What Does the Bible Say About Tattoos?
One verse in Leviticus, a body called a temple, and Christian liberty — an honest look at Scripture and tattoos.
The Bible mentions tattooing once: “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you” (Leviticus 19:28) — a law aimed at pagan mourning rituals of ancient Canaan. Christians differ on how it applies today; Scripture’s enduring principles are that the body is “the temple of the Holy Ghost” (1 Corinthians 6:19) and that believers act from faith, for God’s glory, without judging one another.
What Leviticus was addressing
The one tattoo verse sits in a chapter forbidding Canaanite religious practices — cuttings “for the dead” and ritual marks belonged to pagan mourning and idol devotion. Israel was to be visibly distinct from that worship. Christians disagree about whether the prohibition carries past the cross: the same chapter forbids trimming beard corners and wearing mixed fabrics, laws most believers regard as Israel’s ceremonial distinctives rather than timeless moral command.
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
The New Testament’s body principle: not your own, bought with a price — glorify God in it.
The questions that outlast the debate
Wherever a believer lands on Leviticus, the New Testament supplies the operative questions: does it glorify God? Can I do it in faith — “whatsoever is not of faith is sin”? What does it mean, and why do I want it? Scripture consistently cares more about the heart’s motive than the skin’s surface: “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
Liberty without judgment
Romans 14 was written for exactly this kind of question — matters where sincere believers differ. Its rules: be fully persuaded in your own mind, don’t flaunt liberty before a troubled conscience, and don’t judge the brother who decides differently. Interestingly, God himself uses engraving imagery for love: “I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:16).
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Quick answers
- Is getting a tattoo a sin?
- Scripture gives one contextual prohibition (Leviticus 19:28, aimed at pagan rites) and no New Testament command either way. Many Christians conclude it is a liberty issue governed by motive, meaning, and conscience (Romans 14); others abstain. Both act unto the Lord.
- Does “the body is a temple” forbid tattoos?
- 1 Corinthians 6:19 is about fleeing sexual immorality, not decoration. It does establish that the body belongs to God — a reason for thoughtfulness in everything done with it, rather than a specific tattoo ban.
- What if I already have tattoos I regret?
- Nothing inked on skin outranks “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). God reads hearts, not skin (1 Samuel 16:7) — regret can simply be handed to grace.
