My Dear Friend,

In recent decades tattoos have been trending. Now many Christians are getting tattoos. The time has come to put a mark of truth - historical and biblical truth - on these body markings.

For thousands of years, every race and people group on earth have marked their bodies - with ink, cuttings, rings, inserts, and other body modifications. Perhaps most famous have been the Tahitians, from whom we get the word "tattoo" (Polynesian, tatau, meaning "to strike").

Notably, all these inked people groups were pagans and idolaters. They did not know God. The historical record shows two groups stood out for having unmarked bodies: Jews and Christians. That is, until this recent trend.

These two groups knew, or knew of, the one true God, and enjoyed the privilege of covenant relationship with Him. The other people groups were beloved and created by God, but they lived apart from Him in gross spiritual darkness. Why did Jews and Christians not "ink" themselves like other groups?

God spoke against it: "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord" (Leviticus 19:28). His people were not to conform to the pagans around them by marking their bodies. Why? Marking expressed, if not faith in, then sympathy with, pagan idolatry. Jews kept this command, as did Christians, for centuries, because they knew this text expressed God's will in the matter. It still does.

Also, in the same passage, God forbade gossip, grudge-bearing, prostitution, occultism, and other sinful things (see Leviticus 19). Though we are not under legal obligation to do these things to be saved, they still express God's will - His likes and dislikes - today as much as ever. Why? He has not changed and will never change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). We would never consider the other sins God spoke against in Leviticus 19 as acceptable. Why make an exception for body marking?

Historically, Christians also understood our bodies are not our own property to do with them as we will. Paul taught us, "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you . . . and ye are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19). He then exhorted us to "glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:20). And, regarding our subject, we can only "glorify God" by not marking our bodies as those who neither know nor honor Him.

To the contrary, marking ourselves dishonors Him, in that we are (unintentionally yet undeniably) defying His expressed will. It is a kind of sacrilege - the defacing or destroying of a temple. Rather, we should keep our bodies holy - separate, undefiled morally, unabused with harmful substances, and unmarked with the indelible marks of this fallen world. And the mere opinion of any popular Christian minister does not override the biblical evidence given here.

Even Constantine understood this. In 316 AD, he issued a decree forbidding tattoos on people's faces, noting, "Man had been created in the image of God and to so defile the face is to disgrace the divine." Though wrong on various issues, the first Christian Emperor got this topic right.

The Jesus model also speaks. To respect His Father's wishes in Leviticus 19:28, Jesus did not mark His body. Nor did His apostles. Nor did the church fathers. Nor have any Christians who knew God truly, biblically, and intimately - for 2,000 years! Why the change now?

Many American Christians are biblically illiterate. Others are only sporadically taught on non-controversial issues. Many of these, mostly under 30, want to be like their tattooed unbelieving peers. Or they want to draw attention to themselves. In the majority of cases, it's just that simple. But worldliness is sin to a Christian according to the apostle John (1 John 2:15-17). James goes as far as saying friendly conformity to the world's unbiblical fads and ways (in contradiction to God's expressed will) is spiritual adultery (unfaithfulness to Him) and makes one God's "enemy" (James 4:4).

Pew research polls reveal others ink themselves to show: love for a spouse or family member; devotion to a friend; support of a cause or leader; grief for someone deceased; desire to beautify their body; or, yes, devotion to God. Many sincere Christians get tattoos of Jesus' image, crosses, the fish sign, etc., intent on showing their ardent (yet immature) love for Him. But here's the problem: how can we show true devotion to God by doing something that displeases Him? So, Christian tattooing, while well-intended, is nevertheless an act of misguided devotion. And it's time we realize it. But there is, I will admit, one huge exception.

The most famous minister ever received the most tattoos ever. The apostle Paul wrote, "I bear in my body the marks [Greek, stigmata] of the Lord Jesus" (Galatians 5:17). Paul's "ink" consisted of deep lacerations caused by many brutal whippings with Roman scourges and canes, and Jewish whips that left him permanently scarred all over his body - back, chest, hips, arms, legs!

These tattoos were given involuntarily, without charge, by his enemies, and never removed. They conformed Paul to, not this world's image, but Jesus' image. Jesus, though He never tattooed Himself, also received the stigmata in His hands and feet - not by inked pins but by Roman nails, involuntarily driven in, without charge, and administered by His enemies.

And don't forget, many thousands of deeply devoted Christians today, like Paul, bear Jesus' stigmata in their bodies also - by the fists, clubs, knives, machetes, guns, whips, and rods of viciously hateful, anti-Christian persecutors. I may be wrong, but I don't think you'll find many of them getting more tattoos. They're marked enough.

And today's tattooing trend may have more ominous implications. Antichrist will mark his devotees during the Great Tribulation. While electronic chips may or may not accompany the beast's mark, the mark itself will be a tattoo or brand placed conspicuously on the forehead or hand: "He causeth all . . . to receive a mark" (Revelation 13:16). "Mark" (Greek, charagma) means "an engraved, etched, branded, or inscribed mark."

Could it be that our recent trend is satanically inspired to gradually cause the world population to be less offended by, and more comfortable with, marked bodies? No, I'm not saying tattoos are the beast's mark! But they may very well be preconditioning humanity to more readily receive his mark when he rises to power.

One more question remains: why? Considering this historical and biblical evidence, why would you, a Christ follower, want to tattoo yourself? All the facts are against it and none for it. It cannot help your fellowship with God but it may hinder it. Why go against God's expressed dislike of body marks? Why conform to centuries of ignorant pagan practices and idol worship? Why break with centuries of Jewish and Christian Bible-based practice?

Why disfigure the image of God you carry in your divinely sculpted body? Why not conform your bodily image to the (pre-passion) unmarked bodily image of Jesus? Why deface the Holy Spirit's pure, unmarked temple of your body? Why join the recent body modification trend when it could actually be the antichrist spirit preparing for the Antichrist's arrival?

One more crucial exhortation is necessary. Millions of Christians do not know the simple information you have just read. Wonderfully converted but woefully untaught, they have tattooed themselves in ignorance. Many others did so prior to their Christian conversion. So, to avoid having the angels tattoo your soul with this shameful ink - "UNMERCIFUL" - whenever you see another Christian's ink, be understanding. And remember, a tattooed eternal soul is far worse than a tattooed temporal body. Also remember, the Lord looks first on our hearts, not our skin (1 Samuel 16:7). So, be gracious. Receive them gladly, knowing Christ's grace saves them just as it does you.

On the other hand, if anyone should ask you about this matter, go for it! Tell them everything I've just told you. That will displease some, but it will please God, whose will has never changed. And it will help prepare Christ's bride to one day stand before Him in glory, pure and free of any marks except Jesus' image - and the honorable and God-honoring "marks of the Lord Jesus."

Now that is the mark I want to leave on body marking.

Graciously tattooing tattooing,

Dr. Greg Hinnant

GREG HINNANT MINISTRIES