What does the Bible say about facial hair?
UPDATE (6/5/2008): Because of some of the feedback on this article, I fear that I may have been misunderstood. I would like to clarify that, to my knowledge, no UPC or UPC-affiliated church teaches that facial hair itself is a sin. However, every UPC or UPC-affiliated church that I have attended has taught against facial hair for one of two reasons. The first reason is that many of them have said that facial hair is a sign of rebellion (because of those who used to grow beards out of rebellion in the 1960s). The second reason that facial hair has been taught against is because it offends so many people who are against facial hair.
I think it is only fair to add that I have attended some churches who allowed members to have mustaches.
I hope this clarifies what I am saying in this article.
_____________________________________________
Many churches in the UPC teach against having facial hair. I do not know if that position is officially endorsed by the UPC, but I do know that every UPC church I have been in taught against facial hair for one reason or another. The question is, "What does the Bible say about having facial hair?"
The only rule concerning facial hair in the Bible is found in Lev. 19:27, which says, ‘You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard" (NASB). It is possible that God gave this law in response to the customs of Israel’s pagan neighbors1, but, regardless of the reasons for the law, it no longer applies to us today.
Aside from Lev. 19:27, nothing is said in the Bible for or against beards. It is a non-issue Biblically.
So why do so many UPC churches teach against facial hair? The reason that I have always heard is that facial hair is a sign of rebellion. This dates back to the 1960s, when it was presumably fashionable for young men to grow beards as a sign of protest of the Vietnam War. My response to this argument is that, while it may have been a sign of rebellion 50 years ago for a man to grow a beard, it is no longer a sign of rebellion today. Since the Bible does not say anything for or against beards, there is no reason why men should not be allowed to grow them today.
References:
- Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., Harrison, R. K., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible dictionary. Rev. ed. of: Nelson’s illustrated Bible dictionary.; Includes index. Nashville: T. Nelson. [↩]
May 19th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Josh,
As a 36 yr. old apostolic attending a UPCI church, neither myself nor my pastor has any apprehension to facial hair.
Even David K. Bernard in his writings states that at best beards are mentioned neutrally.
I have studied the subject and find no supporting scripture against facial hair.
I have found that there are some brethren who find facial hair offensive for whatever reason and this can be addressed with scripture.
Romans 14:15 deals with the subject of coping with things that offend someone else, “But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.”
I choose to shave my face for two main reasons.
1. My wife hates to kiss a hairy face and 2. out of respect for those who might find it offensive.
Romans 12:18 states, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” Perhaps living peaceably means giving up doing things that would offend others.
June 1st, 2008 at 10:42 am
Hi, Leonard. I don’t normally respond to comments on this Web site for two reasons: First, I want to avoid starting a thread of debates; Second, my desire is that people would formulate their opinions. Because I desire people to formulate their own opinions I am delighted when people write comments on things that I have written, even when they are disagreeing with me :). I would like to think that I am humble enough to admit when I am wrong, so I welcome responses.
With that said, I noticed today that you wrote three very good comments on three different articles. I am going to break with my own tradition and respond to them–not because I disagree with all or part of what you wrote, but because you took the courtesy to write three comments that were very well-thought, and I think that deserves the courtesy of a response!
As far as the facial hair goes, I agree with everything that you said. However, I attended Oneness, holiness apostolic churches for the first 26 years of my life, and the experience that I had was that most pastors were decidedly against facial hair. I had one pastor who was not personally against facial hair, but he did not allow it because he was a “big name” preacher and he did not want to overly offend people in other churches.
I respect your view that we should try to live at peace with other men. I think that this view is biblical and correct. However, that view requires compromise from both sides of any debate. If I tried to live my whole life without offending any other Christian then I would have a list of rules (rules which quite frequently would contradict each other) that no human could ever live by.
I believe that, when it comes to not offending other Christians, Christians should decide each issue for themselves. If you feel that you would offend brothers in Christ by having facial hair, and you decide to stay clean-shaven because of that, then I encourage you to follow the guiding of the Holy Spirit.
Now that I’ve said all of that, I would like to say that my article is written to those who believe facial hair is a sin. I don’t know about you, but I have encountered many UPC pastors who believe that facial hair is a sin because it is a sign of rebellion. If you’ve never encountered anyone who believes that, then please trust me that I have…more than once :)
God bless,
Josh
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Personally I think that for UPC to say that facial hair is rebellion is pure ignorance. Our Messiah Yahshua himself had a beard. The Bible declared that when he was being martyrd that they plucked the hairs from his beard. Also the Apostles all wore beards as well because they followed the tradition of Torah and the Jewish customs, So for the UPC to say that facial hair is a sin is ridiculous. God said that he made man in his image and his Glory. I believe that there was a reason that he made men to be able to grow facial hairs, just as he created women with wombs to bring forth life. Today people are so doctrinized and everyone is coming up with their own ideals of what is right and wrong instead of following what the word of God says about it. I think that we ought to seek God and pray about anything that we are not sure about and look to he Holy Spirit for guidance instead of just taking the word of this Pastor and that Pastor or this organization. God’s word is not difficult at all to understand if you are seeking the Holy Spirit to teach you, but the problem today is that everyone is seeking the Holy Spirit with their mouths and not with their hearts. Pastors are getting comfortable with teaching things that are popular and that is not going to offend, but the word of God declares that his word is sharper than any two-edged sword and that it cuts, so what does that mean. It means that if we are not lined up with his word then it is going to hurt. It is going to cut. People of God, Time is winding down and men are falling by the wayside because of doctines. The Bible declares that our doctrine is built upon the Prophets and the Apostles with Yahshua Hamaschiach being the Chief cornerstone. Make sure that your foundation is built upon him and his word and not all these different doctrines.
May Yahveh bless you with spiritual wisdom, knowledge and of all understanding!!!
July 5th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I am not from or familiar with the UPC, but have also seen “Christian leaders” in a panic about the “beard issue”. I have noticed that the only people offended by a beard are “pastors” and “pillars of the assembly”. I thought that these guys are supposed to be the stronger Christians; yet the Bible says not to offend weaker Christians!?! I still haven’t figured that out yet… Why are the only ones that get offended, the “weaker Christians”, the ones who are in charge???
By the way; I wear a goatee, and my wife prefers it that way.
February 14th, 2010 at 9:09 am
The growing of a beard may be to some a sign of rebellion, but rebellion against what ? Some rebel against the sin that is in the world, which includes false values and materialism, etc. You also need to define rebellion, and I feel that Christians are rebels in a way. Rebels against evil and the inverted values that are in the world. Firstly of course, they are in Christ, which leads them this way.
March 7th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
A beard is a sign of a man. ALL Prophets and Messengers wore a beard and so the idea that it is offensive is clearly wrong.
I believe the beard is an important aspect of being a man as it prevents one from appearing to be like a woman which can corrupt men.
Shaving the beard off goes against nature and the clear practice of the Prophets. As people who wish to follow Jesus in every way we should not only try to behave like him but we should also wish to emulate him in our appearance as it is a sign of of love and devotion to truth.
Would Jesus be found upon in modern churches because he wears a beard?
He didn’t wear it because of fashion he word it, like all the Prophets because it is natural and part of God’s standard for men.
I believe that Satan wishes to misguide people and take people away from the true practice of religion and so he has invited men to shave their beards to appear to be like women. In doing Satan had changed the order of creation and these days we can see men resembling women in appearance and action.
If we believe Prophets are the best of examples for us we should flow them in every way! Jesus wore a beard, I wear a beard!
Simple