📖 Biblical Definition
A permanent mark made on the skin by piercing it with ink. Scripture's one direct prohibition is Leviticus 19:28: Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. The prohibition stands inside the broader Levitical-holiness code (Lev 19) alongside commands against pagan-mourning self-mutilation, prostitution of one's daughter, eating blood, divination, soothsaying, mixed-seed sowing, and incest. The original cultural context: the surrounding nations used skin-marking and self-cutting as religious-mourning practices for the dead and to identify themselves with their gods. Israel was set apart visibly — the body of God's people was not to bear the marks of other masters. The Christian application: 1 Cor 6:19-20 names the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, bought with a price, to be glorified rather than marked at will. The MOOP Dictionary holds the historic prohibition. Tattoos are not in the New Testament's libertine-Christian liberty zone (Rom 14); they are in the Lev 19 ownership zone — the body belongs to the LORD, not to its own decorative impulses.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Permanent skin-marking; Lev 19:28 prohibits; the body belongs to the LORD, not to its own decorative impulses.
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TATTOO, n. (from Tahitian / Samoan tatau; brought into English via Captain James Cook, 1769) A permanent mark made on the skin by piercing it and inserting ink or pigment. Underlying Hebrew word: qa'aqa (Lev 19:28) — a mark scratched, printed, or inscribed into the flesh. The Scriptural prohibition is direct: Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. The verse stands within Leviticus 19's broader holiness-code distinguishing Israel from the pagan nations whose religious-mourning customs included skin-marking and self-cutting for the dead and for their gods.
📖 Key Scripture
Leviticus 19:28 — "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD."
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 — "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."
Deuteronomy 14:1-2 — "Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself."
1 Corinthians 10:31 — "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
A direct Lev 19:28 prohibition has been quietly retired by most evangelical pastors; the body's status as a bought-temple (1 Cor 6:19-20) treated as decorative-license rather than ownership.
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The modern evangelical handling of tattoos is the same handling it has applied to Lev 19 generally — soft-relativize the prohibition by appealing to the dietary and fabric-mixing laws (also in Lev 19) as if all the Levitical statutes stood or fell together. This is bad exegesis. The Levitical code distinguishes ceremonial laws (food, fabric, harvest borders) that pointed forward to Christ and were fulfilled in Him, from moral laws (against tattoos, child sacrifice, divination, incest) that reflect God's unchanging character. The tattoo prohibition stands sandwiched in Leviticus 19 next to prohibitions against prostituting one's daughter, child sacrifice, divination, occult consultation, and incest. To classify it with shellfish is a category mistake.
The deeper biblical category is ownership. The body of the Christian is not his own (1 Cor 6:19-20). It has been bought with the blood of Christ. Decorative permanent marking of the body of someone bought is at minimum a presumption against the Owner. The Christian who wants to honor Christ with his body (1 Cor 6:20) does not ask am I free to mark it; he asks does the Owner want this. Lev 19:28 already gave the answer.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew qa'aqa (Lev 19:28); English from Tahitian/Samoan tatau (Cook, 1769).
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['Hebrew', 'H7085', "qa'aqa", 'tattoo, incision, mark cut into the skin (Lev 19:28; only occurrence)']
['Hebrew', 'H1320', 'basar', 'flesh, body']
['Greek', 'G4983', 'soma', 'body (1 Cor 6:19: temple of the Holy Spirit)']
Usage
"Lev 19:28 is a direct prohibition, not a ceremonial-law expiration."
"The body of the Christian is not his own to mark (1 Cor 6:19-20)."
"The category sits with child sacrifice and divination in Lev 19, not with shellfish."