Thank you for the question about tattoo, “Does Leviticus 19:28 “nor print any marks upon you (tattoos): for I am the Lord” still apply? If no, why not? I think just because things are in the Old Testament doesn’t mean that the laws are all vetoed because of Christ. Am I wrong?”
The subject of the Old Testament Laws and its application to Christians is controversial within the Christian faith.
The thoughts expressed to your question is my own and it does not represent other Christians or churches.
Scripture declares that Christ is the end of the Mosaic Law. Believer are not under the Law but that does not mean that Christians can flaunt or ignore the Laws of God. Jesus declared the Greatest Commandment is to wholeheartedly love God and to love one’s neighbor as oneself. The Greatest Commandment transcends ages and is for all people.
As one ponders the words that Christ is the end of the Law, it means that Christ has fulfilled the requirements of the Law of living a sinless life and being the sacrificial Lamb of God. Christ is the fulfillment of the Law. For one’s consideration, the Book of Hebrews elaborates Christ and the Law including the Temple sacrifices.
The Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthian believers that their bodies are not their own any longer and the Spirit of God indwells them. I Corinthians 3 says this, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (NIV). Believers are God’s temple. He further exhorts the Roman believers to offer their bodies as living sacrifices to God (Rom. 12:1–2). Paul’s central thought is that the Spirit of God indwells us. The result is how should we care for the physical body in which his Spirit indwells us. That is a personal question and each person will give an account of his/her thoughts and actions before the Lord.
The questions that one wants to consider are the following:
- What is the purpose of that tattoo that one wants to place on one’s body?
- What is the image of that tattoo that one wants to place on one’s body?
- Will that image glorify God or detract from God’s glory?
- Can another symbol be worn instead of being tattoo?
In the past, tattoo was a consider a form of rebellion or assertion of one’s own identity or identity with a group. Today, that is more decorative. For most individual, tatoos is an expression of oneself. For Christians, it is not oneself, but of Christ.
SUMMARY: A Christian has liberties, freedoms in Christ, but the exercise of that freedom ought not to distract from the centrality of Christ in a Christian’s life.
For more perspectives: