📖 Biblical Definition
The Christian discipline of voluntary abstinence from food (and sometimes water and other comforts) for spiritual purposes. The biblical lexicon recognizes several types of fast: (1) the regular fast: abstinence from food while drinking water, the basic biblical pattern (the Lord Jesus's forty-day fast, Matthew 4:2; Paul's frequent fasts, 2 Corinthians 11:27); (2) the absolute fast: abstinence from both food and water for a limited time, undertaken in extreme circumstances (Moses on Sinai, Exodus 34:28; Esther and Mordecai, Esther 4:16, neither eat nor drink three days, night or day; Paul after the Damascus road, Acts 9:9); (3) the partial fast or Daniel fast: abstinence from pleasant food while taking simple foods (Daniel 10:3, I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth); (4) the corporate fast: a fast undertaken by a congregation, community, or nation (Joel 1:14; 2:15-17; Jonah 3:5-9, Nineveh; Acts 13:2-3, the Antioch church); (5) the annual fast: the OT institutional fast of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29-31; 23:27-32, ye shall afflict your souls). The biblical purposes of fasting include humbling oneself before God (Psalm 35:13), intensifying prayer (Acts 13:2-3), mourning over sin (Joel 2:12), seeking guidance (Acts 14:23), identifying with suffering (Esther 4), and expressing repentance (Jonah 3). The Lord Jesus assumed His disciples would fast (Matthew 6:16-18, when ye fast, not if) and corrected the manner not the substance of the practice. The Reformation generally preserved fasting while removing Catholic ascetic abuses; the Puritan-Reformed tradition observed regular fasts, both private and corporate. The patriarchal-Reformed reader recovers fasting as a vital Christian discipline against both Catholic-monastic ascetic excess and modern evangelical neglect.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Christian discipline of voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes; five biblical types (regular, absolute, partial, corporate, annual); assumed by the Lord Jesus (Matthew 6:16-18).
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FASTING, n. (Christian discipline) Voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes. Hebrew tsom (H6685); Greek nesteia (G3521). Five biblical types: (1) regular (food only, water permitted) — Christ's 40-day fast; (2) absolute (food and water) — Moses on Sinai; Esther; Saul after Damascus; (3) partial (Daniel fast) — no pleasant bread or wine; (4) corporate — congregation, community, nation; (5) annual — Day of Atonement. Purposes: humbling, intensifying prayer, mourning sin, seeking guidance, identifying with suffering, repenting. Christ assumed His disciples would fast: when ye fast, not if (Matthew 6:16-18). Reformation preserved fasting; Puritan tradition observed regular fasts.
📖 Key Scripture
Matthew 6:16-18 — "Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast... But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret."
Joel 2:12 — "Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning."
Acts 13:2-3 — "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away."
Daniel 10:2-3 — "In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Roman Catholic ascetic-merit theology corrupts fasting into earned merit; modern evangelical neglect drops the practice altogether; Reformed-confessional discipline retains the biblical substance.
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The two principal corruptions of biblical fasting are opposite. Roman Catholic ascetic-merit theology treats fasting as a means of earning merit before God, with the practice attaching salvific significance to acts of bodily discipline. Modern evangelical neglect drops the practice altogether, treating fasting as either Catholic-superstitious or as legalistic. Both errors fail. Christ assumed His disciples would fast (Matthew 6:16-18) and the apostolic church practiced corporate fasting (Acts 13:2-3; 14:23). The Reformed-confessional discipline retains the biblical substance: fasting as voluntary humbling, prayer-intensifying, sin-mourning, guidance-seeking, repentance-expressing — without ascetic-merit theology and without modern neglect.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew tsom; Greek nesteia; five biblical types; Reformed-Puritan retention.
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['Hebrew', 'H6685', 'tsom', 'fast']
['Greek', 'G3521', 'nesteia', 'fasting']
['Greek', 'G3522', 'nesteuo', 'to fast (verb)']
Usage
"Five biblical types: regular, absolute, partial (Daniel), corporate, annual."
"Purposes: humbling, prayer, mourning sin, guidance, repentance."
"Christ assumed His disciples would fast (Matthew 6:16-18)."