Gluttony a sin in the bible?

This is not a direct Logos question, but I don't know of a better group of people to answer my request. I'm 56 and for most of my life I was taught that gluttony was a sin as well as hatred, pride, and others. So my wife and I went to looking for the scripture that addresses this, and we cannot find anything even close that says it's a sin.

We've tried some other words related to gluttony but nothing close to what we are looking for.

Is there scripture stating that gluttony is a sin?

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Icarus38376

Is there scripture stating
that gluttony is a sin?

Maybe these verses will help... Although these verses do not state gluttony as a sin explicitly, I believe they do imply it. A lust for anything but the true God is sin. (i.e. the First Commandment)

Deuteronomy 21:20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

Proverbs 23:21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: And drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

Philippians 3:19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

TCBlack

Opening a Bible search for the word Gluttony (gluttony | Top Bibles) reveals potentially Ezek. 16:49, as translated by the NLT.

Despite my desire, I will avoid further commentary on that.

For Logos books, I might suggest (though I do not own them both).

Seven Deadly Sins by Caie, Norman M.

The Seven Deadly Sins by Stalker, James

Shawn Drewett

Great references Peter! I was wondering myself!

NetworkGeek

I think you can look at 1 Cor 15:19, where St. Paul says the life he has chosen is pitiable if there is no resurrection. He goes on to say in 1 Cor 15:32 "If the dead are not raised let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die".

There is a good discussion of this in Desiring God, Meditations of a Christian Hedonist; he makes the point that gluttony is the alternative to resurrection.

Larry Parker

The Philippians 3:19 is one we had not found. Thank you.

I just bought the Seven Deadly Sins book and it should be installing now. Thank you for that too.

I knew there would be excellent replies here. Thanks very much for your help!

Praiser

You will also find this a good resource: http://www.logos.com/product/9304/biblical-counseling-keys-on-overeating

Fred Chapman

As a Southern Baptist who likes what we call "fellowship" (those who are know what I mean[;)]) I would like to think of glutton and related words as being a very subjective term. Additionally, it can never refer to Chicken or any other fried meat product, and kind of casserole that has cheese, or banana pudding[:D]

tom

it can never refer to ... banana pudding

Thanks be to God !!!!!!

George Somsel

This is not a direct Logos question, but I don't know of a better group of people to answer my request. I'm 56 and for most of my life I was taught that gluttony was a sin as well as hatred, pride, and others. So my wife and I went to looking for the scripture that addresses this, and we cannot find anything even close that says it's a sin.

We've tried some other words related to gluttony but nothing close to what we are looking for.

Is there scripture stating that gluttony is a sin?

Hezekiah 3:12

For two big Macs and for three thou shalt trouble thy stomach.

DMB

I think the gluttony logic was prior to sushi. Just a tiny piece far exceeds many, many boxes of Cherios. Even in Amarillo, a 2 lb steak couldn't match some of the sushi these days.

Matthew C Jones

This question is more important than we may realize. Especially if the one asking it is looking at preachers who exercise no self control at their tables.

One young man was condemned publicly by a preacher for having "long hair". He was informed how dishonorable it was for a man to wear his hair long. The youth replied he would much rather be dishonored publicly than be guilty of the "sin" of gluttony. True story.

George Somsel

TCBlack

Hezekiah 3:12

For two big Macs and for three thou shalt trouble thy stomach.

The proper reference George is: 1 Hesitations 3:12. It's right after second heresies.

Larry Parker

Thanks to "Keep smiling for Jesus", I did what I should have done to begin with. I used Logos search option on all text. Now I have everything I could want for reference

I posted originally because this was just a teaching I had learned but I did not know exactly where it was in scripture. I thought that gluttony was listed along with other sins, but it's not where I thought it would be. For instance in 2 Timothy.

On a side note, in the past, I have been tired of very overweight TV preachers talking about how smoking (among others too) is such a sin, while their gut is bouncing all over the place. However, I realize this is a very bad way to view them, as it is the same as a person with a physical flaw praying over someone for a healing. Or a preacher that wears glasses teaching about healing. My gosh, if I'm going to expect a perfect person to preach, then bye bye to preachers and any spreading of the gospel.

I have a spinal cord injury that affects my life twenty four hours a day. Many times I have prayed over people to be healed, and according to the kind of thinking above, I should have stayed quiet. That's not what Jesus tells me to do. The Great Commission of Mark 16 is all I need to know, and if I'm imperfect, well then so be it, I'll do it anyways. ;-)

Incidentally, I'm skinny.

NetworkGeek

I love reading signs on Church marquees, and one of my all time favorites says

"The Church isn't perfect - if it was you wouldn't be invited in"

Bayard Bastedo

Consider Eli, the High Priest of 1 Samuel, who enjoyed eating the sacrifices that his sons had wickedly gathered and prepared. And Alexander Whyte thought Scripture revealed that the patriarch Isaac had fallen prey to gluttony.

