“Fast Food”

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Could I fast from something other than food?  For example, if I'm a person who likes to drink juice, and I fast from it and drink water, is that still considered a fast?

Sincerely,
Doing Without

Dear Doing Without,

The word ‘fast’ means ‘to not eat’.  The Greek word is formed by adding a negative to the front of the word ‘eat’.  It is very similar to how English words are turned into negatives by adding ‘anti’ to the front (as in ‘antigravity’ or ‘antibacterial’).  There are no specific examples in the Bible of someone fasting by simply removing a specific type of food from their diet, but having said that – the word ‘fast’ can be used in that way.  Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, which is considered to be the definitive study tool for Bible Greek, defines the word ‘fast’ as ‘to abstain as a religious exercise from food and drink: either entirely, if the fast lasted but a single day, or from customary and choice nourishment, if it continued several days’.  According to that definition, abstaining from juice would be a form of fasting.

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