Esthiō is the standard Greek verb for eating — consuming food orally. It appears throughout the Gospels and Epistles in both literal and figurative senses. Jesus ate with sinners (Matt 9:11), fed the five thousand (Matt 14:20-21), instructed about eating in purity (Matt 15:17-20), instituted the Lord's Supper with eating and drinking (1 Cor 11:24-26), and made His most challenging eucharistic claim: 'Unless you eat [esthiō] the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you' (Jn 6:53).
Eating is a profoundly theological act in Scripture. The first sin involved eating what was forbidden (Gen 3). The covenant with Abraham included a meal. The Exodus was inaugurated by the Passover meal. The Law regulated what could be eaten. Jesus' table fellowship with sinners was itself a proclamation of the kingdom. The Lord's Supper makes esthiō a sacramental act: 'Do this in remembrance of me.' Revelation 3:20 uses eating imagery for intimate communion: 'I will come in and eat [deipneō] with that person.' From creation's meal to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, esthiō traces the arc of God's relational purpose.