Tattoos and Christianity

The Passages

Leviticus 19:28 - LSB

²⁸ And you shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am Yahweh.

Deuteronomy 14:1 - LSB

¹ “You are the sons of Yahweh your God; you shall not gash yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead.

Many throughout history have used these commands from God to say that people, especially Christians are not allowed to have any tattoos, period, end of discussion. However, when we actually read the passages themselves we see two parts of the command that are not talked about much.

1. Not only do these passages discuss tattoos, they also discuss baldness and cutting oneself.

2. These commands are against people cutting themselves, tattooing their bodies, and shaving their forehead in the context of doing it “for the dead.”

If we apply the same restrictions that some Christians put on tattoos to shaving their heads then we would have a lot of problems to say the least. However, when these passages forbid these actions, they are in the context of “for the dead.” Sound biblical hermeneutics demands us to conclude that these passages are putting laws in place that would not allow the altering of your appearance (shaving/cutting/tattooing) for the dead.

Does This Still Apply To Us Today?

In this period (the time in which this law was written), there was a lot of worship centered around the dead. There was curses of the dead, worship of the dead, etc. Does this still apply to us today? I would say no because the law has been fulfilled by Christ (Matt 5:17-20). With this in mind I would however warn against getting a tattoo, even if it is not “for the dead.” Why? 2 reasons.

1. Tattoos focus on external adornment: In view of Paul’s counsel against adornment (1 Peter 3:3) — being minimally external and maximally internal — and in view of his counsel that the adornment or the hair not signify excessive preoccupation with looks, I would say tattoos do go under this category because of their high preoccupation with looks, because to choose to get an adornment that will be with you forever is a too high-level commitment to adornment.

2. Missionary impact: Let’s say that you get a tattoo today. That same tattoo may be a huge stumbling block among Muslim peoples God is going to take you to in 10 years. You don’t know what the future holds.

3. They are expensive: To receive and remove a tattoo is very expensive and I would discourage getting something that is very hard to remove.

In sum, here is the conclusion. Marking the skin is not intrinsically evil. It will not cut anyone off from Christ. I do however think that the impact of having your skin tattooed will have a great impact for your future, most likely not for the better. As Paul Washer once said, “You don’t need Jesus tattooed on your arm, you need the law of God written on your heart.”