What Does God Say About Piercings?

What does God say about piercings? He gives no commandment against them, and the Bible records ornamental piercings — Rebecca's earrings, the jewel set in her nostril — without a word of censure. So is it a sin to get piercings? Not in itself. As with tattoos, the one Levitical text that names cutting the flesh belonged to the ceremonial law of Israel and does not bind Christians as such. The Catholic answer is no verdict drawn from a single verse, but a judgment formed by modesty, motive, the freedom from vanity, and reverence for the body that is the Temple of the Holy Ghost.

And after that the man had drunk, he brought out golden earrings, weighing two sicles: and as many bracelets of ten sicles weight. — Genesis xxiv. 22 (Douay-Rheims)

What does the Bible say about piercings?

Those who claim the Bible forbids piercings almost always reach for one verse: "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh, for the dead, nor make in yourselves any figures or marks: I am the Lord" (Leviticus xix. 28). This is the same text invoked against tattoos, and it must be read the same way. It stands in the Book of Leviticus among the ceremonial prescriptions God gave to Israel — laws about cloth and seed, about the cutting of the flesh, about the marks the surrounding pagans made on themselves in mourning their dead and in worshipping false gods. The "cuttings" forbidden are the rites of grief and idolatry of those nations; the Lord sets His people apart from them. The verse does not speak of ornament at all.

This is why it cannot be lifted out and handed to a Christian as a standing law against earrings. And here Scripture corrects its own misreaders, for the very same Bible records piercings worn for adornment with full approval. Abraham's servant adorns Rebecca, the chosen bride of Isaac, with a golden earring and a jewel for her nose (Genesis xxiv. 47); and through the prophet Ezechiel the Lord Himself describes how He arrayed Jerusalem as a bride: "I put a jewel upon thy forehead, and earrings in thy ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head" (Ezechiel xvi. 12). God does not narrate as praise what He has forbidden as sin. The "body piercings Bible" objection collapses the moment Scripture is read whole rather than mined for a single line.

For the ceremonial precepts of the Old Law were given to one people for one season, until Christ should come; with His coming they were fulfilled and ceased to bind. The moral law, written on stone in the Ten Commandments, abides forever, because it is the law of human nature itself; the ceremonial law passed away. To wave Leviticus xix. 28 at a Christian as though it forbade earrings is to wrest a single line out of its place — the very error the Church warns against. This is how the Catholic Bible is read, and what divides our reading from much Protestant proof-texting: Scripture is read within the Church that gave it, not as a quarry for slogans.

Is it a sin to get piercings?

A piercing, considered simply as an opening in the flesh worn for ornament, is not a sin. No commandment of God and no precept of the Church forbids it. We say this plainly, because anxious souls are sometimes burdened with a guilt that doctrine does not impose, and the Church does not bind where God has not bound.

But this does not close the question. The body is not a blank surface on which a man may do as he pleases, for St Paul teaches what it is:

Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own? For you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body. — 1 Corinthians vi. 19–20 (Douay-Rheims)

The Catechism of the Council of Trent, teaching the Sixth Commandment, draws the conclusion exactly: the Christian is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, and our bodies are the members of Jesus Christ. The body is not ours to dishonour; it was bought with the Blood of Christ, and it is destined to rise again. So whether a particular piercing is sinful depends not on the act in the abstract but on how it is worn, why, and at what cost. We judge it by four measures: modesty, motive, freedom from vanity, and reverence for the body God has given.

How a Catholic judges: modesty, motive, vanity, reverence

Modesty. Modesty governs how a Christian presents the body to others. The ear adorned with a single ornament is one thing; a piercing chosen to draw the eye to what should be veiled, to provoke, or to flaunt the flesh, offends the virtue that guards chastity. The same disposition that orders the body to purity orders it here, and our reflections on what God says about sex before marriage belong to it: the body is reverenced, not put on display. Modesty does not forbid all ornament — Scripture itself permits the earring — but it forbids ornament that serves the wrong end.

The motive. Here is the heart of it. Why does the soul want this? If it springs from vanity, from the craving to be noticed, from rebellion, from the restless need to remake oneself that the world calls self-expression, then the act is disordered at its root — not by the metal, but by the pride that drives it. The capital sins are not in the flesh; they are in the will, and pride is the first of the seven deadly sins. A modest adornment worn without thought of self is one thing; a piercing borne to glory in oneself or to belong to a defiant fashion is another.

Vanity. Excessive care for the appearance is a known disorder, a daughter of pride that turns the soul outward, to be admired by men rather than ordered to God. To wage spiritual combat is to mortify precisely this craving. A pierced ear is not vanity; an obsession with how one is seen is — and that obsession can fasten on a piercing as easily as on a mirror.

Reverence for the body. Finally, the cost and the permanence weigh. The body is a gift held in trust, not to be needlessly disfigured. This forbids not the modest piercing — God does not forbid the prudent adornment of what He made — but the treating of the body as raw material for the self: extreme, mutilating, or repeated piercings that disfigure or endanger the flesh wrong the temple God redeemed. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, teaching the Fifth Commandment, names the duty of reasonable care for the body and life God has given. The Christian remembers that he is not his own.

