Are Christians Prohibited from Getting Tattoos? (Leviticus 19)

This article is part of the Tough Passages series.

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You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD. —Lev. 19:28

Tattoos

Sometimes people read a statement about tattoos in the Old Testament and wonder if it applies today. The Mosaic covenant has been terminated with the death of Christ, and we are now under the new covenant. Therefore, this law from the Mosaic covenant is not directly binding on us today.¹ But the remaining question is whether the prohibition on tattoos still reflects wisdom for godly living, wisdom that we would do well to follow today, or whether it is a prohibition particular to the circumstances of the old covenant.

This Command Probably Refers to Canaanite Religious Practices

This same sentence in Leviticus also prohibits making “any cuts on your body for the dead,” which has nothing to do with Jewish religious commands and must therefore reflect a prohibition against Canaanite religious practices connected to the deaths of friends or relatives. Therefore, it is likely that the tattoos in question relate to Canaanite religious practices as well. But this is not certain. R. K. Harrison says, “The shaving of the hair on the temples and beard, or the incising of patterns on the skin, formed part of pagan mourning practices and as such were prohibited. The disfiguring of the skin, which probably included some emblems of pagan deities, dishonored the divine image in a person.”² Jay Sklar writes, “Tattoos today—at least in Western cultures—do not have the same pagan associations as they did in ancient Israel, so believers are no longer prohibited from getting them.”³ Gordon J. Wenham, however, sees an additional, deeper reason for this command: “Man is not to disfigure the divine likeness implanted in him by scarring his body. The external appearance of the people should reflect their internal status as the chosen and holy people of God (Deut. 14:1–2).”⁴

Christian Ethics

Wayne Grudem

In this highly practical, biblically based volume on Christian ethics, bestselling author Wayne Grudem explains what the Bible says about ethical questions regarding marriage, government, abortion, and dozens of other issues.

This Verse Is Part of the Mosaic Covenant’s Physical Purity Laws

Even if Leviticus 19:28 were shown to be unrelated to pagan religious practice, the prohibition against tattoos should still be seen as part of the physical purity laws that were unique to the Mosaic covenant, such as the prohibition against cutting one’s hair or one’s beard (Lev. 19:27), the prohibition against eating from a fruit tree until the fifth year (Lev. 19:23–25), or the prohibitions against hybrid cattle, planting two kinds of seed in a field, or wearing garments made of two kinds of material (Lev. 19:19). These laws all emphasized outward physical purity, a purity of appearance, that is no longer binding on people in the new covenant. There seems to be no reason to see any abiding moral principles reflected in these commands. Therefore, there is no biblical prohibition against tattoos for people who are no longer living under the Mosaic covenant.

Is It Wise to Get a Tattoo?

Beyond the question of whether there is a direct biblical prohibition against tattoos is the question of whether it is wise to get a tattoo.⁵ It is similar to buying a piece of clothing that you can never take off for the rest of your life, even if you no longer like it. Tattoos are extremely difficult and very expensive to remove, with the total cost potentially reaching $10,000, depending on the number of sessions needed,⁶ and the removal process requires several treatments that are very painful.⁷ Tattoos that are visible are a barrier to employment or are prohibited for jobs in many companies. A survey done by Salary.com found that 76 percent of respondents felt tattoos and piercings hurt an applicant’s chances of being hired during a job interview. More than one-third—39 percent—felt that employees with tattoos and piercings reflected poorly on their employers. Finally, 42 percent felt that tattoos are always inappropriate at work.⁸ Another study from Scotland’s University of St. Andrews showed that managers thought visibly tattooed workers could be perceived as “abhorrent, repugnant, unsavory, and untidy” by customers.⁹ Anyone considering getting a tattoo should at least be aware of these common perceptions.

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Self-Mutilation

Sometimes people intentionally hurt their bodies by cutting them or wounding them in other ways. This is different from getting a tattoo, because the goal in getting a tattoo is to enhance a person’s bodily appearance (whether it does that or not is a matter of disagreement and personal taste). But with self-mutilation, the intention is to hurt one’s body and harm its appearance.

Paul’s teaching about our bodies is appropriate here. As we have seen previously, he says that “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God” (1 Cor. 6:19). We Christians have the Holy Spirit living within us, so we should not dishonor our bodies.

In addition, it is Satan’s purpose to destroy human beings made in the image of God. Jesus says, “He was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). He is like the thief who “comes only to steal and to kill and destroy” (John 10:10). Therefore, along with a person’s own sinful desires and self-hatred, another factor motivating self-mutilation might be a demonic influence urging a person to hurt himself or herself.

The question of what motivates this behavior is very important, and will require wisdom and spiritual discernment to understand. In many cases, the help of a wise and mature Christian counselor will be needed, along with much prayer, in order to effectively address this problem.

This article is adapted from Christian Ethics: Living a Life That Is Pleasing to God by Wayne Grudem.

Wayne Grudem (PhD, University of Cambridge) is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary in Phoenix, Arizona. He is the author of more than twenty-five books, including Bible Doctrine and Christian Beliefs.

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