By Kent D. Berghuis
[Kent D. Berghuis is Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary.]
In a culture where the landscape is dotted with shrines to the Golden Arches and an assortment of Pizza Temples, fasting seems out of place, out of step with the times. In fact, fasting has been in general disrepute both in and outside the Church for many years. For example, in my research I could not find a single book published on the subject of Christian fasting from 1861 to 1954, a period of nearly one hundred years. More recently a renewed interest in fasting has developed, but we have far to go to recover a biblical balance.”[1]
These remarks by Richard Foster open his chapter on “The Discipline of Fasting” in his widely read Celebration of Discipline. Although the call for fasting appears to be on the rise, even this renewed interest has not produced much in the way of academically serious biblical or theological works. My own search has found just a handful of monographs, dissertations, or theses, and a scanty array of periodical articles. These are accompanied by a modest number of popular books and booklets encouraging Christians to reclaim the discipline of fasting.
The trend to emphasize spiritual disciplines is exemplified most clearly in the evangelical world in the writings of Richard Foster and Dallas Willard,[2] with a recent pastoral book on fasting by John Piper, A Hunger for God.[3] But perhaps the strongest push to encourage fasting is being promoted by Bill Bright, who publicized his goal of encouraging two million American Christians to join him in fasting and praying for America and the fulfillment of the Great Commission by the year 2000.[4] Bright has been sponsoring “Fasting and Prayer” meetings each November since 1995, encouraging Christian leaders to join him in this vision.
Although Bright’s numerical goal does not seem to have been realized, this renewed emphasis on fasting has been spreading through evangelicalism. Catholic and liturgical churches have long practiced Lenten fasts as part of the Christian calendar, but recently evangelicals have begun to emphasize the role of fasting in spiritual discipline, repentance, and revival. Evangelical churches are beginning to teach about fasting and to call on their members to engage in the practice.
In this environment it seems wise to examine Scripture thoroughly in order to understand the dynamics of fasting and its applicability in the church. The purpose of this article is to show that the Bible presents a balanced approach toward fasting. The Bible describes fasting as a natural way for God’s people as individuals or as a body to express humility, sorrow, repentance, seriousness in prayer, and a desire for God’s manifest presence. In several passages its excesses are curbed, and priority is rightly redirected toward issues of the heart and ethics instead of ritualized hypocrisy. Some of these points may seem obvious, but it is surprising how seldom they are actually articulated. Perhaps it is because the discussion of fasting needs to move beyond a few points that have typically framed the issue. The most important of these issues is the question of the ongoing relevance of fasting.
Recognizing the Bible’s Balanced Approach
Is fasting appropriate today? The Scriptures do not forbid fasting, and yet they curb improper applications of the practice. Nor does the Bible command fasting for all believers, although the practice is assumed as part of the human spiritual experience.
The Bible mentions fasting from food in about fifty-nine contexts, depending on how strictly one limits the references.[5] Of these, thirteen contain at least some negative associations or corrective teaching, while the other forty-six either are totally favorable toward fasting, give it at least tacit approval, or appear to assign it no moral connotation. The positive passages demonstrate that in general fasting is viewed favorably, as long as certain spiritual boundaries are in place. The dominant theme of the correctives is that fasting is meaningless if accompanied by hypocrisy or sin, and the ritual itself is less important than righteous attitudes and actions.
Curbing Improper Fasting
Certain Sumero-Akkadian documents describe instances of partial and absolute fasts, which Largement thinks may have formed a basis for some of the Israelite practices in the worship of Yahweh.[6] Likewise Brongers observes, “Fasting is by no means a[n] Israelite monopoly. From earliest antiquity peoples scattered all over the world have, for one reason or another, abstained themselves from food and drink for a shorter or longer time, as individuals or as a community. Almost the whole range of fasting-rites we meet with in all parts of the world is present in Israel as well.”[7]
Fasting in the Bible can generally be viewed as an example of religious activity that was common in any number of cultures and subject to similar impulses. It should not be surprising that occasionally these religious impulses would be viewed by the biblical record as misdirected, as the Bible frequently critiques the religious practices of both the believing community as well as outside cultures.
