Does the Bible say getting a tattoo is a sin? Well there are many Christians who believe it is a sin and often cite Leviticus 19:28
“You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD.”
Does this verse mean Christians cannot get tattoos? The answer is no, a common principle in all misinterpreted scripture is the failure to apply Biblical hermeneutics, simply put, at minimum at least just reading the passage before and the passage after to get a proper understanding of what the passage is trying to say in the historical context, what it meant to the reader, and what they would understand at the time based on structure and word choice. This is common in any other literature written today, yesterday, or 500 years ago, you cannot just put a random sentence on display and say exactly what the writer means it’s impossible.
Nonetheless, let’s look at the context of Leviticus 19:28 God is reminding/ giving rules to the Israelite’s because they are His people, specifically in verse 28 God tells them not to cut themselves for the dead or tattoo yourself, in context this is in reference to following false god’s in the Old Testament tattoos for style or fashion did not exist, tattoos were used to signify pagan practices, so being that the Israelite’s were God’s people He told them not to do that, we can see that by the end of the verse when He says “I am the LORD” (fun fact when the Bible spells “LORD” in all caps it is to signify God the Father when it is spelt like “Lord” that is God the Son Jesus, in Hebrew, the Bible’s original language, the distinction is clear through sentence structure but English, as we know, is built differently!) God wants His own people to be separate from the rest.
Finally, two important considerations with this topic are personal convictions and motive, honestly myself I have no interest in getting a tattoo couldn’t really care less if someone I know got one but some people feel more strongly about their convictions not to get one. We can apply the concept of personal conviction here because The Bible does not explicitly say either-or (of tattoos as we know them today) it’s a grey area, with that being said if you feel like not getting a tattoo for what ever reason then don’t but because its a gray area and your one who doesn’t see it as sin then go ahead and get one if you feel like. Do know that God knows our motives and if you desire to get a tattoo for a pagan practice or anything that promotes a world or man based ideal then don’t get one, God’s people are to be separate from the world we cannot live like them
That answers the question is it a sin to get a tattoo thanks for reading Soli Deo Gloria!
All text was written By Kwabena Duku sourced from God’s expressed written word the Bible and sources include Gotquestions.org and AnswersinGenesis.org May. 2020
Bible Answers by Bra Kwabena 