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Should Christians fast today, and what does the Bible teach about fasting?

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The New Testament never commands Christians to fast. But Jesus expected his followers to fast after he was gone ("when you fast", "then they will fast"), and the early church fasted when it prayed and made decisions. Across the whole Bible, fasting is worth only as much as the humility, prayer and justice that go with it.

What the text says

What fasting is in the Bible. Fasting means going without food, and sometimes drink, for a time. People did it to seek God, to grieve, to repent, or to ask for help in a crisis. Moses went without for forty days on the mountain (Exodus 34:28). David fasted while his child was dying (2 Samuel 12:16-23). Ezra called a fast before a dangerous journey (Ezra 8:21-23). Daniel fasted while confessing his people's sins (Daniel 9:3). The people of Nineveh fasted when they repented (Jonah 3:5). Esther asked the Jews of Susa to go without food and water for three days before she risked her life going to the king: "if I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:16). The Law of Moses commands only one fast, on the Day of Atonement, where the wording is "you shall humble yourselves" (Leviticus 16:29-31). Acts 27:9 calls that day simply "the Fast". Other fasts were added later in memory of national disasters (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19).

The prophets' warning. The Bible is blunt that fasting can be empty. In Isaiah 58 the people complain, "Why have we fasted, and You have not seen?" (58:3). God answers that on their fast days they "oppress all your workers" and fast "with contention and strife" (58:3-4). Bowing your head and wearing sackcloth is not the fast he chose (58:5). The fast he wants is to "loose the chains of wickedness", share bread with the hungry and shelter the poor (58:6-7). Joel says the same in a sentence: "rend your hearts and not your garments" (Joel 2:12-13). Zechariah 8:19 even promises that the mourning fasts will one day become "times of joy and gladness."

Jesus. Jesus fasted forty days in the wilderness before his ministry began (Matthew 4:2). In the Sermon on the Mount he says "when you fast", not "if" (Matthew 6:16-18). He tells his followers to fast in secret, without the sad faces put on for show, "and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you." When people asked why his disciples did not fast like John's disciples and the Pharisees (Mark 2:18), he compared himself to a bridegroom at a wedding, where guests don't fast. Then he added: "the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast" (Mark 2:19-20; Matthew 9:15; Luke 5:35). He also told of a Pharisee who boasted "I fast twice a week" and still went home not justified (Luke 18:12-14).

The early church. At Antioch, the Holy Spirit set apart Barnabas and Saul while the church was "worshiping the Lord and fasting." They fasted and prayed again before sending them out (Acts 13:2-3). Paul and Barnabas fasted and prayed when they appointed elders (Acts 14:23). Writings from soon after the New Testament show fasting was still normal. The Didache tells believers to "fast for those that persecute you" (Didache 1:3), and Polycarp urges being "constant in fastings" (Philippians 7). These are not Scripture, but they show how the first generations read Jesus.

Freedom. Paul also warns against turning food rules into a measure of holiness. He calls them "of no value against the indulgence of the flesh" (Colossians 2:16-23). He tells believers not to judge each other over what they eat or which days they keep (Romans 14:1-6). No New Testament text sets a required fast, a schedule or a length.

So, should Christians fast today? The honest answer from the text: fasting is expected and commended, but not commanded. Jesus assumed his followers would fast, the apostolic church did, and the Bible never says the practice ended. It also says plainly that fasting impresses God only when it comes with a humble heart and justice toward others. One small note: in Acts 27:33-34, after two weeks without food, Paul urged everyone on the ship to eat "for your survival". Going without food was never meant to harm the body.

Where readers differ

Fasting is a normal, expected discipline for Christians

Jesus says "when you fast" in the same breath as "when you give" and "when you pray". That puts all three on the same footing. He also says his followers will fast once he is gone, and that is the time the church now lives in. The apostles fasted as part of worship and when making decisions. Many evangelical, Pentecostal and Reformed teachers urge regular personal fasting, though not on a fixed rule.

