IS IT A RELIGIOUS DUTY TO FAST?
ABSTAINING from food as a religious observance had considerable prominence among God's people in Old Testament days, and is mentioned a number of times in the New Testament. Is such fasting a Christian duty to-day? The question is asked by a Tennessee reader: "We are anxious for a revival in our church, and some of our members think we should fast as well as pray. Jesus fasted, and He told His disciples to fast. Will you please, in your 'Notes on Open Letters,' give some views on this subject?" There come times in every one's life when, under the burden of great sorrow, or the exaltation of an uplifting experience, or the pressure of an approaching ordeal, fasting is the only natural and acceptable condition of the body. It is well to fast then, until nature again demands the strength which food brings. Lighter eating than usual immediately before such special work as teaching or preaching is simply the part of wisdom; failure to heed this means poor work and an injured body. But there is no record that to abstain from food solely as a religious observance, apart from such circumstances as those noted, was enjoined as a duty by Jesus. Fasting seems to have been one of the Pharisaical perversions of ceremonial observance which Jesus' disciples were deliberately taught to refrain from, and for which He and they were misunderstood and criticized. Even John's disciples asked Him: "Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but Thy disciples fast not?" Our Lord's answer, that it was no time for fasting while He was with them, but that there would be occasion for it when He was crucified, points unmistakably to His teaching that mere fasting as such was no part of His followers' duty or service, but that fasting in time of great sorrow was a natural and proper thing. Entirely in accord with this was Jesus' recognition of the fact that there were times when His disciples would, for special cause, wish to fast; and He did not forbid this, but He cautioned them against Pharisaical ostentation: "when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance . . . that they may be seen of men to fast. . . . Be not seen of men to fast, but of thy Father who is in secret." This was no enjoining of fasting upon His disciples as a duty, but a caution as to how not to fast when they felt impelled to do so. It is significant to note that the English and American revisers have omitted, either as not well authenticated or as incorrectly translated, the word "fasting" in Matt. 17:21, Mark 9:29, Acts 10:30, and 1 Corinthians 7:5, thus eliminating it as in any sense a duty enjoined either by Jesus or by Paul. Where fasting is mentioned by Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:5 and 11:27, it is as a hardship or privation to be endured when providentially sent, not as a religious form. It was natural that some of the early Christians, Jews, and Gentiles, should have practised fasting as part of their religious ceremony; but it does not appear to have been laid upon them as a duty, nor would it seem to be a formal duty to-day. That most of us would be better off, however, physically and spiritually, for less eating and some judicious fasting, would also seem to be equally beyond question.—Sunday-School Times.