The Bible offers profound insights into diet, not merely as a means of physical sustenance but as a reflection of our spiritual condition and relationship with God. It addresses what is healthy for us to eat and the spiritual problems we have in this life. From the creation narrative to the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, Scripture provides a comprehensive perspective on food, eating habits, and their impact on our lives.
Food as a Gift from God
The Bible presents food as a gift from God, to be received with thanksgiving. In Genesis 1:29-30, God says, "I have given every green plant for food" and "every tree with seed in its fruit." After the flood, God expanded the human diet to include fish and meat, declaring, "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). This generosity is further celebrated in the New Covenant, where Paul tells Timothy, "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving" (1 Timothy 4:4).
Restrictions and Purpose
While God provides food generously, He also imposes restrictions. In Genesis 2:17, Adam and Eve are forbidden from eating from "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." God also gave the Israelites detailed food prohibitions, designed to protect them from the religious practices of surrounding cultures and set them apart as God’s special people. The provision of manna, quail, and water in the wilderness taught the Israelites to depend on God for everything (Deuteronomy 8:3). Similarly, praying for daily bread in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:11) encourages a similar attitude of reliance on God.
Fasting: Prioritizing God
Fasting, refraining from food, is presented as a way to show how important God is to us. Moses went without food or water to focus on God (Exodus 34:28). Fasting is also modeled and commanded as an expression of repentance (Joel 2:12), dedication (Daniel 10:3), and need (Esther 4:16). Jesus (Luke 4:2) and the early church (Acts 13:3; 14:23) continued this practice.
Fellowship and Mission Through Food
Eating food is an important part of fellowship and mission. Jesus ate with those who were shunned (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34; 15:2), ministering to them. Paul told Christians to "eat whatever is set before you" when invited to eat with people of other faiths (1 Corinthians 10:37). Sharing a meal is sharing life, and it’s how we care for those who have less (Matthew 25:35).
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Gluttony: Turning Food into a God
Overeating, or gluttony, is portrayed as turning food into a god. Paul says, "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19), and how we treat our bodies matters to God (1 Corinthians 6:20). We are to do all to the glory of God, whether we eat or drink (1 Corinthians 10:31). Letting food control you is the opposite of glorifying God (1 Corinthians 6:12). Some people's "god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things" (Philippians 3:19).
The Feast to Come
The Lord’s Supper infuses joy and hope into our relationship with food. Christians regularly take bread and a cup, remembering Jesus’ death for our sins (1 Corinthians 11:24), enjoying His presence (1 Corinthians 10:16), and looking forward to our reunion with Him (1 Corinthians 11:26). This reunion is called "the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:9), a wedding feast culminating in fellowship with one another and with Him. 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.
Practical Dietary Wisdom
The Bible provides practical dietary wisdom. Daniel and his companions proved the wisdom of eating properly when they refused to eat the King’s meat and instead asked for "pulse" (vegetables and grains) and water to drink for ten days. At the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat (Daniel 1).
Addressing Overeating
Overeating is often a gradual process, a "little fox" that adds pounds before we realize it. To tackle this problem, we can seek the Lord’s help. First, repent for yielding to the temptation of lust for food. Next, submit to God and ask Him for the power to overcome gluttony through His Holy Spirit and resist the devil through prayer and obedience to God. James 4:7: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
Ask for God’s plan for your weight loss, allowing Him to lead you as to what He wants you to do. He knows your body and He will direct you as to how you are to eat or direct you to a nutritionist or doctor or good books on nutrition. Ask for a desire for healthy foods and ask Him to remove your cravings for unhealthy foods. Thank God daily for setting you free and do not allow the devil to discourage you by his condemning whispers to your mind.
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Even if at times it seems slow or you fail occasionally, don’t be discouraged. Remember, this overweight condition came “little by little” and it is sometimes more healthy to lose it “little by little”. Losing as little as 2 lbs. a month amounts to 24 lbs. in a year. In the process you will be developing new habits and disciplines that will eventually become established eating patterns with a change in our life styles.
Add fasting periodically as the Lord leads. Even fasting one meal or one day a week will help in disciplining your body to be subject to your spirit man. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Since each person is different and there can be a number of factors affecting your over weight issues (for instance, stress), you will need to seek the Lord diligently as to your path of healing and deliverance. This article is basically dealing with overeating which is one factor that leads to people to becoming fat.
Clean vs. Unclean Foods
The Bible also distinguishes between clean and unclean foods. Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 provide specific information. Clean meat is defined as the meat of every animal that has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud. Examples include the ox (cattle), buffalo, sheep, goat, deer, gazelle, antelope, and mountain sheep. Unclean meat includes pig, camel, hare, and rock badger. As for seafood, everything with fins and scales is allowed, but whatever doesn’t have fins such as shellfish is prohibited. For birds, everything is allowed except eagles, vultures, kites, ravens, ostriches, seagulls, and owls.
Top Bible Foods
- Olives and Olive Oil: Used for healing, cooking, lighting lamps, soaps, cosmetics, and currency. Regular consumption contributes to heart, brain, skin, and joint health and has been linked to cancer and diabetes prevention.