Matthew 6:16Mark 2:20Acts 13:2Acts 14:23

Fasting is voluntary, and believers are free to fast or not

Nowhere does the New Testament command fasting, and no letter to the churches tells believers to fast. Paul warns against judging others over food and special days, and against rules that only look like self-discipline. On this view fasting is a good tool for some people at some times. It is a matter of conscience, not a sign of spiritual maturity.

Romans 14:1Colossians 2:16Galatians 4:9Luke 18:12

Fasting is a shared practice of the church on set days and seasons

Orthodox, Catholic, and some Anglican and Lutheran Christians keep fixed fasts. Examples are Wednesdays and Fridays, Lent, and fasting before Communion. They point out that Israel's fasts were communal (Leviticus 16; Joel 2:15). The Antioch church fasted together. The Didache (8:1) already sets Wednesday and Friday fasts. On this view the church's set rhythm carries out Jesus' "then they will fast".

Joel 2:15Acts 13:2Mark 2:20Leviticus 16:29

Jewish reading: one commanded fast, with others added by the community

In Jewish tradition, Leviticus' "humble yourselves" on Yom Kippur means a full fast (Mishnah Yoma 8:1). This is the only fast commanded in the Torah. Fasts such as Tisha B'Av, which mourns the destruction of the Temple, come from Zechariah 8:19 and later communal decision. Personal fasts for repentance or in a crisis follow the models of Esther, Daniel and Jonah. Isaiah 58 is the reading set for the morning of Yom Kippur, which keeps its warning about empty fasting at the centre.

Leviticus 16:29Zechariah 8:19Isaiah 58:3Esther 4:16

The words it turns on

  • צוּם tsum (verb) / tsom (noun), צוּם / צוֹם

    To fast, or a fast: going entirely without food, and often drink, usually for a set time and usually with prayer, mourning or repentance.

    Drift: In modern English, 'fasting' can mean a diet or a health routine, such as 'intermittent fasting'. In the Hebrew Bible the word is almost always religious, directed toward God in grief or need.

  • עָנָה ʿanah (piel ʿinnah), עָנָה

    To humble, bow down or make low. The phrase ʿinnah nefesh, 'to humble the self', is the Torah's way of describing the Day of Atonement fast (Leviticus 16:29). Isaiah 58:3, 5 and Psalm 35:13 use it alongside fasting.

    Drift: The King James Version has 'afflict your souls'. That can sound like self-punishment, or like something done only to an immaterial 'soul'. The Hebrew means humbling one's whole self by going without, and Jewish tradition understands it as fasting.

  • נֶ֫פֶשׁ nefesh, נֶפֶשׁ

    The living self, including appetite and desire. It is the 'self' that is humbled in a fast.

    Drift: 'Soul' suggests a spirit separate from the body. Nefesh here refers to the very appetite that fasting denies.

  • νηστεύω nēsteuō, νηστεύω

    To fast, to go without food for religious reasons. It is used in Matthew 6:16-18, Mark 2:18-20 and Acts 13:2-3.

  • νηστεία nēsteia, νηστεία

    A fast, or going without food. It can mean a deliberate religious fast (Luke 2:37; Acts 14:23), 'the Fast', meaning the Day of Atonement (Acts 27:9), or hunger forced on someone by hardship (2 Corinthians 6:5; 11:27).

    Drift: English readers may take every 'fasting' in Paul's lists of hardships as a spiritual discipline. Some of those may simply mean he went hungry.