I think perhaps gluttony, while not labelled specifically,as a sin, is a subset of idolatry.

Bayard Bastedo

DMB

Using our trusty Logos search, gluttons always drink, and usually wine. This seems to be a significant clue. There's no mention of beer that I can see. The hebrew isn't clear on whether grape juice qualifies.

George Somsel

Using our trusty Logos search, gluttons always drink, and usually wine. This seems to be a significant clue. There's no mention of beer that I can see. The hebrew isn't clear on whether grape juice qualifies.

You might almost say that unless you were there to catch the juice as it seeped out from between the toes, there was no grape juice. Grape juice ferments pretty quickly so before long it's wine.

DMB

Fermentation timing may well be a factor (in addition to it being a significant marker in the archaology trade). But notice, using Logos' high-powered exegetical tools, that 'eating' the grapes is never an issue. So maybe indeed, the key to gluttony is 'drinking', and a time period well after non-fermentation (thus ruling out 'grape juice').

At church a few sundays back, one of our enthusiastic communion preparers read the NT text literally, giving the congregation an instant surprise, following 'the bread'. And even more surprisingly, everyone carefully kept going, saying nothing to offend.

Gary Butner, Th.D.

John Chrysostom, John preached through many of Paul’s letters ("I like all the saints," he said, "but St. Paul the most of all—that vessel of election, the trumpet of heaven"), the Gospels of Matthew and of John, and the Book of Genesis. Changed lives were his goal, and he denounced sins from abortion to prostitution and from gluttony to swearing.

DMB

For anyone who has enjoyed Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, at Chrysostom's de-throning, it was set afire.

Per the Dict of Historical Theology, 'He spoke out against the pleasures of the hippodrome and the theatre, and his so-called ‘socialist’ views on the equitable distribution of wealth made him more enemies.' Hmm, that last part sounds familiar somehow.

Rod Bergen

Is there scripture stating that gluttony is a sin?

The main problem that I see with gluttony is that it leads directly to obesity.

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems. Obesity is a leading preventable cause of death worldwide, with increasing prevalence in adults and children, and authorities view it as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21st century (per Wikipedia).

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Co 6:19–20 - NIV)

MJ. Smith

This thread proves we need Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
by Richard Foster in Logos.

Bohuslav Wojnar

This thread proves we need Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
by Richard Foster in Logos.

[Y]

Garrett Ho

This thread is pretty entertaining, but going back to the original question, I'd like to recommend a Logos resource: Love to Eat, Hate to Eat by Elyse Fitzpatrick.

I just read it recently, and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Many of the principles can be generalized to apply to discipline and purpose in other areas of life.

Here is an excerpt:

Instead of devising comfortable euphemisms to describe my problem, I need to fall on the mercy of the One who saves me from sin. Please don’t find offense in the use of the words “gluttony” or “sin.” I’m not condemning you; I’m seeking to direct you to the One who died for our sins and who is the sole source of every victory over sin—even the sin of gluttony.

What Makes Our Eating Sinful?

Think with me for one moment: Why should we view certain eating practices as sin? Why would God call them sin?

Back to Egypt

Eating habits become sinful when the habitual practice of them places us in bondage again—a bondage to sin from which Christ died to free us...

...Biblically the word glutton means “a person who is debased and excessive in his eating habits. Gluttony is more than overeating. In its association with drunkenness, it describes a life given to excess.”

George Somsel

This thread proves we need Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard Foster in Logos.

This thread shows that we need The Joy of Cooking by Rombauer and Julia Child's books. [8-|]

Danny Baskin

This thread proves we need Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard Foster in Logos.

So true!

David Paul

I think you can look at 1 Cor 15:19, where St. Paul says the life he has chosen is pitiable if there is no resurrection. He goes on to say in 1 Cor 15:32 "If the dead are not raised let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die".

There is a good discussion of this in Desiring God, Meditations of a Christian Hedonist; he makes the point that gluttony is the alternative to resurrection.

????? [^o)] I'm trying to make sense of this, but it doesn't compute.

David Paul

To me, one of the most important verses regarding this subject is Deut. 32:15. Related is Deut. 31:20. Deut. 32:16-17 shows the result.

One of the other verses that speaks to this is 1 Cor. 6:18. This kind of indulgence is also a sin against the body. Of course, by "body" I mean not just the physical body, but also the body of Messiah. Therefore, this also ties in with 1 Cor. 11:27.

What is interesting is that YHWH says that those who are worthy of blessing will eat the fat of the land, and then they will be punished for succumbing to indulgence. This concept also ties into the ban on eating fat. There are spiritual and prophetic principles that are much more germain than physical over-indulgence, but the physical issues aren't unimportant. They are just exemplar of the greater issues.

Icarus38376

This thread shows that we need The Joy of Cooking by Rombauer and Julia Child's books.

This thread proves that we care more about fun and food than we do about lost souls...instead of preaching to the lost we share recipies with them...