor by imposing this restriction on your self, I’m sorry but it’s not going to happen! Also, if you think that others are sinning if they do it, you are wrong. I love this verse:
“Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules . . . they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” ~ Colossians 2:20, 22-23
Imposing restrictive rules on yourself is one thing. When you start to demand that others follow them, then you are pushing religion. Man, Jesus really hated that when he was here on the earth!
But, back to the verse from 1 Corinthians 6, doesn’t that say that we shouldn’t dishonor the temple of the Holy Spirit, our body? Look carefully at the verse. How does it say that the temple is dishonored? There is no mention of marking the body. It is in reference to sin, and specifically sexual sin, a sin that is inside your body (not outside). Sexual sin is what dishonors the temple of the Holy Spirit. The bible also says:
“Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” ~ Romans 6:13
When we sin we are using our bodies for wickedness. This is what we are to avoid. It isn’t about the appearance of our bodies, but the actions we do with them that is of concern. It is human tendency to make everything skin-deep. We like to impose restrictions on things we can see because that is easy to control and monitor. But, God is concerned with what is inside us, what is in our heart.
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.” ~ Matthew 23:25-26
If anyone tells you that you are in sin if you get a tattoo they have missed the entire point of the New Testament and the point of Jesus’ sacrifice for us! They simply don’t get it. This is not at all uncommon, unfortunately. It was happening in the first century when Paul was writing his letters. They were running into the same issues. They were not struggling with tattoos but with the ritual of circumcision.
This was a huge issue and stumbling block for early Jews who converted to Christianity. They wanted to impose the additional requirement that all the gentiles become like them and be circumcised like the Old Testament law required. It is the same root issue here. People want to control the exterior appearance when what is really important is the condition of your heart. Paul addressed it over and over again in the Epistles. Here is one of my favorite examples:
“NOTICE WHAT LARGE LETTERS I USE AS I WRITE THESE CLOSING WORDS IN MY OWN HANDWRITING.
Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save. And even those who advocate circumcision don’t keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples.
As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.” ~ Galatians 6:11-16
Man, that scripture sums it all up. You should just re-read that and insert “not get a tattoo” wherever it says circumcised. Point made! Thanks Paul. :) Don’t cheapen the cross!
What is a Good Reason NOT to Get a Tattoo (Jake’s Opinion)?
I alluded to this earlier when I was discussing how God originally wanted to set aside the Israelites as His chosen people. This is similar to how Jesus has chosen us to be his people now. We are to be different from the world.
“you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” ~ 1 Peter 2:9
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” ~ Romans 12:2
Some people feel that since tattoos are so common today that to get one is “copying the behavior and customs of the world”. They feel that they can stand out as different from the world by not having one. This could conceivably provide that person with the opportunity to share Christ with a lost person who notices they are different in this regard and asks, “why don’t you have a tattoo?” They can then explain that they do it as a visual symbol of their spiritual purity in Christ and tell the person how they can have that in their life.
I feel this is a perfectly legitimate position and it may be effective in many circles (particularly if one is around people who have tons of tattoos).
Another good reason not to get a tattoo is to avoid being vain or caring too much about your appearance. Many tattoos that people get are simply for aesthetic reasons. They get them because they “look cool”. This may show that the person cares more about their appearance and what other people think about them than they should. The bible tells us that we get our worth from the fact that we are created in God’s image. We should not spend time, effort, and money in pursuit of gaining our worth from others. This is a long topic of discussion by itself. They bible tells us that our beauty comes from within and we should be conservative in our outward appearance.
If a person knows that they struggle with valuing surface level appearance more then they should it may be a good idea for that person to not get a tattoo. Chances are their reasons for getting it are not very good.
What Are Some Good Reasons For Getting a Tattoo (Jake’s Opinion)?
Just as some people feel they are a more effective witness by not having a tattoo, many feel that having one is an excellent witnessing opportunity. Many people have pre-conceived notions about church and the bible. They are resistant to religion and think that most Christians have a list of rules that they have to go by. To these people a Christian with a tattoo may appear like a contradiction. It can open up the door to talking about the freedom that is found in Christ.
While I don’t currently have a tattoo, I think that the people I find myself around most fall into this category. I think that a Godly (and not vain or purely aesthetic) tattoo can be a great way to start a conversation about God with these people. This obviously doesn’t hold true if you have a tattoo that in and of itself has a counter-biblical message.
How much more true is this if the tattoo has a message that directly speaks to Jesus? If I were to get one this is what I would try to do.
Other good reasons for getting a tattoo could be substantial personal significance of the marking, etc.
So in summary, the bible does not prevent a Christian from getting tattoos. You are free in Christ from the requirements of the Old Testament law. But, now that we have been bought and paid for by Christ we are to live our lives for Him. I believe anyone Christian considering getting a tattoo should pray about it and seek the Lords guidance. It is permanent after all.
My caution is not to just do it because “you want to”. You should seek God’s will in every decision in your life, especially one as permanent as this.
Interesting Thought: Jesus Tattooed?
As I was thinking about this I thought about this passage from revelation. The passage isn’t completely clear but many interpret it that Jesus Christ has tattoos. When Jesus returns, he is described in Revelation this way:
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” ~ Revelation 19:11-16
Perhaps Jesus has tattoos?
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