A generation ago most people who got tattoos were in gangs or branches of the military. If you look at top athletes in the past such as Hank Aaron, Michael Jordan, or Joe Montana, they had no visible tattoos. Now tattoos are everywhere, with major sports leagues serving as just one example. Over a third of US citizens 18-29 years old have one, and it’s cliché for college freshmen, living away from their parents, to get a tat with the idea of being a unique individual—just like thousands of their peers.
But there are many other reasons people get tattoos. A man loves the Marines, his battalion, a baseball team, a city or country, and so identifies with them via tattoo. Tattoos are common among tribal people today and throughout history. In contrast, Israel would be a distinct people by not being marked this way. But it’s not true that God’s people are completely unmarked.
As we do with all issues, Christians should consider tattoos from a biblical perspective. Lifelong evangelist, Henry Van Til, said culture is religion externalized. Culture flows downstream from religion, and you can see what influences people by what they do with their bodies. Israelites were forbidden from getting tattoos in Leviticus 19:28: “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the LORD.” We see here a clear connection between tattoos and how pagan Canaanites mourned and connected to their dead.
The Lord told the priests not to mourn like those around them (Lev. 21:5). Because all Israelites were holy, they too were forbidden from marking themselves for the dead (Deuteronomy 14:1). In the showdown with Elijah the priests of Baal called on their god “and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them” (1 Kings 18:28). In brief, this is the scriptural context of tattoos. Unbelievers got them for religious reasons, but God marked His people differently from the surrounding pagan cultures, wanting them to call on Him in prayer and mourn with the hope of seeing their people again at the resurrection of the dead.
Jewish males in the Old Testament were circumcised, and in the New Covenant all are baptized: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). Paul says we can’t live in sin any longer because of this: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” (Romans 6:3). Baptism is the identity marker of the believer that Scripture tells us to claim and remember. The fact that this is not often taught among evangelicals is significant. Should we add to our baptism, or compete with it using ink?
Apart from identifying with a particular group, most other tattoos are desired for aesthetic reasons such as the artistic nature of well-crafted tattoos. Some believers object to this on the grounds that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, which may not be the best argument against tattoos on the skin. Paul says that the sin against a man’s own body as the temple of the Holy Spirit is sexual immorality. Other sins we may commit are “outside the body” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20). You shouldn’t eat too much pizza, but it’s not a sin against the temple of the Holy Spirit, and neither is a tat.
We do well to give attention to the scriptural issues surrounding tattoos, but simply on aesthetic grounds, would you consider buying an expensive painting if it were guaranteed the canvas would soon sag and the colors run? What if your grandmother told you it was a terrible idea, and there was a burgeoning industry to remove the paintings from those who bought them not too long ago?
Tattoos are no barrier to fellowship, and in fact we should rejoice when people like Epaphroditus (“Devotee of Aphrodite”) are a part of the ministry (Philippians 2:25). At the same time, we shouldn’t think he named his kids Zeus. Something to ponder as we consider any interesting cultural trend such as tattoos.
