Purpose

Regarding the question asked last week concerning body decoration …First let me get a couple trivialities out of the way:  I questioned the use of the word tattoo, which is relatively new (1780), and is not even used in every Holy Bible version for Lev 19:28.  But even though the word is fairly new, that doesn’t mean that the practice is.  Also, some may try to dismiss this command as intended only for the Israelites.  But in order to gain an understanding of God’s word, we must consider context and purpose.  In my NIV intro of the book it says, Leviticus is a manual of regulations enabling the holy King (God) to set up his earthly throne among the people of his kingdom.  It explains how they are to be his holy people and to worship him in a holy manner.  Holiness in this sense means to be separated from sin and set apart exclusively for his purpose and for his glory.  In Leviticus spiritual holiness is symbolized by spiritual perfection.  So, when Jesus said, “do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them”, it meant that that he would demonstrate the full value and meaning of worshipping God, not only through mere adherence to the letter of his word, but on a deeper, more basic level as well (Mt 5:17; 22:37-40).  Jesus saw the big picture, but was still concerned with the details.

The Lord tells his people in Leviticus 19:28, ‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves.  I am the Lord.’  The NIV note on that verse says that there was to be no disfiguring of the body after the manner of the pagans.  The operative phrase here is, ‘after the manner of the pagans’.  By conforming to the practices of the pagans, and more importantly for the same reason as the pagans, God’s people would’ve shown that they’ve aligned themselves with their gods.  The NIV note on Lev 21:5 reads, such lacerations and disfigurement were common among pagans as signs of mourning and to secure the attention of their deity.  (Along with this is also the command not to cut the hair along the hairline or beard because this was also a pagan religious custom of the Canaanites. Lev 21:5; Deut 14:1)

If cutting or any permanent alteration of the body were sinful, in and of itself, then surely God wouldn’t have established the covenant of circumcision with Abraham (Gen 17:10).  God is purposeful, and he doesn’t arbitrarily establish rules for the sake of burdening us.  They’re for our own good -and more importantly- for his glory.  Just as the cutting of the hair at the hairline and cutting and tattooing were symbolic of calling upon pagan gods; circumcision was a sign of covenant between God and Abraham (and his people) (Gen 17:11). 

Consider though that we’re warned to be careful not to limit our understanding of God by religious practices only, and that by trying to justify ourselves by the law, we alienate ourselves from Christ (Gal 5:4).  Paul points out the futility of this by sarcastically suggesting that prideful agitators who did this should become even more ‘holy’ by castrating themselves! Who says the Bible is boring? (Gal 5:1-15, and also Ro 2:17-29; Php 3:1-11; Ro 6:15)  I believe that in order to gain a full understand of God and develop a relationship with him, a person must first have an understanding of God through his word, to which external acknowledgment and obedience are a byproduct.  Simple adherence to the word, based on knowledge without understanding, makes a hypocrite out of the one who does so.  We come to know God through his word, as well as by his grace (by which we have the ability to be reconciled with God, and grafted onto his family tree, through Jesus Christ).  If we exclusively acknowledge either (the letter of the Word or God’s grace), we fail to fully recognize who God is.  In all that we do, we must ask, ‘For who, and what purpose?’