The first biblical instance of fasting is Moses’ forty-day fast on Mount Sinai. The next reference is Judges 20:26, which refers to Israel fasting during the Benjamite civil war. Accounts of fasting are more frequent in historical sections of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, but none of these passages provide instruction on how fasting should be practiced or give any hint about the origins of the rite. Seemingly fasting was simply a part of the normal cultural milieu in which biblical events took place, without commands from God dominating the early shaping of fasting.
The Pentateuch is surprisingly silent about fasting, with the possible exception of the Day of Atonement. Secondary sources about fasting often mention that the only required fast in Judaism was the Day of Atonement, as described in Leviticus 16:29–31; 23:27–32; and Numbers 29:7.[8] However, this annual event was not specifically designated a fast. That is, the verb צוּם and related words are not employed, nor is there any explicit reference to abstaining from food. Instead, a broader term is used (which may have included fasting as an understood application), and people were commanded to “afflict,” “deny,” or “humble yourselves.” Jewish tradition, however, required fasting on that day, as evidenced by the Targums[9] (which actually used the Aramaic cognate of צוּם), the Dead Sea Scrolls,[10] and the New Testament (Acts 27:9).
Since Jewish tradition universally has interpreted the instructions in Leviticus and Numbers to include fasting as a sign of afflicting and humbling oneself, it is possible that other places in the Bible that mention humbling, affliction, and similar practices may have in fact tacitly included fasting. On the other hand it is possible that the Jewish (and altogether human) penchant for expanding on Scripture’s admonitions gave rise to ritualistic fasting, which the prophets obviously viewed as problematic. Isaiah 58; Jeremiah 14:10–12; 36:6–26; and Zechariah 7:3–14 provide powerful examples of Judaism’s own prophets offering critiques of their religious fasting traditions.
Additionally the Targumic and Mishnaic[11] traditions mention the very kinds of additions to fasting (such as abstaining from anointing and bathing) that Jesus criticized in Matthew 6:16–18. Judaism had grown keenly interested in ritual fasting, and a tractate of the Mishnah, Ta’anit, is devoted to fasts observed for a variety of reasons. The Talmud contains many more references to fasting, including many fasts that go beyond mere repentance to attempts to expiate personal sin. However, Lowy notes, “It would be wrong to assume that an ascetic tendency towards extensive fasting was prevalent. On the whole, Judaism was set against such extreme practices. From the very earliest times—even before the ascetic sects came into existence—down to the amoraic period such practices were generally discouraged. There were many limitations on fasting.”[12]
One should be careful not to stereotype Jewish fasting as completely negative or hypocritical, which the church fathers occasionally did.13 But the Old Testament prophets’ admonitions and Jesus’ words about fasting in the Sermon on the Mount need to be noted. Jesus did not attack the institution of fasting in Matthew 6:16–18. In fact He considered it on a par with almsgiving and prayer as an “act of righteousness” (v. 1).[14] But Jesus did warn against hypocritical fasting, which includes putting on a gloomy face and neglecting one’s personal appearance in order to be seen fasting. Jesus instructed His followers that whenever[15] they fasted they should anoint their heads and wash their faces, for they would be seen by God in secret. Fasting, then, should be practiced in sincerity and for God alone and not publicly for the purpose of being seen by others.
Some early Christians seem to have promoted fasting in ways similar to those of the more ascetic Jews. One evidence for this may be references to fasting that are in debated textual variants in the New Testament. Fasting is mentioned in later textual additions in Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29; Acts 10:30; and 1 Corinthians 7:5. “These textual additions indicate the growing interest in the church in the practice of fasting, especially after the second century; and they have some significance for a consideration of fasting after the New Testament period.”[16] Perhaps this assessment is overstated, however, when Mitchell calls this “a graphic illustration of the postapostolic church’s effort to support their excessive emphasis on fasting.[17] Simply because these words may have been added to the text does not de facto mean that they represent insidious extremes of practice or theology.