Is it a sin to get piercings? The plain answer

Putting the measures together: to get a piercing is not in itself a sin, and no one should be told that it is. But it can be sinful — gravely so — if it offends modesty, if its motive is vanity or rebellion, or if it disfigures and endangers the body God redeemed. The act takes its moral colour from these things, not from the metal in the flesh.

A Catholic who fears he has sinned in this should not be tormented by scruples but should bring the matter, like every matter of conscience, to the tribunal Christ founded. "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them" (John xx. 23). Where there was sin, it is washed away in confession; where there was none, the soul is freed of a false guilt. The ornament on the body is not the measure of the soul before God; the heart is. To distinguish what is grave from what is light here is the ordinary work of a formed conscience — the matter of mortal and venial sin.

What the question is really asking

Behind "is it a sin to get piercings" lies a better question, the one the Church always turns us back to: how do I honour God with this body He has given me and bought back at so great a price? It is answered not by a single line of Leviticus, nor by the slogans of an age that treats the body as material for the self, but by living in reverence — keeping the body as a temple, ordering it by the virtues, offering it whole to God. This is what it means to love God with the whole of oneself.

So we answer neither with a verdict of "forbidden" stamped from one verse nor with the world's "do as you please," but as Catholics — by Scripture read with the Church, the question of what God says about the body weighed by modesty, motive, freedom from vanity, and the reverence owed to the Temple of the Holy Ghost.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does God say about piercings?

God gives no commandment against piercings, and Scripture records ornamental piercings worn with His approval — Rebecca adorned with a golden earring and a jewel for her nose (Genesis xxiv. 47), and Jerusalem arrayed by the Lord with "earrings in thy ears" (Ezechiel xvi. 12). The Catholic answer is not a verdict drawn from a single verse, but a judgment formed by modesty, motive, freedom from vanity, and reverence for the body as the Temple of the Holy Ghost.

Is it a sin to get piercings?

A piercing worn simply for ornament is not a sin in itself; no commandment of God and no precept of the Church forbids it. But it can become sinful — gravely so — if it offends modesty, springs from vanity or rebellion, or disfigures and endangers the body God redeemed. The act takes its moral colour from these things, not from the metal in the flesh.

What does the Bible say about piercings?

The Bible nowhere forbids piercings for adornment; it records them with approval. The one verse commonly cited — "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh, for the dead" (Leviticus xix. 28) — belongs to the ceremonial law given to Israel and condemns the pagan rites of mourning and idolatry, not ornament. Read whole rather than mined for a slogan, Scripture even shows God Himself adorning His people with earrings.

Does the body piercings Bible verse in Leviticus still bind Christians?

No. Leviticus xix. 28 stands among the ceremonial precepts of the Old Law, which were given to one people for one season until Christ came, and which ceased to bind with His coming. The moral law — written in the Ten Commandments and rooted in human nature itself — abides forever, but the ceremonial law passed away. To wave this verse at a Christian as a standing law against earrings is to wrest a single line out of its place.

Are earrings a sin in Catholic teaching?

No. Scripture itself permits the earring, and the Church binds no one against modest adornment. A modestly worn earring offends neither the Sixth Commandment nor the virtue of modesty. What is forbidden is ornament chosen to provoke, to flaunt the flesh, or to feed vanity and pride.

How does a Catholic decide if a piercing is wrong?

A Catholic judges a piercing by four measures: modesty (whether it draws the eye to what should be veiled), motive (whether it springs from vanity, rebellion, or the craving to be noticed), freedom from vanity (whether it feeds an obsession with how one is seen), and reverence for the body (whether it needlessly disfigures or endangers the temple God redeemed). The body is "not your own; for you are bought with a great price" (1 Corinthians vi. 19–20).

Is it a sin to get my ears pierced?

A simple ear piercing worn for modest adornment is not a sin, and no one should be told that it is. The Bible permits the earring, and anxious souls should not be burdened with a guilt that doctrine does not impose. It would become sinful only if borne from vanity or rebellion, or worn to immodest excess.

Can I confess a piercing if I fear it was sinful?

Yes. Any matter of conscience can be brought to the tribunal Christ founded: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them" (John xx. 23). Where there was sin, it is washed away in confession; where there was none, the soul is freed of a false guilt. A Catholic troubled here should not be tormented by scruples but seek the counsel of a confessor.

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Sources. The Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims version: Genesis xxiv. 22 and xxiv. 47; Leviticus xix. 28; Ezechiel xvi. 12; 1 Corinthians vi. 19–20; John xx. 23. Catechism of the Council of Trent (Roman Catechism, 1566), Part Three, on the Sixth Commandment (the Christian as the Temple of the Holy Ghost; the body as a member of Jesus Christ), on the Fifth Commandment (the duty of reverence and reasonable care toward the body and life God has given), and on the distinction between the moral and the ceremonial precepts of the Law.