The liberty of choice and expression has limits in every society. The laws are made to protect the freedoms and liberties of others. Likewise, there are spiritual laws to regulate our spiritual liberties. This is why we are accountable to God for our deeds. Proverbs 13: 13 says he who despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who respects the commandment will be rewarded.
God has in all fairness given us his words, laws, commandments, instructions, his Holy Spirit, men of God and many more to assist us not to traverse the boundaries of spiritual liberties. Part of God’s laws is what we can and cannot do to our bodies such as tattoos, marks and incisions. Titus 2: 7 says show yourself in all respects a model of good deeds, and in your teaching show integrity, gravity, and sound speech that cannot be censured, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say of us. What then is the place of body marks which is seen as a fashion and enlightenment?
Background to body marks
Leviticus 19: 28 says you shall not make any cuttings in your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord. Tattoos were not part of Israel’s culture or religion. They were borrowed from the heathen cultures through association by intermarriages and cohabitation with inhabitants who they encountered in their sojourning for forty years in the wilderness from Egypt to the Promised Land. Tattoos, body marks, incisions, etc. were heathen cultural marks that identified members of a cult to their god, deity, substance of worship. It showed their belief in the security of their deity.
They pierced the body, nose, tongue, umbilical cord, etc. for rings, hooks, etc. identified with their deities. Men also pierced their ears, wore earrings; etc. in order to identify as cult members. This culture of association or identification crept into Israel’s worship because at the time, advocating for dualism of worship was gaining prominence within the body of Israel. In Exodus 32: 1-6, Aaron made a molten calf for Israel which they worship as their god (summarized). In Daniel 3: 5 Nebuchadnezzar ordered the people to worship his golden image. In 2 Kings 10: 29 both Jeroboam and Jehu also encouraged the worship of golden calves as gods.
Worshippers were obliged to have special or specific identification on their bodies. There are countless biblical examples of such dualism of worship which God despised. Heathen converts identified with their deities by these body symbols. To the Jews, God had given the circumcision to identify with him. In the New Testament, circumcision became a thing of the heart by the death of Christ Jesus on the cross. As Christians, these works of heathen cultures cannot be at the pleasure of God through Christ Jesus.
What our bodies are
Biblically, our bodies are the temples of God and same must be kept holy. Our bodies must not be denigrated with graffiti or deemed as the temple of a rival god or goddess. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
We glorify God not with only our hearts but also how we keep our bodies. Exodus 20:5 says for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.
The New Testament perspective
This pagan culture, tradition or practice existed even in the days of Apostle Paul. He questioned in 2 Corinthians 6: 16, what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Paul thus confirmed the body as God’s temple which must be kept pure and neat without association with idol identity or graffiti. Every mark or incision on our bodies spiritually associates us with something dear to our hearts.
Jesus Christ should be the dearest to our hearts and demands we identify with him from our hearts, not by body marks, incisions or objects, etc. Christ Jesus must be the first and only permanent reminder in our affairs. His mark is his blood and his seal of righteousness by grace in our hearts. Our mark must be visible as light. Matthew 5: 14-16 says you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
As children of God, the only permitted incision in our bodies must be the Holy Spirit to bear witness that we are his children. Romans 8: 16 says it is the spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. God does not require any external marks or incisions because the Holy Spirit is our heavenly identity. We are better identified by our fruits rather than works of art. Matthew 7: 16, 20 says you shall know them by their fruits.
Effects of our body marks, etc.
We destroy or denigrate God’s temple at will for our ungodly pleasure based on our own preference. Unfortunately, we ignore the consequences of our deeds. Hosea 4:6 says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Other translations say for lack of knowledge my people perish or are destroyed. We were created in the beauty of God’s image and we have a sacred duty to preserve it without alteration through graffiti of tattoos, incisions or tampering with God’s temple without his divine approval.
Tattoos, etc. have spiritual meanings just as the Lord God put a mark on Cain for a reason. In Genesis 4: 15 the Lord said whosoever slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. Job questioned in Job 7: 20, why hast thou made me thy mark? Why have I become a burden to thee? Our marks must be the righteousness of Christ Jesus as light to the world. Galatians 6: 17 says henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. What marks do we carry on our bodies and why? It is not too late to end our body marks, etc. and to replace same with God’s light of righteousness and the Holy Spirit.
Body marks on Jesus Christ
1 Peter 2:24 identifies Jesus’ body marks as his wounds. It says by his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 also says he was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities, upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. We pray that our marks would be marks of suffering and sacrifice for the benefit of others as Jesus did for us. In the Old Testament, circumcision was a mark for the men of Israel with spiritual significance, Genesis 17: 10-14. In the New Testament, real circumcision was of the heart and a spiritual mark of Christ Jesus, Romans 2: 25-29.
Romans 12: 1 says present your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Our bodies must be free from any connections with heathen worship or cultures. God demands holiness from us from within rather than body marks and incisions. 2 Peter 1: 4 says we have become partakers of Christ Jesus’ divine nature. Philippians 1: 27 says let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. God demands purity of the body and the soul.
Though our marks and incisions may appear permanent, Jesus upon forgiving us based on our confessions will make our spiritual bodies new with his righteousness. He will give us a new mark of the Holy Spirit in our hearts which can identify us to the world as his light. We pray that the Lord would lead us to his truth and confession in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit and not body graffiti.
Prayer
Our Master and Lord Jesus Christ, we have desecrated our bodies which are your temples with marks and incisions by our own wisdom without knowledge. Let our marks be spiritual marks of redemption by the Holy Spirit and the light of your salvation by our fruits we bear. Let our marks be marks of suffering and sacrifice for your kingdom that souls may be won. In your precious holy name we pray, Amen!!
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