Pastor Dave Ginter
 
Response:
 I love being married. That’s why I am going to be careful and thorough in responding to this question. My wife, you see, has a tattoo and is thinking about getting a second one! What precipitated this discussion about tattoos? One of my staff asked me a few weeks ago if I felt it was inappropriate for him to get one. Here is how I responded to him. And here is my answer to you. It involves both Biblical and cultural considerations.

First, Biblically is it wrong to get a tattoo? The Bible does, in fact, say some things about tattoos. In Leviticus 19:28 we find the only direct reference to tattooing in the entire Bible:

“Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the LORD. 

Leviticus 19:2 builds the context for verse 28. In Leviticus 19:2 we are told to be holy (uniquely set apart) because God is holy (uniquely set apart). In other words, we are to be different from those around us. Please note that different does not equate with odd. There are too many Christians who seem to believe that the Great Commission of Jesus in Matthew 28 reads “Go into all the world and be weird!” Christians are called and empowered by God to be different, not strange. What is the “difference” referred to here? In the context of Leviticus 19, it’s a difference to Whom we belong. What defined the difference for Israel in the time of Moses (the author of Leviticus 19) included harvesting and business ethics, morality, justice issues and avoiding anything that identified as belonging to a pagan system of worship. This is what “marked” you as a God-follower, not a tattoo. Tattooing in Egypt as well as neighboring Arab nations, marked a person indelibly to the deity with whom they belonged. God is saying in Leviticus 19:28 that we belong to God (the One we can make no design to represent). Therefore, since you have no available tattoo with which to mark yourselves as belonging to the true God, never tattoo yourself with another fake deity’s design.

Okay, does this mean, therefore, we are to avoid all tattooing? Is that what God intends by verse 28? If that is what God means, then I have been living an unholy life for the past 40-some years by trimming my sideburns and beard. Note Leviticus 19:27 (the verse just before the tattooing verse):

Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards.

Oops! Am I in trouble with God or what?!  How do we in the 21st century apply these verses correctly to our own life choices?  Here is how I understand them: These regulations involving tattooing and beard trimming are part of the way Judaism functioned as a religion. The Laws delineate what it means to be a follower of God for a Jewish person coming out of Egyptian paganism.

But how do they apply to me? How do I know which Laws I keep and which are past tense? As a non-Jewish man, I keep the Moral Law (the Ten Commandments). But I am not obligated to keep the Civil Law (rules regarding how Israel is to be governed). Nor am I required to keep the Ceremonial Law (rules describing how Judaism is to function as a religion). Trimming my beard and not tattooing my body involve ceremonial Laws of Judaism (unless I tattoo myself with a modern-day deity – something in my life that takes the place of God. THEN it falls under God’s Top Ten, the Moral Law: “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind”).

So I am free, Biblically speaking, to tattoo myself. But then enters the second consideration. Is it culturally appropriate to have a tattoo?

This cultural consideration becomes a matter of opinion. The Bible has some things to say about living within our culture without becoming totally identified with our culture. It takes wisdom to determine what is appropriate and what is not. I want to share some insights that a friend of mine, Britt (who happens to be my most tattooed friend) has shared recently with me. Britt wrote:

This is what I learned about tattoos:
1. People cover themselves with "beauty" to make up for the lack of beauty on the inside.
2. It is a form of self worship (but not for all people)
3. Some people are just truly artistic and love art all over.
4. When the OT talks about it, it is in context to honor the dead by hurting one's self in view of a false and pagan god."

In other words, Britt summarizes appropriate and inappropriate reasons to get a tattoo. To Britt’s list, I would add that in some cultures and some parts of Central America, many tattoos identify you as belonging to a gang, not to Jesus. These tats are wrong for the follower of God. For my wife, the symbol of the butterfly on her ankle represents a new life in Jesus Christ. For my fellow worker at Union Church, his tattoo comes directly from Scripture, referring to Jesus’ payment for our failures. For the followers of God who were sorry for their sins in Ezekiel 9:4-5, God marked (tattooed) them with a symbol identifying them as belonging to God. In the future, many will be marked (tattooed) with the Seal of God, showing they belong to Jesus Christ (Revelation 7:4). Each person has to decide. No one should condemn. God and God alone is the final Judge of the motives of each heart.
 


Comments

Cynthia
01/02/2010 09:07

Thanks for the answer, it was somthing I've been struggling with, since I already have one, and want to get another one as well.

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Dawn
04/20/2010 12:42

Very well put. The decision you make is between you and God alone!

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Aphelia
05/06/2012 13:43

Thank you so much for this truly helpful answer!

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