What the Bible doesn't say

The Bible gives no required schedule, length or method for Christian fasting. It does not say whether giving up something other than food, such as media, counts as a fast. Married couples abstaining for prayer is mentioned (1 Corinthians 7:5), but the word 'fasting' in that verse in older translations is not in the earliest manuscripts. The popular 'Daniel fast' is a modern name drawn from Daniel 10:2-3, where Daniel gives up rich food, meat and wine, but the text does not call that a fast. Two other popular verses, Matthew 17:21 and the words 'and fasting' in Mark 9:29, are missing from the oldest manuscripts, so they are a weak base for the idea that fasting gives power over demons. Traditions differ legitimately over whether fasting should be private and voluntary or shared and seasonal. Writings outside the Bible pull different ways. Gospel of Thomas 104 echoes the 'bridegroom' saying, while Thomas 14 is dismissive of fasting. The Didache sets weekly fast days. None of these settles the question.

Key verses

  1. Matthew 6:16

    When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

    Jesus assumes his followers will fast ("when you fast") and tells them to do it in secret, for God and not to be seen.

  2. Mark 2:18

    Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were often fasting. So people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t Your disciples fast like John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees?”

    Jesus explains why his disciples did not fast while he was with them, and says they will fast once he is taken away.

  3. Isaiah 58:3

    “Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.

    God rejects fasting that goes along with oppression and quarrelling, and describes the 'fast' he wants: justice and generosity.

  4. Acts 13:2

    While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

    The early church fasted while worshipping and before sending out missionaries.

  5. Acts 14:23

    Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church, praying and fasting as they entrusted them to the Lord, in whom they had believed.

    Fasting and prayer go with the appointing of church leaders.

  6. Joel 2:12

    “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”

    A call to fast that insists the change has to happen in the heart: "rend your hearts and not your garments."

  7. Leviticus 16:29

    This is to be a permanent statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall humble yourselves and not do any work—whether the native or the foreigner who resides among you—

    The only fast commanded in the Law: humbling oneself on the Day of Atonement.

  8. Luke 18:9

    To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable:

    A Pharisee who fasted twice a week is not justified. Fasting does not earn standing with God.

  9. Esther 4:16

    “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”

    A communal fast in a life-or-death crisis, an example of fasting as urgent dependence on God.

  10. Zechariah 8:19

    “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore you are to love both truth and peace.”

    Mourning fasts are promised to become feasts of joy, which points to what fasting is for.

  11. Colossians 2:16

    Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.

    Paul warns against food rules and harsh treatment of the body done as a show of holiness.

  12. Matthew 4:2

    After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.

    Jesus fasted forty days before his ministry began.

Common points of confusion
Fasting makes God answer, or wins his favour.
Isaiah 58:3 records exactly that complaint, 'Why have we fasted, and You have not seen?', and God says the problem is how they treat other people. In Luke 18:12-14, frequent fasting does not justify the Pharisee.
Jesus commanded all Christians to fast.
Jesus assumes and predicts that his followers will fast (Matthew 6:16; Mark 2:20). No verse turns that into a command with set terms.
Some demons can only be cast out by prayer and fasting.
Matthew 17:21 and 'and fasting' in Mark 9:29 are missing from the earliest manuscripts. The best-supported text of Mark 9:29 reads 'This kind cannot come out except by prayer.'
Fasting is mainly about self-punishment or bodily discipline.
The Hebrew means to 'humble' oneself before God (Leviticus 16:29). Colossians 2:23 says harsh treatment of the body has no value against the flesh. In Acts 27:33-34, Paul urged starving men to eat for their survival.
Fasting belongs only to the Old Testament and ended with Christ.
Jesus fasted, taught about fasting and said his disciples would fast after his departure. The church in Acts fasted (Acts 13:2-3; 14:23).

Sources: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (H6684, H6685, H6031, H5315, G3521, G3522) · Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon · Bauer, Danker, Arndt, Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (BDAG) · Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (on Matthew 17:21, Mark 9:29, 1 Corinthians 7:5) · Didache 1:3; 8:1 · Polycarp, Epistle to the Philippians 7 · Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5 (54) · Gospel of Thomas, sayings 14 and 104 · Mishnah Yoma 8:1

Discussion

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