6 Important Bible Verses About Food

Here are six important Bible verses about food.

John 6:51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

There is nothing more important about food in this life than to seek the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. He is the “living bread that came down from heaven” and He is still satisfying those who have been brought to repentance and faith in Christ. Bread satisfies for a day but Jesus Christ satisfies forever because whoever takes of this bread will never die. The ancient Israelites had bread but perished in the wilderness due to their unbelief and disobedience. For those who do believe and strive to live a life of obedience, the “living bread” of Jesus Christ ensures that “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25b).

1 Corinthians 6:13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

There are some churches who still adhere to the Old Testament dietary laws and a few who look down on others who eat things that they consider unclean, however my question to them would be; are you Jewish? Do you know that these dietary laws were written exclusively to Israel? Do you know that Jesus declared all foods clean? Jesus reminds us, as I reminded my friend in the church, “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) (Mark 7:18b-19).

Matthew 25:35 “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

Part of the importance in the Bible about food is that we are to help those who have little or nothing to eat by sharing what we have. Besides, we’re only stewards of what we have and not owners (Luke 16:1-13), and if “you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches” (Luke 16:11), “And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own” (Luke 16:12)? Years ago, a man who was hired for a top executive job went to a cafeteria with the other board members to celebrate his taking the job. They let the new man go first with the CEO behind him. When the CEO saw the newly hired executive slip a two cent patty of butter under his napkin, the CEO later told the board, “I think we hired the wrong man.” He lost his $87,000 a year job over a two cent patty of butter. He was not faithful in little so the CEO wasn’t about to trust this man with “much.”

Acts 14:17 “Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”

God is such a good God that He feeds even those who are not His own as “he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt 5:45). In other words, God has not left the world without a witness of His goodness, giving to the just and the unjust the season rains, meaning that He provides the ability for crops to grow and to feed even those who are outside of the family of God. That’s why those who reject Christ are without excuse (Rom 1:20) because they are only suppressing the obvious truth of God’s existence (Rom 1:18).

Proverbs 22:9 “Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.”

There are dozens of Scriptures which admonish Christians to help feed the poor. The primitive church of the first century shared what they had with those who had little or nothing, and this is in their best interests because God will blessed the “bountiful eye” who looks for those in need. The “bountiful eye” is an eye that looks to be generous with what they have so that others would not go hungry. Jesus reminds us “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink” (Matt 25:35) but when the saints asked, “when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink” (Matt 25:37), to which Jesus says, “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matt 25:40). So feeding the poor is in effect, feeding Jesus, because these are “the least of these my brothers” and sisters.

1 Corinthians 8:8 “Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.”

Years ago, we invited an orthodox Jew to dinner and we knew what to put on the table and what not to put on the table. We didn’t want to cause any unnecessary offense to this man. We did this because of the biblical command to not cause offense or cause a brother or sister to stumble, and even though this man was not technically a brother, we still didn’t want to offend him or make him feel uncomfortable, because it was as the Apostle Paul said, “Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble” (1st Cor 8:13). We had plenty to eat because God has blessed us, so we should share with those who have little because “if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1st John 3:17-18).

Conclusion

If we have not yet been brought to repentance toward God and placed our trust in Christ, we will not have a hunger or thirst for righteousness, and neither will we care for the poor and hungry like those who have God’s Spirit, so Jesus says to all, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). Bread or drink can satisfy…but only for a short time, but Jesus satisfies forever and those who take of the Bread of Life will never hunger again and even more so, we look forward to the greatest banquet or feast in all of human history. I am referring to the marriage feast of the Lamb of God with His bride, the church (Matt 22:1-14). In the meantime, “If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday” (Isaiah 58:10).

More for you to read: Does the Bible Talk About Eating Healthy?

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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