Many examples from early Christian asceticism do seem extreme. But just as caution must be exercised when generalizing about Jewish fasting practices, so one should be careful in assessing the practice of the early church. Shaw, for example, has recently challenged the notion that the early church was dominated by a dualism that sharply divided the body and the soul.[18] As in Judaism, fasting in the early church was at times commendable and at other times was antithetical to biblical teachings.
Is it possible that evangelicals today could lapse into practices that would fall under the category of the kinds of fasts the Bible curbs? Certainly. If fasting is done hypocritically or with a motive of appearing spiritual, its purpose is defeated. Also in the eyes of God righteous living is more important than rituals like fasting. As fasting increases in popularity, this corrective will be all the more applicable.
Encouraging Biblical Fasting
The biblical references to fasting may be grouped in six categories according to motivating factors. Some passages overlap these simple distinctions. For example prayer is associated with most of the references in some way, but if there is another association that seems more important to the context, the reference is classified accordingly. The factors that motivated fasting in biblical times are still legitimate reasons for believers today to fast.
Fasting as a Sign of sorrow
When tragic events occurred in biblical times, fasting was often a natural response. These events include losses in battle (Judg. 20:26), the death of a king or leader (1 Sam. 31:13 = 1 Chron. 10:12; 2 Sam. 1:12; 3:35), news of the Jews’ death edict (Esth. 4:3), drought (Jer. 14:1–12), and locust plagues (Joel 1:14; 2:12–15). Fasting also was occasionally part of personal sorrow or suffering, as seen in Hannah, Job, David, and other psalmists (1 Sam. 1:7–8; 20:34; Job 3:24; Pss. 42:3; 102:4; 107:17–18).
This is possibly fasting’s most natural, basic expression, as part of the human experience, particularly in ancient contexts. Western culture may not share the same understanding of the role of fasting in times of sorrow. In the Western world funerals, for example, are often followed by family and friends having a meal with the bereaved, rather than fasting, but some situations of grief may find fasting to be a beneficial expression of sorrow.
Fasting as a Sign of Repentance and Seeking Forgiveness
This frequent occasion for fasting probably grew out of the Jewish understanding of fasting as a means of humbling oneself. Several Old Testament references to fasting involve repentance from national or corporate sins. Leaders such as Samuel (1 Sam. 7:6), Ezra (Ezra 9:1–10:17), Nehemiah (Neh. 9:1), and Zechariah (Zech. 8:16–19) called for public fasting as a demonstration of humility and repentance. Daniel (Dan. 9:3–14) and Nehemiah (Neh. 1:4–7) fasted individually over the corporate sin of their people. Several of the references dealt with under other headings also include elements of repentance. David (2 Sam. 12:16–23) and Ahab (1 Kings 21:27–29) fasted in repentance for their own sin.
Ceremonial fast days seem to have been regarded as appropriate times for exposing the sins of people. The prophets Isaiah (Isa. 58:1–5), Jeremiah (Jer. 36:6–9), and Zechariah took advantage of these occasions to issue rebukes. Even wicked Queen Jezebel used a fast day to accuse Naboth under false pretenses (1 Kings 21:9–12). While hardly exemplary, this indicates that fasting was viewed as appropriate to dealing with matters of grave consequence.
With sin and spiritual decline evident throughout history, the need for confession and repentance is present in any era. Fasting still seems an appropriate demonstration of humility today. While fasting does not automatically equal repentance (since that is a matter of the heart and later behavior), it may help believers to demonstrate to themselves the seriousness of their sin and to strengthen their resolve to live faithfully.
Fasting As an Aid in Prayer
In the Bible prayer and fasting frequently occurred together. Bible characters often fasted while in intercessory prayer for others (2 Sam. 12:16–23; Neh. 1:8–10; Ps. 35:13; Dan. 6:18; 9:15–19) or while voicing prayer requests for their own needs (1 Sam. 1:7–11; Neh. 1:11; Ps. 109:21–24; Dan. 9:3; 10:1–3). Leaders prayed and fasted for success in battle (Judg. 20:26; 1 Sam. 7:6; 2 Chron. 20:3), for relief from famine (Jer. 14:1–12; Joel 1:14; 2:12–15), or for success in other endeavors, such as Ezra’s return from the exile (Ezra 8:21–23) or Esther’s success before the king (Esth. 4:16).
