Is It a Sin to Get a Tattoo?

What does Leviticus 19:28 mean?

Start with who is being addressed. Leviticus is part of the law God gave Israel through Moses, and chapter 19 opens with “You shall be holy; for I, the LORD your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2). Israel was to live differently from the nations around it, and the chapter spells out how.

Then look at the lines around the verse. Just before it comes “You shall not cut the hair on the sides of your head or clip off the edge of your beard.” (Leviticus 19:27). The verse itself begins with cuts made “for the dead”, and Deuteronomy 14:1 makes the same link: “You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.” So many scholars think these marks belonged to mourning rites, or to the worship of other gods.

We can’t be fully sure. The Hebrew phrase appears nowhere else in the Bible, and older English Bibles word it differently, which is a good reason to compare translations on a verse like this one.

Does the verse still apply to Christians?

This is the real question, because few Christians keep every rule in this chapter. Verse 19 bans “a garment made of two kinds of material”, and verse 27 covers hair and beards. Yet verse 18 says “you shall love your neighbor as yourself”, and the New Testament repeats that command (Romans 13:9). So a rule’s place in Leviticus doesn’t settle it either way.

Paul says the law guided God’s people until Christ came: “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” (Galatians 3:25). The early church also decided that Gentile believers didn’t have to keep the whole law of Moses (Acts 15). Many Christians conclude that Leviticus 19:28 doesn’t bind them. Others sort the law into moral commands, which carry over, and ceremonial ones, which don’t, and they debate where this verse belongs. Some say the respect for the body behind it still matters.

Our guide to reading a Bible verse in context walks through the questions behind all of this.

Other verses people bring up

The New Testament never mentions tattoos. These passages come up because they speak about the body and conscience.

• 1 Corinthians 6:19. “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit”. Paul is warning against sexual sin, and Christians disagree on whether the idea reaches anything that marks the body.
• 1 Corinthians 10:31. “Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Written about food and conscience, it gives you a question to ask more than a rule to follow.
• Romans 14:23. “whatever is not of faith is sin.” On disputed matters, Paul says, going against your own conscience is wrong, even if another believer is free to do the same thing.

How Christians see tattoos differently

Views vary inside every tradition, so treat this as a rough guide and ask your own pastor or priest.

The history is mixed too. Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem have been getting cross tattoos for centuries, while many Protestant churches frowned on tattoos until fairly recently. Traditional Jewish law forbids them.

If you already have a tattoo

You may have one already. Maybe someone at church made a comment. Maybe you got it years ago and feel differently now.

Whatever your church teaches, a tattoo doesn’t put you out of God’s reach. When Samuel was choosing a king, God told him, “man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7). If you regret a tattoo or believe it was wrong, you can bring that to God: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12). You don’t have to remove anything to come to him. If you decide to cover it or have it removed, that’s your choice to make.

If your tattoo marks a loss or a hard time, you don’t need to hide it or apologize for it.

Questions to think through before you get one

• Why do you want it? To remember someone, to express your faith, to fit in, or to get through a hard moment?
• What does it say? Will you still be at peace with it in 30 years?
• What does your conscience say? “Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.” (Romans 14:5).
• Who else does it affect? Parents, a spouse, your church or your job may see it differently. Paul asks believers to consider how their freedom affects others (1 Corinthians 8:9).
• Can it wait? A tattoo is hard to undo. If you’re unsure, give it a few months.

Common questions