What Does the Bible Say About Abstinence From Food?

1 Timothy 4:3 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Romans 14:1-23 ESV / 5 helpful votes

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ...

1 Peter 2:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Psalm 107:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

Leviticus 11:1-47 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. ...

Genesis 1:29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

1 Peter 2:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,

Colossians 3:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Colossians 2:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

2 Corinthians 12:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

2 Corinthians 9:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 7:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

1 Corinthians 6:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

Romans 14:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

Romans 13:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.

Acts 15:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

That you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

John 6:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 6:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

Luke 7:33 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’

Luke 4:1-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”

Mark 7:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

Mark 1:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

Matthew 11:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’

Matthew 6:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

That your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Give us this day our daily bread,

Matthew 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Malachi 3:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

Daniel 10:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.

Daniel 1:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

Daniel 1:1-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. ...

Ecclesiastes 9:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.

Proverbs 27:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.

Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Genesis 9:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

41 Bible Verses about Abstinence From Food

1 Timothy 4:3 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 14:1-23 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 2:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 107:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Leviticus 11:1-47 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:29 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 2:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Thessalonians 5:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 3:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 2:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 12:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 9:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 6:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 14:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 15:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 6:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 6:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 7:33 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 4:1-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 7:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 1:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 11:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Malachi 3:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Daniel 10:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Daniel 1:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Daniel 1:1-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 9:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 27:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 9:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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