Jesus Christ said “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly I tell you, until Heaven and Earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5: 17-19 NIV)

In spite of His words, theologians in general have been “explaining” that Mosaic law no longer applies to the followers of Jesus today! However, I prefer to read what the Bible actually says – the words that are actually there – and not what I would like it to say.
The Bible also teaches us:

But:

“See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it” (Deuteronomy 12: 32 NIV)
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29: 29 NIV)

Even so, it’s very common for theologians to say that Mosaic law no longer applies because everything was “fulfilled” when Jesus was crucified. They ignore that He said, in the above passage, that ALL of the Law will remain in place until Heaven and Earth disappear. It is true that He fulfilled the prophets when He came to Earth and was put to death. And He did fulfil the Law by being put to death, as required by the Law, on behalf of all those whom He saved by being executed in their stead. But many of those whom He saved were born after the crucifixion, and many haven’t even been born yet! So, if the Law was revoked when He hung on the cross, then none of those born after the event would need to be saved because “…. where there is no law there is no transgression.” (Romans 4: 15 NIV). And no person today would be indebted to Jesus Christ. Nobody would be a Christian.

It is, therefore, a serious fallacy to say “Jesus fulfilled the Law therefore it no longer applies to us.” The truth is that “He fulifilled it on our behalf BECAUSE it still applies to us!”

So, if I don’t understand anything, then I shall read and reread and endeavour to understand what God is teaching us, rather than rationalize according to whatever theories are in fashion. We’ve been warned “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:

Religion comes from God and is handed down to men. But people are now being captivated by such things as tattoos, for example, which, not so long ago in Western society, were used only by criminals, whores and certain other members of society. Tattooing has moved from the bottom upwards, rather than from God downwards, and we now have tattooists selling “Christian tattoos” when no such things exist. The Law states “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19: 28 NIV) And the Law is still in force.

And regarding self-adornment in general, St. Peter wrote, concerning Christian women, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” (1 Peter 3: 3,4 NIV) And tattoos fall into the category of “outward adornment”, which Peter says to avoid.

Theologians usually give the following examples as reasons for ignoring most of Mosaic law:
1) We no longer stone sinners to death, as required by Mosaic Law. Theologians quote the following passage: “When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’” (John 8: 7 NIV). But it so happens that the same Old Testament which requires that sinners be stoned to death also requires that the whole law be kept by everyone. However, “All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14: 3) It being that “But to the wicked person, God says: ‘What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips?’” (Psalm 50: 16 NIV)
So, when God decreed that sinners should be stoned to death, He also made us unfit to carry out such a sentence under the Law, because we have all sinned!

2) Theologians usually allege that we no longer offer sacrifices to God, as required by Mosaic Law. But we do! Every time we take communion we partake in the sacrifice of the Lamb. We don’t make any further sacrifice nowadays because that would imply that the Lamb was insufficient. However, in taking part in holy communion, we are indeed keeping the Law.

3) They also allege that we no longer need to keep the law which forbids God’s people to eat meat with the blood still in it: “And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal.” (Leviticus 7: 26)
But, whenever we take communion, we eat of the Lamb out of which the blood was drained as He hung upon the cross. See this: “… one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.” (John 19: 34 NIV) Therefore, whether we agree with it or not, at the very least, we have to keep that law at communion. God made sure of that!

4) Theologians also like to quote the following, as examples of what no longer need apply in modern Christian society: “Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material” (Leviticus 19: 19 NIV) as well as “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19: 28 NIV) “A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this.” (Deuteronomy 22: 5 NIV)
Some critics seem to think that such laws no longer apply to us, not for any sound theological reason, but because they “don’t make sense”!
However, rules such as these are, and always will be, important. They reflect God’s very creation and they reflect the life-giving force He gave us. In the beginning, when He made Heaven and Earth, He separated day from night; He separated land from sea; He made the animals and He made man and He made woman.
And the things that God made separate should be kept separate. Here are some examples as to why:

a) We cannot see “light”. We can only see the contrast between light and darkness. So we need BOTH, light and darkness, separately and in close proximity, for us not to be blind.

b) Likewise, we don’t hear sound when there’s only sound. For example, we can only hear the notes in a piece of music when they’re divided by intervals of silence. So we need BOTH, sound and silence, not to be deaf.

c) And a child needs a mother AND a father, not only to get generated but also as rôle models while it’s growing up. And I was taught that the more feminine the mother and the more masculine the father, the better for the child’s intuitive learning process….. (When feminists try to do away with gender rôles it’s like trying to do away with opposite poles in an electric current. Those creatures are trying to do away with the very ESSENCE of life!)