Jesus’ admonitions in Matthew 6:16–18 encourage fasting as an aid to one’s personal devotion to God. Anna stands as a positive example of such devotion (Luke 2:37). The early church engaged in a corporate fasting-and-prayer meeting, and the Holy Spirit spoke to them (Acts 13:2–3).
These biblical examples that link fasting and prayer illustrate the desire of the human heart to commune with God. Many Christians today still testify to the helpfulness of fasting as an aid to prayer.
Fasting as an aid in Experiencing God’s Presence
Moses is the prime example for this kind of fast, although the unique circumstances surrounding the Sinai event should caution those who might be tempted to fast for the same length of time. Since he went without water forty days on Mount Sinai, one must conclude that he was supernaturally sustained during his fast (Exod. 34:28). In an interesting parallel Elijah visited Horeb (a variant name for Sinai) and was sustained for forty days by food supplied by an angel (1 Kings 19:8). Jesus too fasted for forty days (Matt. 4:2). As the Son of God in human flesh, He demonstrated His reliance on God the Father in His time of temptation. The key to His fast was His reply to the devil that “man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (4:4). By this He meant that there is more to life than eating—that God’s Word sustains life at its deepest levels.
When John’s disciples asked Jesus why His disciples were not fasting, He explained that His disciples could not fast because He was with them. But the day would come when He would no longer be there, and they would fast then (9:14–15). Fasting, then, is an appropriate way of reflecting the loss of His immediate presence. Believers today may fast when they feel distant from Christ.
Fasting as an Act of Ceremonial Public Worship
Several instances are recorded in the Old Testament in which the ceremonial fasts of Judaism are viewed positively (Neh. 9:1; Esth. 9:31; Isa. 58:3; Jer. 36:6–9; Zech. 7:3–5; 8:19). While the Law did not require these fasts, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther initiated them and God blessed the people. Even when the prophets offered their critiques of fasting, they were attacking not the ceremony itself, but the hypocritical spirit that accompanied it. The assumption is that the ceremony would have positive value if accompanied with righteousness. Also the New Testament refers to the Day of Atonement as a “fast” with no apparent criticism (Acts 27:9).
Should the church today establish ceremonial fasts? There seems to be no reason why it could not do so, so long as the right motives underlie the practice. Evangelicals have often been skittish about following the practice of fasting during Lent or other special days. But is it wise to dispense with tradition as altogether meaningless? Or might it be better to invest tradition with meaning?
Fasting as Related to Ministry
Fasting was sometimes practiced in relation to certain ministries. An Old Testament prophet was commanded to fast while on a specific mission (1 Kings 13:1–22). Jesus’ forty-day fast came at the onset of His public ministry. The commissionings of Saul and Barnabas (Acts 13:2–3) and of elders (14:23) were accompanied by fasting. Paul wrote that he participated in “fastings often” (2 Cor. 6:5; 11:27). This may mean that he was forced to go hungry at times, or it could refer to intentional fasting. Either way, it shows Paul’s willingness to go without food for the sake of the gospel.
Fink says the examples of fasting recorded in Luke and Acts are not to be followed today because they reflect Jewish practice and are inconsistent with Jesus’ teachings.[19] However, it is more likely that God would still want His servants to learn the lessons that fasting can help teach. If believers are to serve the Lord effectively, it would be wise to accept this responsibility with the same sense of seriousness exhibited by Jesus, Paul, and the early church.
Beyond Personal Piety
Some writers state that fasting is a private, secret matter only for individual believers and that there is no place for corporate fasting.[20]
The reticence of many evangelicals to embrace fasting arises from a wrong view of Jesus’ teaching on fasting in the Sermon on the Mount. His words in Matthew 6:17–18 were aimed at avoiding hypocrisy. Jesus certainly commended secret disciplines, and they should be emphasized. But His instruction does not seem to rule out corporate fasts any more than it would rule out corporate prayer or aid for the poor, which are two other practices He said should be carried out without drawing public attention to them (vv. 2–6). As noted in Appendix A of this article, twenty-seven of the fifty-nine references to fasting in the Bible are corporate in nature. The commendable corporate fasts in the Bible amply illustrate their validity.
