Ignoring official guidance, Adrien Locatelli used the first eleven chapters of Genesis when creating unknown proteins which he then injected into his legs.
DNA consists of chemicals represented by the letters ACGT. Different combinations of these letters form the coding of all genes.
Mr Locatelli, who comes from Grenoble in eastern France, assigned one of the four letters to every character in the Hebrew Alphabet, in the order of GACT.
He translated Genesis 1:1 to 11:9 but omitted certain verses he felt were "controversial", such as the first five verses of chapter seven when God instructs Noah to build an ark.
Dear biohackers etc. Please stop. You are idiots. https://t.co/5AGqdoY8oF
— Isaac Stoner (@isaacbstoner) December 14, 2018
In a study posted online, Mr Locatelli said: "Recent studies have reported that it is possible to convert any type of information into DNA for the purpose of storage.
"Since it is possible to convert digital information into DNA, I wondered whether it would be possible to convert a religious text into DNA and to inject it in a living being.'
"It is the first time that someone injects himself [with] macromolecules developed from a text.
"It is very symbolic even if it does not have much interest."
It is understood Mr Locatelli experienced no side-effects other than temporary swelling in his left leg.
OK, 2018 can't end soon enough. Some French high school student translated a part of the Bible and Koran into protein sequence, made an rAAV vector and a cyclic peptide, injected them into either thigh, and then published the following preprint: https://t.co/fC5CMSQk0Z
— Sri Kosuri (@srikosuri) December 14, 2018
Commenting on the story, Isaac Stoner, the founder of a company researching antibiotic resistance described so-called biohackers as "idiots"
Sri Kosuri, a biochemistry professor at the University of California Los Angeles said: "2018 can't end soon enough".
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