So God made a place for everything and put everything in its place. And in observing His laws we aren’t only learning His rules theoretically, as if we were simply sitting in front of a blackboard, but we’re following certain practices in our daily lives which are constant reminders for us to keep everything in its place – to observe the order which God put into His creation. God ordered His people to observe certain laws and festivals for this very purpose, so that they and their descendants would learn and never forget the things He showed them.

Examples:
(i) “Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.” (Exodus 13: 7-9 NIV)
(ii) “Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’” (Leviticus 23: 42,43 NIV)
Of course, in the same way that God gave us certain laws for men and certain others for women, He also gave certain laws for native-born Israelites, such as the laws for the Festival of Shelters. But the laws in general apply to all of God’s people:

“You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 24: 22)

“The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you.” (Exodus 12: 49)

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3: 28, 29)

So, in the same way that Jews and native-born Israelites live out the Exodus, and in the same way that they live out the time in which their ancestors wandered in the wilderness, we all must live out His creation on observing God’s instructions not to crossbreed animals; not to mix different kinds of seeds in a field; not to mix different materials in one’s clothes; not to mix ink and skin. We’re mimicking the very Creation in which God separated light and darkness; dry land and water; man and woman…. And Jesus told as that all the laws, including these which so many people hold in contempt, will remain valid until the end of the Creation. Therefore, if we don’t observe these laws – and so fail to be taught to keep separate things in their separate places – we get homosexuality; genderlessness; sexual confusion; immorality; abortion – along with many other problems…..

God made His creation by separating Heaven and Earth; darkness and light; land and water; male and female….. So when we bring things together which He made separate, and join a man with a man and a woman with a woman, for example, we are acting out the end of His creation. And when we bring ink and skin together we are also acting out the end of His creation, albeit less visibly…..

There’s also another aspect regarding keeping everything in its proper place: The notion which honest people have with regard to “clean” versus “dirty” has a lot to do with location. For example, money which someone earned is “clean money”; money gained by dishonest means is “dirty money”. Soil in the garden can be described as “clean soil”; a tiny speck of clean soil on a clean dress turns the latter into a “dirty dress”. A newly married couple go away on their “honeymoon” but an unmarried couple go away for a “dirty week-end”, in which the man and the woman are both in a bed in which they’re not supposed to be…….

5) Certain critics of the Bible like to point at the fact that God forbids killing, and yet ordered the Israelites to kill their enemies, and He blessed David in his battles against the Philistines. So what happened to David?
“King David rose to his feet and said: ‘Listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’” (1 Chronicles 28: 2,3)
So now let’s think of James Bond. He had a “licence to kill” but killing was still against the law. And David also had “a licence to kill” but then he wasn’t good enough to build a temple for God.

In fact, God Himself can override any of the laws He gave: “Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, ‘Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.’ But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.’ Then Isaiah said, ‘Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also?’” (Isaiah 7: 10-13)

But, when Satan was tempting Jesus, “Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Matthew 4: 7) So, although God had told Ahaz to put Him to the test, that law was still in effect in the time of Jesus.

Likewise, when God told Moses to eat forbidden foods (per Acts 10: 9-16), that did not revoke any laws governing eating.
When God ordered Peter to eat forbidden foods He made them clean for Peter to eat. He did it because He was sending Peter amongst non-kosher foreigners, to join them to the people of God, and eating together was, and is, an important act by which people accept each other in brotherhood. But tattooed “Christians” are now alleging that their “Christian” tattoos attract other people to Christianity. But they are actually saying that they’re breaking a law to attract other members into breaking the same law to attract them to a religion (Christianity) in which we shouldn’t break that law….. It’s as if Peter had been sent to a kosher nation, encouraging its citizens to eat non-kosher foods, to attract them to a kosher religion by eating said non-kosher food!
Furthermore, it’s the Holy Spirit which takes hold of a person and joins him or her to God. And the Holy Spirit doesn’t need tattoos. And God doesn’t want tattoos. He actually said so!
Regarding eating, many are misled by the following passage: “‘Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.’” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods ‘clean.’)” (Mark 7: 18-19 NIV) However, when something is put in brackets, it’s a sign that the sentence is not in the original Greek Manuscripts, and so was added later.