- Pomegranates: Contain strong anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-obesity, and anti-tumor properties.
- Grapes: Moderate alcohol intake, particularly red wine, may lower the risk of cardiac mortality due to atherosclerosis.
- Flax: Provides a natural, vegan source of omega-3 essential fatty acids, lignans, and fiber.
- Sprouted Grains: Harvesting “sprouted grains” happens right after the seed has started to sprout, but before it has developed into a full-grown plant. During this critical growth state, the young shoot digests a portion of the starch to fuel its growth. Subsequently, because the grain’s starch has been utilized, the level of vital nutrients - including proteins, vitamins and minerals - are enhanced.
- Goat's Milk: Data suggests that it could prevent diseases such as anemia and bone demineralization.
- Lamb: The most revered animal in history and the most honored food in the Bible. The marble fat content is considerably lower than older varieties of meat, which contributes to heart health and helps prevent obesity.
- Coriander: The seed of the powerful antioxidant and natural cleansing agent cilantro.
- Vegetables: The most nutrient-dense and safest to eat. Cruciferous veggies can help prevent cancer because they are rich in glucosinolates.
- Raw Honey: Loaded with key nutrients and disease-fighting antioxidant flavonoids. It also supports the growth of probiotics in the gastrointestinal tract and can improve allergy symptoms.
Guidelines for Healthy Eating
- Drink lots of water.
- Eat safe, clean meat.
- Eat foods that are in season.
- Eat raw, unprocessed real whole foods.
Benefits of Following a Biblical Diet
- Weight loss
- A longer lifespan
- Energy and improved mood
The Purpose of Dietary Laws
The dietary laws were given to the nation of Israel to make them distinct from other nations. They contributed to the Israelites’ good health and promoted wise and efficient management of environmental resources. The clean animals that God permitted His model nation to eat-easily discerned by split hooves and cud-chewing-were designed to produce nutritious food in an economical and ecologically sound manner.
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God created unclean animals, unsuitable for human consumption, for many other purposes. Carnivores, as beasts of prey, play an important role in controlling the populations of other animals.
Biblical dietary guidelines also prohibit eating bats and monkeys-which have been implicated as the source of the Ebola virus. Consuming unclean animals such as bats, pigs, civets, and various other “exotic” but unclean animals, has been implicated in the possible origins of many modern flu epidemics and pandemics of our times, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Swine Flu, and the coronavirus that gave the world COVID-19.
Biblically clean fish generally swim free in bodies of water. Most unclean fish are either bottom-dwellers or predatory scavengers. Shellfish, lacking both fins and scales, are clearly excluded by the biblical dietary laws. Lobsters are nocturnal foragers and bottom-dwelling predatory scavengers that eat dead creatures and other bottom-dwelling organisms and debris. Crabs have been called “professional garbage hunters” as they are scavengers that eat almost anything. The crab prefers dead fish but will eat any carrion.
These organisms were all created for a very important ecological purpose. They are, in essence, the “garbage collectors” or the “clean-up crew” for the bottoms of lakes, rivers, bays, and oceans. Filter-feeding organisms are the “vacuum cleaners” for aquatic environments. Once you understand the purpose for which God created shellfish, the reason they are considered unclean should become obvious.
Misinterpretations and Clarifications
Some believe that Jesus declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19). However, this is a misinterpretation. Jesus’ point was that orally ingested dirt, which is eventually eliminated, does not spiritually defile a person. The dietary laws regarding clean and unclean animals are simply not being discussed in this chapter of Mark.
Some also cite Peter’s vision recorded in Acts 10, where God showed Peter a collection of unclean animals and told him three times to “eat.” Peter declined, each time, because he believed eating those animals would be wrong. Peter concluded, “God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean” (v. 28). He perceived that God wanted the Gospel to go also to the Gentiles, and that these Gentiles were to come into God’s Church as equal to those coming from a Jewish background. Peter does not conclude here, or anywhere else in the New Testament, that the dietary laws have been abolished.
Some theologians try to use 1 Timothy 4:1-5 to suggest that the dietary laws are no longer valid for Christians. Yet, in these verses, the Apostle Paul was discussing false teachers who were promoting the idea that Christians could be “more spiritual” by practicing asceticism and vegetarianism, abstaining from foods that God had made for us to eat.
The New Covenant and Grace
In the New Covenant of grace, the Bible is far more concerned with how much we eat than what foods Christians eat. Physical appetites are an analogy of our ability to control ourselves. If we are unable to control our eating habits, we are probably also unable to control other habits such as those of the mind (lust, covetousness, unrighteous hatred/anger) and unable to keep our mouths from gossip or strife.
Balance and Enjoyment
While the Bible doesn’t prescribe any specific diet plan, it highlights the principle of balance-between healthy restraint and enjoyment of rich foods. Make a habit of disciplined, healthy eating, but on occasion let yourself enjoy a feast of God’s good gifts. Looking forward to the feasts will help keep you going during the seasons of restraint.