WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT TATTOOS? pt. 3
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT TATTOOS? pt. 3
Set Apart from the World
It appears that the primary Biblical argument against tattoos I have seen so far is based upon Leviticus 19:28, which reads,
“You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the LORD.”
As some see this passage as antiquated because of what is seen as an outdated application (which I will address later), let’s therefore turn our attention first to other passages that give us a broader and more complete perspective related to general life principles we see taught in Scripture.
Our Creator commands us,
“Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.” -Leviticus 20:7
“Consecrate” means to be purified and set apart from the world as clean and holy people in service to God. This concept of holiness in our conduct is reiterated in the New Testament as well.
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written, “Be holy, because I am holy.” -1 Peter 1:15-16
As Christians, it should be our ambition to be as Christ-like as we can be and to distance ourselves from worldliness, not copying the customs and practices of the world around us. Biblical standards of holiness demand a denying of ourselves, taking up our crosses to follow Christ as Jesus demanded of all those who would be His disciple (see Matthew 16:24). To take up our crosses means to lay our lives down, to turn over our ambitions and personal desires to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, seeking to please Him and not ourselves. As Christ followers, our lives no longer belong to us. We are to be totally given over to Jesus, to His Kingdom, and to His desires. This is what it means to be “set apart.”
Imagine if you will a carton of a dozen eggs. Let’s imagine we are going to color (tattoo, if you will) some of those eggs for an easter egg hunt. But we don’t want to use the entire carton for that purpose. We want to separate out some of those eggs for some egg salad, a more noble use for our nourishment. Therefore, we separate out 6 eggs for noble purposes (eating) from the other 6 that are going to be colored and then later disposed of.
This is a similar picture of what it means to be a Christian. We are to be vessels of God’s honor, totally set apart for His noble purposes, and not given over to things are base or worthless.
Ambassadors for Christ
If we are to be ambassadors for Christ as we are called to be, we should refrain from doing anything which would put the gospel in a negative light, even if the act is not wrong in and of itself.
For example, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church about an issue which had become a cause of some confusion and disagreement. Some were saying it was wrong to eat meat which has previously been sacrificed to an idol, while others freely ate and had no convictions on this matter. Paul wrote to provide guidance on this question, assuring the Corinthian believers that an idol is nothing but a piece of wood or stone and has no power, and the believers should therefore eat what is set before them with a thankful heart and without asking questions. However, Paul continues in his instructions by commanding the believers to always give thought to how one’s actions are going to be perceived by others, especially those who are “weak” in the faith and whose consciences have not been liberated by grace. For the sake of those who might find an occasion for stumbling because of the actions of others, Paul said it is best to abstain.
Be careful, however, that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you who are well informed eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble. -1 Corinthians 8:9-13
Therefore, even if it could be proven that tattoos are totally acceptable in the New Covenant age and not prohibited in Scripture, we still have an obligation to protect the consciences of those who are “weak” and not as informed on matters of New Covenant freedom. Since tattoos are seen as taboo by many in the Church and professional culture, it would be keeping with the standards set forth by the Apostle Paul to abstain for the same reasons he instructed the Corinthians to abstain from meat in certain situations, even though he was convinced the eating of meat sacrificed to idols was not sinful. It was all a matter of elevating the spiritual wellbeing of others above one’s own freedoms.
It was also a matter of preserving the integrity of our witnesses for Christ as His ambassadors. On this matter the Apostle Paul later wrote to the same Corinthian church,
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. -2 Corinthians 5:20
God is making His appeal to the world through His people! We represent Him. Would it be in keeping with His holy nature to represent Him with our skin marked with tattoos when this is seen by many as a mark of unsavory character? The high road of godly wisdom, therefore, would be to refrain from doing anything that has the potential to place the gospel in a negative light or to cause another believer to stumble.
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In the next post we will take a look at what the Bible means when it says to glorify God with our bodies, as well as other pertinent Biblical perspectives.