6) Jesus said “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27) and He said “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” (Matthew 15: 17-20)
But He also said “….. until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law” (Matthew 5: 18 NIV) So it was, and still is, against the Law. Likewise, when God ordered the people of Israel to kill the Canaanites, it was an exception in a given period of History: it didn’t legalize killing in general……

So, when Jesus spoke about the Sabbath, and about eating with unwashed hands, He wasn’t revoking any laws. He was making an exception for His disciples (who had been picking grain on a sabbath because they were hungry), and He was also saying that eating with unwashed hands did not defile His disciples because whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body.

(With regard to tattoos, however, from the point of view of physical cleanliness, they’re different to impurities entering the mouth via unwashed hands because, as the ink is injected into the skin, it’s too much to be removed by the body’s normal defence mechanisms. So the pigment becomes encapsulated in a band of collagen, which is why the “bodyart” stays in place forever! Encapsulation keeps the ink isolated from the rest of the body, protecting the latter from further contamination by the ink, which is categorically a foreign body. “Foreign body”, here, is a synonym for “dirt”. So, even if a tattooed person bathes daily, he or she will be a clean person but with pockets of dirt where the tattoos are.

People might argue that ink “per se” isn’t dirty. The body’s defence mechanism, however, tells us it is. And it has to be a contaminant to be used in tattooing, otherwise it won’t get encapsulated and the “artwork” will simply dissolve.)

7) Tattoo fans, for example, like to state that the Mosaic law against tattoos was intended solely as a means of keeping the people of Israel separate from tattooed pagans living at the time of Moses. It’s true that God ordered His people not to mix with other nations which worshipped other Gods, and that He ordered His people not to adopt other people’s religious practices or to worship their Gods, but He also gave many other laws for other purposes: laws against killing; against stealing; against lying and laws for educational purposes. There is nothing in the Old Testament which states that the law against tattoos was made solely to separate God’s people from pagans. The law simply states that we must not get tattooed. Period. And Jesus Christ did say that not one letter of the Law will change until Heaven and Earth pass away.

But let’s pretend, just for a moment, that the law against tattoos was made solely to separate God’s people from pagans:

It is true that the pagans of Moses’ time were bad rôle models for God’s people. But the typically tattooed gangsters and whores of today are also bad rôle models for God’s people. And the first middle-class people to get tattooed in our present society were youngsters who wished to defy their parents and society in general, which was a Christian society. So there really is no excuse for ostensively sincere Christians to follow the example provided by today’s bad rôle models, either, even if one were to accept the self-serving interpretation that the law against tattoos existed solely to separate God’s people from others……

An important reason why so many people have the mistaken impression that the Law no longer applies can be found in certain letters of Paul. But it’s important to read Paul IN THE LIGHT OF Jesus and NOT INSTEAD OF Jesus.

Paul wrote passages such as the following:

“Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7: 1-6)

BUT:

Then Paul wrote: “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (Romans 7: 14-24)

You see, in the first passage he wrote “For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us,” meaning that sinful passions were no longer at work, and then in the second passage he said that – yes – they were at work in him!

He actually divided himself in two: the spirit that didn’t want to sin and the body that sinned anyway and so broke…… the Law!!! (Otherwise he wouldn’t have considered it a sin.)

Paul was furious at the “circumcision set” of people who preached that if you didn’t get physically circumcised you couldn’t be saved. He was furious because they were making salvation conditional on keeping the Law instead of preaching the “grace of God”. They were presenting God as a merchant of salvation. But he had no intention of preaching “No Law”. He did preach “No Law Simply To Buy Salvation”.

The following passage clarifies that he had no intention of preaching “No Law”:
“When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: ‘You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.’ The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.” (Acts 21: 20-26)
So there should definitely be no doubt that the Law still applies to those Jews who followed (and still follow) Jesus.

Re the Gentiles, the disciples had decided to treat them on a “don’t ask, don’t tell” basis. But they did not have the authority to revoke a single letter of the Law which God gave through Moses and which Jesus said is to last until Heaven and Earth pass away. And they wouldn’t have regarded the Law as a burden if it were no longer in force…..
Peter said “Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15: 10,11 NIV) And the apostles wouldn’t have regarded the Law as a yoke if it were no longer in force…..

