Question:
What does the New Testament say about men piercing their ears?
Answer:
In the Old Testament, when a man had a hole pierced through his ear, it was because he was making himself a life-long slave to a master. Exodus 21:5,6 says, “And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.”
The New Testament, in I Corinthians 7:21-23 says, “Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant. YE ARE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE; BE NOT YE THE SERVANTS OF MEN.”
That verse answers that Old Testament situation. No man should ever get his ear pierced today, because we are not to bind ourselves as life-slaves to any man. As Christians, Jesus has bought us with His precious blood — we are His forever!
Men who get their ears pierced today are just showing that they are slaves to this old world and its fads. I John 2:15 says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
It is the same for women today. Women are not to make themselves life-slaves to anyone. And when it comes to wearing jewelry, it is always to be done in moderation. I Peter 3:1-4 says, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”
When a woman is willing to cut her flesh for the sole purpose of hanging jewelry in it, is that not an indication that jewelry has come to mean too much to her? Her body, if she is a Christian, is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And if she cuts her body in one place to hang jewelry, what is wrong with cutting some place else to hang more jewelry? More holes in the ear? A hole in the nose? A hole in the eyebrow? A hole below the lip? A hole in the tongue? A hole in the belly button? Remember what James 2:10 tells us? “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend IN ONE POINT, he IS GUILTY OF ALL.” No woman ever got the idea to pierce her body to wear jewelry from the Bible. Christian women got that idea from watching the women of the world. I John 2:15 applies again, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”