Perhaps present-day resistance to corporate fasting actually arises from a weakened sense of shared community. Who can doubt that western civilization has often emphasized the individual at the expense of the community?
Beyond Fasting to a Theology of Body, Spirit, Food, and Life
This study of fasting is introductory to something larger and more important. What is the role of food in sustaining physical life? Why did God create humans with this need, which He then regulated in the Garden of Eden by prohibiting eating from one tree? Is it not significant that the first sin in the human race involved eating? And is it not significant that in the New Jerusalem believers will eat from the once-protected Tree of Life?
Why does the Old Testament include so many regulations regarding foods to be eaten and not eaten? Why did Nazirites show their dedication by special dietary disciplines? And even in the New Testament, when all foods have been declared clean (Acts 10:15), the Jerusalem Council prohibited eating blood and strangled meat while also forbidding fornication (15:29). Eating food sacrificed to idols was one of the thorniest ethical questions in the early church (1 Cor. 8:4–13).
Paul wrote that believers should present their bodies, not just their spirits, as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1). Jesus’ followers are to keep their bodies in subjection (1 Cor. 9:27) and yield their bodily members as instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:13). They are to receive all kinds of food and drink with thanksgiving as gifts from God (1 Tim. 4:3) and to resist those who prohibit touching, tasting, or handling certain things or who promote abstaining from marrying and from eating certain foods (4:3).
A healthier theology of the body, of human life and its sustaining components, both physical and spiritual, is needed today. And fasting helps point believers in that direction.
Appendix A
Scriptural References to Fasting
The following chart has been assembled by searching the Bible for passages that include words for fasting[21] as well as other narrative references to fasts that do not contain those words.[22] As noted in the appendix fasting was frequently practiced corporately, that is, with other believers, and was not always a strictly private, individual matter.
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The Jews wept and fasted when they heard of the king’s decree to destroy them. |
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Purim was established for the Jews with instructions for fasting and lamentations. |
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Job groaned at the sight of food, as he experienced great affliction and pain. |
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People in distress are pictured as near death, unable to eat, but God saves them. |
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Joel 2:12–15 |
corporate |
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Jonah 3:5 |
corporate |
All of Nineveh fasted, repenting at the preaching of Jonah. |
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Zechariah 7:5 |
corporate |
God rebuked the priests for their ritual fasts that were done more for themselves than for Him. |
| Zechariah 8:19 |
corporate |
Zechariah predicted God will transform the ritual fasts into feasts of joy when His people have repented of sin and He grants them favor. |
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Matthew 4:2; Luke 4:2 |
individual |
Jesus fasted forty days in the wilderness, as He was tempted by the devil. |
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Matthew 6:16–18 |
individual |
Jesus taught that fasting should be done privately for God, not for the purpose of being seen. |
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Matthew 9:14–15; Mark 2:18–20; Luke 5:33–35 |
corporate |
Jesus told John’s disciples that His disciples did not fast, because the bridegroom was present, but that when He was taken away they would fast. |
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Matthew 15:32; Mark 8:3 |
corporate |
Jesus did not wish to send the crowd away fasting,[23] since they had been with Him three days and had nothing (more?) to eat. |
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Matthew 17:21;[24] Mark 9:29[25] |
individual? |
Jesus said that this kind of demon goes out only by means of prayer and fasting.[26] |