So “Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.” (Acts 15: 20, 21 NIV)
You see? The sole preocupation of the apostles was salvation through grace. They found the Law too burdensome and apparently had no thought regarding a convert being called “least in the kingdom of heaven” or “great in the kingdom of heaven” for keeping the Law in general, per Matthew 5: 19.
BUT:
Once a person becomes aware of the Law as a whole he or she comes under the following rule: “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.” (John 15: 22)
And right now we have the whole Law in our Bibles.
Actually, it was Jesus who upheld the whole Law on behalf on those He saved, by being punished for all their sins, as the Law requires.
The truth is, the Law has no hold over those for whom Jesus died, because nobody may be punished a second time. Paul’s whole reasoning was based on that. All those whom Jesus saved have already been judged, condemned and punished for every single transgression, including wearing mixed fibres, committing adultery, robbing banks, having bad haircuts and getting tattooed. They have all been judged and then put to death in the person of Jesus Christ as He hung on the cross. So, on the day of Judgement, they won’t go on trial again, even if they’re all tattooed to the eyeballs. It’s the DOUBLE JEOPARDY RULE.
However, if, as a freed man or woman, someone fails to even try to keep the Law simply because it won’t buy salvation, then that person is being just as venal as someone who tries to buy salvation simply by keeping the Law.

9) It’s very common for modern would-be Christians to behave as if anything goes, as long as they’re acting out of what they perceive to be “love”:
But God taught us “You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit,” (Deuteronomy 12: 8 NIV)

He gave us two examples of well-intentioned people doing as they saw fit:

a) “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.” (Leviticus 10: 1,2 NIV).

b) “When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.” (2 Samuel 6: 6,7 NIV) Uzzah had good intentions and wanted to save the ark from falling but only a specially ordained priest was allowed to touch the ark, which Uzzah wasn’t.

God has made it clear to us that it’s not enough to want to please Him. We have to take the trouble to find out His will in order to please Him.
And John wrote: “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.” (1 John 5: 2 NIV)

10) “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matthew 12: 30-32 NIV)
Many think that, since God saves by grace alone, and that every sin will be forgiven (except the sin against the Holy Spirit) the Law no longer applies, as if grace and the Law were mutually exclusive…. They are not! One is saved by grace alone but that’s no excuse for not trying to keep the Law, too, out of love for God. For “this is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,” (1 John 5: 3 NIV)
So we should, in fact, try to keep the Law out of love and not to purchase salvation. The following passage refers to keeping the law out of love for God and not out of fear of punishment:
“’The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. ‘This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’” (Jeremiah 31: 31-34 NIV)
The Old Covenant demanded obedience and, in return, the people of Israel would be allowed to live and prosper in the Promised Land. In the New Covenant, God promised to write the Law on people’s hearts. But he did not change one single comma …
But, even so, many people believe that, since they now have the Law “in their hearts” they no longer need to obey the laws which God gave us through Moses. However, when God promised to put the Law in our minds and hearts, there was only one set of laws in existence and so it was to that set of laws that He was referring: the laws of Moses. And, with those laws in our hearts, we are now expected to obey them out of love for God and not out of fear of punishment, or to purchase salvation.
If we acknowledge that Jesus Christ spoke the Truth when he said that not one letter of the Law will be revoked, then we can fully confess ALL our transgressions. And only then can we ask for forgiveness for ALL of them. And only then can we acknowledge EVERYTHING that He died for and thank Him for everything………
However, if a person claims that certain laws no longer apply, say, to eating shrimps, or to getting a tattoo, then he or she will eat shrimps or get a tattoo and say “I broke no law!” But John wrote:
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” (1 John: 1: 8-10 NIV) And Luke wrote that “He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.’” (Luke 16: 15 NIV)

If a person rejects any part of the Law, alleging that it no longer applies, or that it doesn’t apply to him or herself, then that person is denying the need for salvation as far as that part of the Law is concerned. Which amounts to refusing to be saved altogether, since one can be condemned for any single transgression under the Law. What really matters isn’t that you got a bad haircut, or ate shrimps, or got a tattoo. What matters is whether you say “forgive me my trespass” or not.
We should try to keep the Law as freed men and women – as much of it as we can. Obviously, nobody manages to keep all of the Law (the Bible acknowledges this.) But, equally obviously, a person who gets tattooed isn’t even trying!
Furthermore, even if someone is convinced that he (or she) has been saved, it’s still not advisable to wantonly break any law such as the one forbidding tattoos, if we can possibly avoid it, simply because Jesus died to redeem His followers. Because that would amount to frivolous treatment of His sacrifice. The following passage is illustrative of this:

“David longed for water and said, ‘Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!’ So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD. ‘Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this!’ he said. ‘Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?’ And David would not drink it.” (2 Samuel 23: 15-17)