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Ambassador Baptist Church
1926 Babcock Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15209
(412)477-3210
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clear.gif - 808 Bytes Question:

clear.gif - 808 Bytes Should a Christian have a cross tattooed on his body? What about in Revelation where it states that on Christ's thigh was written "King of kings and Lord of lords"?
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Response:

I find two Scriptures that seem to deal with the subject of tattoos and piercings. These are Leviticus 19:28, which states "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh, nor print any marks upon you; I am the Lord"; and Lev 21:5, which states "They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in the flesh."

Below is an excerpt from Adam Clarke's Commentary on Lev 19:28. I believe he has the right idea on this passage: that the heathen around Israel practiced ritual scarring, and "tattooing", and thus Israel, as God's chosen people. were not to involve themselves in this.

*"Verse 28. Any cuttings in your flesh for the dead] That the ancients were very violent in their grief, tearing the hair and face, beating the breast, &c., is well known. Virgil represents the sister of Dido "tearing her face with her nails, and beating her breast with her fists."
Nor print any marks upon you] It was a very ancient and a very general custom to carry marks on the body in honor of the object of their worship. All the castes of the Hindus bear on their foreheads or elsewhere what are called the sectarian marks, which distinguish them, not only in a civil but also in a religious point of view, from each other.

Most of the barbarous nations lately discovered have their faces, arms, breasts, &c., curiously carved or tattooed, probably for superstitious purposes. Ancient writers abound with accounts of marks made on the face, arms, &c., in honor of different idols; and to this the inspired penman alludes, Re 13:16,17; 14:9,11; 15:2; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4, where false worshippers are represented as receiving in their hands and in their forehead the marks of the beast. These were called stigmata among the Greeks... I have seen several cases where persons have got the figure of the cross, the Virgin Mary, &c., made on their arms, breasts, &c., the skin being first punctured, and then a blue coloring matter rubbed in, which is never afterward effaced. All these were done for superstitious purposes, and to such things probably the prohibition in this verse refers."*

The teaching of the Bible is that the body is to be cared for. This is clearly seen in I Cor 6:19-20. I Cor 3:16 echoes this thought. In I Thes 5:23, Paul's prayer is that "your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ". Even the fact that our bodies will ultimately be resurrected indicates that God is concerned about the care of the body. Therefore, we should be cautious as to how we treat our bodies, whether we are talking about smoking, drugs, overeating, or disfiguring.

Some might argue that tattooing a cross is a sign of faith. It may be to some, but we all know folks who have cross tattoos, or wear cross jewelry, who are not at all interested in the Christ of the Bible. I believe our witnessing is to be done verbally, with our lifestyle backing up the message. Christ's Great Commission did not tell us to go and show symbols of Christianity to every creature. We are not to be subtle in our witness. We are to boldly proclaim the truth of who Christ is, and what He has done for us, and for mankind.

Perhaps some of this also goes to the desire of some Christians to be accepted by the world. This is most prominently seen in "Christian" rock music, but I'm sure it appears in other forms. "The world is into tattoos, and if we are going to win them, we need to get tattoos as well" is the general thinking here. Again, Paul wrote that believers were not to be "conformed to this world", which means to be pressed into the world's mold, but rather to be "transformed", which means to let what we are on the inside (children of God) be seen on the outside (Romans 12:2). The Christian is not looking to the world to set his standards, or determine what is appropriate. He does not "love... the world, neither the things that are in the world" (I John 2:15). He realizes that the temple of God has no agreement with idols (II Cor 6:16), and therefore he does his best to stay away from those things which the world does in opposition to God.

So far as the reference to Christ having "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" written on His thigh in Rev 19:16 is concerned, the possibilities there are three-fold. One is that it is literally written on His skin. Another is that it is written on the part of His clothing that covers the thigh ("on His vesture and on his thigh"), with the vesture being an outer garment and this writing being on an inner garment. The third option is that appears written on a sword that He might carry on His thigh (Psalm 45:3). In light of the Old Testament prohibition against marking the flesh, and the Old Testament requirement that priests wear breeches from the loins to the thigh to cover their nakedness (Ex 28:43), it seems unlikely to me that these words appear on the skin of Jesus.

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By
Dr Mark Montgomery
Ambassador Baptist Church
1926 Babcock Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15209
(412)477-3210




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