Fasting is on the minds of many Christians around the world at this time because we have entered the season of Lent, a time in the Church Year that, among other things, focuses on Jesus’ forty-day fast in the wilderness. Fasting is encouraged as the church disciples her members to take up their crosses and follow Christ.
Fasting has a long and sometimes muddled history. God has always approved of fasting if it is done within the boundaries and for particular purposes. It can be argued that a form of fasting existed before the fall as God forbade the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil for a time. This pre-fall fast was a practice in patience, praying and waiting for the time God would allow them to eat and move into another stage of glory.
The advent of sin created new dimensions to fasting. Fasting was still a testing of patience but with the added dimension of being an intensified form of death, being cut off from the mercies of God. Post-fall fasting was embodied prayer, taking on death to throw oneself on God’s mercy for one’s own sake and/or for the sake of others.
Examples of fasting abound in Scripture. God prescribed one fast day on his liturgical calendar, the Day of Atonement (see Lev 16). Judah commemorated all the events around Babylonian exile by fasting on their anniversaries (Cf. 2Ki 25:1, 3-7, 8-10, 25; Jer 39:2-7; 41:1-3; 52:6-11). Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness and told his disciples, “when you fast,” not “if you fast” (Mt 6:16). The church fasted and prayed before laying hands on Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13, and Paul and Barnabas fasted and prayed before appointing elders in the churches (e.g., Ac 14:23).
Fasting in itself has never been forbidden by God and, indeed, has sometimes been prescribed by God. The church’s understanding of fasting, however, has taken some weird twists through our history. For example, after the Roman Empire was “Christianized” under Constantine and the church was given not only rest but also luxury, some in the church believed Christians were growing soft. The church was losing its strong commitments that they had while under persecution. As we humans are prone to do, many overreacted, disavowed material possessions, sold all they had, and committed themselves to ascetic lifestyles.
The desert monks, the most famous of whom was Antony, led the way in these ascetic practices. They lived on little food, fasting for long stretches of time so that they could have spiritual experiences and visions. Some, influenced by Greek philosophy, believed the body to be the prison for the soul. Denial of fleshly appetites through fasting would subdue the body with all of its appetites so that the pure soul would be in control. Fasting was a weapon against the lusts of the flesh.
While fasting is a good discipline, it can be damaging when used for the wrong spiritual purposes. Believing that your severe treatment of the body, denying yourself the essentials of food, is somehow controlling a sinful passion or is a tool to control other sinful passions is a mistake, a mistake Paul addresses with the Colossians. Paul tells the Colossians, “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Col 2:20-23). This passage is difficult in many respects, but I believe we are on solid ground saying Paul is addressing the Mosaic dietary laws, cleanness, and temple access.
There was a time when these laws were the commandments of God to be practiced by Israel. However, Christ has fulfilled these laws that distinguished Jews from Gentiles. They are obsolete. To impose them now becomes “the commandments of men.”
But Paul is reasoning with people who believe if they practice these laws, they will somehow subdue the passions of the flesh, reduce their temptations, and draw closer to God. Paul’s argument against this puts the Law in its proper historical context.
Even though the Law was holy, righteous, and good as Paul tells the Romans (Rom 7:12), God never intended the Law to subdue the flesh in this way. It was powerless to do so. Indeed, because of the weakness of our flesh, the Law stirs up sin so that it becomes fruitful and multiplies (Rom 7:7ff.). The Law never had the power to subdue the old Adam under the power of sin. The only way sin can be subdued is through death followed by resurrection, accomplished in Christ and our baptism into him (Rom 6, 8).
If the Colossians put themselves under the Law, they put themselves into a powerless position to deal with the power of sin. Sin will not be subdued but increase! If the Law couldn’t subdue sin when it was in effect, how do they expect it to do it now?
What does all this have to do with our new creation fasting? We are not struggling with returning to the Mosaic dietary laws and worshiping at the temple. Is Paul teaching that there is no longer a need to fast?
Paul is not saying that all fasting or other bodily disciplines are now invalid. This can’t be true. As I said earlier, Jesus spoke about his disciples fasting, and we have apostolic examples of fasting in the book of Acts. God approves of fasting. It is a good and righteous form of prayer.
The problem comes when we view what we are doing incorrectly. When the purpose is distorted, and we practice fasting with intentions other than God’s, we will inevitably be disappointed. You will be disappointed if you practice a fast believing that you will curb or eliminate some sinful appetites. Sometimes, they intensify with fasting. If you believe that fasting or any severe treatment of the body will somehow draw you closer to God, taking you to the “next level” of the Christian life, again, you will be let down.
When God wants to draw near to people, eating is always involved. The daily, monthly, and yearly offerings at the temple all involved food. When we draw near to God in the Lord’s Service, we have bread and wine. We eat and drink. We don’t fast. You draw near to and commune with God through food.
Fasting doesn’t make you super spiritual or give you a spiritual superpower. In fact, fasting can be just as indulgent of the flesh as a man who gorges himself all the time and never thinks about fasting. Jesus told his disciples that the Pharisees were indulging their flesh through fasting (see Mt 6:1-18).
When you fast, do so with the right intentions and proper aim. Fasting is an embodied form of prayer, pleading for God’s mercy. Fasting says to God, “I and/or the people for whom I am praying deserve to be cut off from your grace because of our sins. I am praying for your mercy. Following the example of my Lord, I am also giving up my life for others so that you will have mercy on them as well.”
This type of fasting expresses itself in actually giving to others, as we hear in Isaiah 58. A fast may involve denying yourself something so that you can give to someone else in need. God has been abundantly merciful to you, so you voluntarily cut yourself off from his mercies to identify with that person or these people.
When you fast, understand that the power of fasting is not found in itself to subdue the flesh and its temptations. The power is found in God’s mercy who will see and hear your prayer.