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Luke 2:37 |
individual |
Anna served in the temple night and day with fastings and prayers. |
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Luke 18:12 |
individual |
The Pharisee in Jesus’ parable showed his self-righteousness by boasting that he fasted twice a week. |
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Acts 9:9 |
individual |
Saul fasted from food and water three days after the Damascus Road experience. |
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Acts 10:30[27] |
individual |
Cornelius was fasting and praying when an angel instructed him to go to Peter. |
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Acts 13:2–3 |
corporate |
Prophets and teachers in Antioch were ministering to the Lord and fasting both before and after the Holy Spirit set apart Saul and Barnabas. |
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Acts 14:23 |
corporate |
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in the churches, having prayed with fasting. |
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Acts 23:12 |
corporate |
Certain Jews bound themselves by oath not to eat or drink until they killed Paul. |
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Acts 27:9 |
corporate |
Paul’s voyage to Rome took place after “the fast” (on the Day of Atonement) was over. |
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Acts 27:33 |
corporate |
Paul encouraged the ship’s crew to eat, since they had fasted for fourteen days.[28] |
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1 Corinthians 7:5[29] |
couples |
Paul told husbands and wives not to deprive each another sexually, except for brief periods of time devoted to prayer and fasting. |
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2 Corinthians 6:5; 11:27 |
individual |
Paul listed “fastings”[30] among the hardships he suffered as a mark of his apostleship. |
Appendix B
Summary of Biblical Purposes for Fasting
I. As a Sign of Sorrow
A. For tragic events (Judg. 20:26; 1 Sam. 31:13 = 1 Chron. 10:12; 2 Sam. 1:12; 3:35; Esth. 4:3; Jer. 14:1–12; Joel 1:14; 2:12–15)
B. For personal sorrow (1 Sam. 1:7–8; 20:34; Job 3:24; Pss. 42:3; 102:4; 107:17–18)
II. As a Sign of Repentance and Seeking Forgiveness
A. National or corporate sins (Exod. 34:28; 1 Sam. 7:6; Ezra 9:1–10:17; Neh. 1:4–7; 9:1; Dan. 9:3–14; Jon. 3:5–9; Zech. 8:16–19)
B. Personal sins (2 Sam. 12:16–23; 1 Kings 21:27–29; Ps. 69:10; Acts 9:9[?])
C. As an opportunity for public exposure of sin (1 Kings 21:9–12; Isa. 58:1–5; Jer. 36:6–9)
III. As an Aid in Prayer to God
A. For others (2 Sam. 12:16–23; Neh. 1:8–10; Ps. 35:13; Dan. 6:18; 9:15–19)
B. For one’s self (1 Sam. 1:7–11; Neh. 1:11; Ps. 109:21–24; Dan. 9:3; 10:1–3)
C. For success in battle (Judg. 20:26; 1 Sam. 7:6; 2 Chron. 20:3) and in other endeavors (Ezra 8:21–23; Esth. 4:16)
D. For relief from famine (Jer. 14:1–12; Joel 1:14; 2:12–15)
E. As an aid in personal or group devotion (Matt. 6:16–18; Luke 2:37; Acts 10:30; 13:2–3; 1 Cor. 7:5)
IV. As an Aid in Experiencing God’s Presence
A. Supernatural sustaining by God (Exod. 34:28; 1 Kings 19:8)
B. Reliance on God in times of temptation or spiritual warfare (Matt. 4:2 = Luke 4:2; Matt. 17:21 = Mark 9:29)
C. Reflecting the reality of the loss of Christ’s immediate presence with His followers (Matt 9:14–15 = Mark 2:18–20 = Luke 5:33–35)
D. Going without food to remain longer under Jesus’ teaching (Matt 15:32 = Mark 8:3)
V. As an Act of Ceremonial Public Worship (Neh. 9:1; Esth. 9:31; Isa. 58:3; Jer. 36:6–9; Zech. 7:3–5; 8:19; Acts 27:9)
VI. As Related to Ministry
A. Preparation for significant ministry (Matt. 4:2 = Luke 4:2; Acts 9:9 [?]; 13:2–3; 14:23)
B. Specific command of God while prophesying (1 Kings 13:1–22)
C. Suffering for the sake of the gospel (2 Cor. 6:5; 11:27)
Negative associations or corrections of fasting:
- Fasting while engaging in hypocritical actions or attitudes (1 Sam. 28:20; 1 Kings 21:9–12; Isa. 58; Jer. 14:10–12; 36:6–26; Zech. 7:3–14; Matt. 6:16–18; Luke 18:12)
- Fasting as a solemn binding for a foolish or sinful oath (1 Sam. 14; Acts 23:12–21)
- Breaking a fast when God has commanded it (1 Kings 13:8–24)
- A sulking refusal to eat (1 Kings 21:4)
- Attributing the inability to eat to God’s chastening (Job 33:19–20)
Notes
- Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, rev. ed. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988), 47.
- Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988).
- John Piper, A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1997).
- Bill Bright, The Coming Revival: America’s Call to Fast, Pray, and “Seek God’s Face” (Orlando: NewLife, 1995), 37.
- See Appendix A for an overview of the biblical material. This study takes a broad interpretation of fasting in order to account for as much relevant information as possible. It includes all uses of the Hebrew root צוּם, the Greek verb νηστεύω and nouns νηστεία and νήστις, as well as other narrative passages that refer to going without food intentionally. Parallels in the Synoptic Gospels have been combined, since they duplicate each other. Forty-three instances are recorded in the Old Testament and fifteen are in the New Testament.
- R. Largement, “L’Ascétisme dans la Civilisation Suméro-Sémitique,” Archives des sciences sociales des religions 9 (1964): 28.
- H. A. Brongers, “Fasting in Israel in Biblical and Post-Biblical Times,” in Instruction and Interpretation: Studies in Hebrew Language, Palestinian Archaeology and Biblical Exegesis (Leiden: Brill, 1977), 1.
- Johann Gamberoni, “Fasting,” in Encyclopedia of Biblical Theology: The Complete Sacramentum Verbi, ed. Johannes B. Bauer (New York: Crossroad, 1981), 257.
- Targum Neofiti (ca. second century A.D.) expanded on the Old Testament text in Leviticus 23:27–32. “But on the tenth day of this month is the fast of atonement [צומה דכיפוריה]. It shall be for you a feast day and a holy convocation. You shall fast [ותצומון] on it, and you shall offer sacrifices before the Lord. And you shall not do any work on that same day for it is the fast day [יום צומה] of the atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whoever eats on a day of fast [למצום] and does not fast [ציימה] at the time of the fast day [יום צומה] of the atonement shall be blotted out from the midst of the people. And whoever does any work on that same day, I shall blot out that person from the midst of the people. You shall do no work. It is an everlasting statute for your generations in every place where your dwellings are. It shall be for you a sabbath of solemn rest, and on it you shall fast [ותצימוֵ]. On the ninth day of the month from evening until (the following) evening you shall make your fasts [צימיֵ], you shall take your rest and you shall observe the times of your appointed feasts with joy.” Similar additions occur in Targum Pseudo-JonathanLeviticus 23:27 (the date unknown; however, the additions to the text of Neofiti in these passages seem to suggest a later date): “And you shall afflict your souls from food, drink, and the enjoyment of the bath and anointing, sexual intercourse and sandals. And you shall sacrifice sacrifices before the Lord.” Other passages in the Targums, such as Leviticus 16:29, 31; 25:9; and Numbers 29:7 specifically refer to fasting, whereas the Hebrew Bible does not.
- 1QpHab 11.8 (ca. the first century B.C. to the first century A.D.): “Woe unto him that plies his neighbor with drink, that pours out his flask [hematho], yea, makes him drunk, in order to gaze on their festivals! This refers to the wicked priest, who chased after the true exponent of the Law, right to the house where he was dwelling in exile, in order to confuse him by a display of violent temper [hamathō] and who then, on the occasion of the rest-day of Atonement, appeared to them in full splendor in order to confuse them and trip them up on the day of the fast, the day of their sabbatical rest.” This refers to the Jewish tradition of changing the date of the Day of Atonement by lengthening the previous month in order to prevent the holy day from falling on a Sabbath, a practice the Qumran community rejected.
- Mishnah Ta’anit 1.3-6 (ca. 150 A.D.) and other passages.
- S. Lowy, “The Motivation of Fasting in Talmudic Literature,” Journal of Jewish Studies 9 (1958): 23-24.
- Lowy traces some of the early Christian conflict over fasting to its Jewish counterpart. Christians saw great value in fasting, but rejected Judaism as insincere, ignoring many of the rabbinic calls for caution (“The Motivation of Fasting,” 25–26).
- Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting are all considered τὴν δικαιοσύνην.
