The ancient church thought so much about food that they made gluttony one of the seven deadly sins. Today, many Christians have very little idea about what the Bible teaches about food at all. As a result, Christian attitudes toward food are mostly dictated by our appetite, the latest diets, or either guilt or ambition about the shape of our bodies. I want to attempt to give an overview of the Bible’s teachings on food and then share some implications of those teachings in subsequent posts.

1. God provides food as a gift to be received with thanksgiving

The Bible doesn’t just tell us that God created the world but that He specifically gave food to us as a gift. In the garden, He says, “I have given every green plant for food” (Genesis 1:30) and “and every tree with seed in its fruit” (Genesis 1:29). Following the flood, the human diet is no longer restricted to fruits and vegetables. God allows fish and meat to be eaten and declares: “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything” (Genesis 9:3). In the new covenant, God’s gifts are further celebrated. As Paul says to Timothy, “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4).

2. God restricts food to protect and teach us

While God generously provides food for us, He also restricts it. He not only forbids Adam and Eve from eating from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17), but He also imposes detailed food prohibitions on the Israelites. Some of these may have had practical benefits, but most agree they were designed to protect them from the religious practices of the cultures around them and set them apart as God’s special people. God also famously provided manna, quail, and water in the wilderness to teach the Israelites to depend on God for everything (Deuteronomy 8:3). When the Lord’s Prayer says to pray for your daily bread (Matthew 6:11), a similar attitude is encouraged.

3. People refrain from food to show how important God is to them

While Adam and Eve couldn’t even resist eating the one fruit God had forbidden, Moses is perhaps the first person in the Bible to go without food or water in order to focus more wholly on God (Exodus 34:28). Elsewhere in Scripture, fasting is commanded and modelled as an expression of repentance (Joel 2:12), dedication (Daniel 10:3), and need (Esther 4:16). It is strange that it is so seldom mentioned today given that both Jesus (Luke 4:2) and the church (Acts 13:3; 14:23) continued the practice.

4. Eating food is an important part of fellowship and mission

While fasting is an important part of biblical spirituality, so is feasting. Jesus took a big hit to His reputation by eating with people who were normally shunned (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34; 15:2), but it was an essential way that He ministered to them. Similarly, Paul told Christians to “eat whatever is set before you” whenever they were invited to eat with people of other faiths (1 Corinthians 10:37). Sharing a meal is an important way to share your life with someone. It’s also how we care for those who have less (Matthew 25:35).

5. Overeating turns food into a god

When a person believes in Jesus, God comes into their life, and so Paul can say, “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19). As a result, how we treat our bodies matters to God (1 Corinthians 6:20): “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). The opposite of glorifying God in your eating and drinking is letting food control you (1 Corinthians 6:12). Paul spoke of people whose “god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things” (Philippians 3:19).

6. We celebrate a meal now in anticipation of the feast to come

Through the Lord’s Supper, God has infused joy and hope into our relationship with food. Christians are called to regularly take bread and a cup, remembering Jesus’ death for our sins (1 Corinthians 11:24), enjoying His presence in our lives (1 Corinthians 10:16), and looking forward to our reunion with Him in the life to come (1 Corinthians 11:26). That reunion is elsewhere called “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9), a wedding feast where our fellowship with one another and with Him will find its culmination. Jesus so longs for this moment that He’s sworn off wine until the day comes (Matthew 26:29). When you think of the life to come, does it include food? Our dysfunctional relationship with food will be healed, and there will be a feast for all of God’s people with God Himself presiding over it.

Is there a part of the Bible’s teachings about food that you’ve lost sight of? Whether it’s thanksgiving, restraint, mission, or anticipation, let’s recapture all that God has revealed about glorifying Him in how we eat and drink.

In awe of Him,

Paul