- The phrase in verse 16 is ̔́Οταν δὲ νηστεύητε, with the temporal particle plus the present subjunctive. This verbal form may be understood as “repeated action whenever, as often as, every time that” (Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Greek New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 2d ed., rev. F. Wilbur Gingrich and Frederick W. Danker [Chicago: University of Chicago Press], 588 [italics theirs]). The phrase implies that Jesus’ disciples would fast, and when they did so, this was how it was to be done. It is probably to be taken in a general rather than absolute sense.
- Marion Michael Fink Jr., “The Responses in the New Testament to the Practice of Fasting” (Ph.D. diss., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1974), 143.
- Curtis C. Mitchell, “The Practice of Fasting in the New Testament,” Bibliotheca Sacra 147 (October-December 1990): 467.
- Teresa M. Shaw, The Burden of the Flesh: Fasting and Sexuality in Early Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998).
- Fink, “The Responses in the New Testament to the Practice of Fasting,” 283.
- For instance Mitchell concludes his rather good article by stating that fasting is a private response to a “felt need.” But the felt needs he mentions (dangers, trials, heartaches, and sorrows) do not adequately reflect the biblical examples. He allows Jesus’ words about fasting in private (Matt. 6:17–18) to govern all the other passages. This, however, does not seem to follow from the very passages he presented earlier. Also he appeals to the silence of other verses that could have referred to fasting but did not as a way of lessening the force of those passages that do mention fasting (Mitchell, “The Practice of Fasting in the New Testament”). Similarly Fink focuses so sharply on the teaching of Jesus as radically different from Jewish asceticism that he discounts the unity of New Testament teaching about fasting. Keith Main emphasizes justification by faith apart from works so sharply that he too has difficulty accepting a positive contemporary role for fasting (Prayer and Fasting: A Study in the Devotional Life of the Early Church [New York: Carlton, 1971]).
- From the Hebrew root צוּם and Greek words related to νηστεύω.
- Jerry Charles, God’s Guide to Fasting: A Complete and Exhaustive Biblical Encyclopedia (Madison, NC: Power, 1977) proved helpful in locating some less-visible references to fasting. The subtitle of this simple booklet, however, is rather an overstatement.
- This is so indicated in the King James Version. The New American Standard Bible translates νήστεις in Matthew 15:32 as “hungry,” perhaps implying that it was not an intentional fast but merely the lack of food.
- This verse is well attested in the Byzantine witnesses, but omitted from Vaticanus, the original hand of Sinaiticus, and a number of other manuscripts. For this reason, and because it was likely assimilated to the parallel in Mark, the omission was assigned an {A} rating in The Greek New Testament, United Bible Societies, 4th ed. (UBS4).
- This verse ends with “prayer” (προσευχῄ) in Vaticanus, the original hand of Sinaiticus, and several minor witnesses. But a corrector of Sinaiticus, P45vid, and a large number of later uncials and minuscules add “and fasting” (καὶ νηστείᾳ). Recognizing scribal tendencies the UBS4 assigned the omission an {A} rating, and they refer the reader to 1 Corinthians 7:5.
- The fact that τοῦτο δὲ τὸ γένος is neuter would suggest that Jesus was referring back to the unclean spirit, which had just come out of the boy (Mark 9:25–26).
- The reference to fasting is omitted in Sinaiticus, the original hand of Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, 74, and several other witnesses, while being found in most of the Byzantine and a number of Western manuscripts. Previous editions of the UBS Greek New Testament gave the reading that lacked the reference to fasting a {D} rating; the {B} rating in the UBS4 seems a little optimistic.
- This was probably not an intentional fast. But because of the storm the likelihood of seasickness and the extreme conditions on the vessel, the crew could not find a good time to eat.
- The reference to “fasting” in this verse is omitted by almost all of the Alexandrian and Western witnesses, with the Byzantine including it. The UBS4 assigns the omission a certainty of {A}, apparently seeing this textual addition as informing Mark 9:29 and Matthew 17:21, as suggested by footnote 25 on Mark 9:29.
- The New American Standard Bible translates νηστείαις “hunger” and “without food,” respectively.
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