What does the Bible say about eating too much?
Bible Topic · WEB
The Bible warns against overindulgence in food as a form of self-control lost, while calling believers to receive God’s gifts with gratitude and use their bodies for his glory. Proverbs 23:20-21 cautions that gluttony leads to poverty and ruin, and Proverbs 23:2 vividly urges restraint when appetite is strong. Philippians 3:19 describes those whose “god is their belly,” contrasting a life ruled by earthly desires with citizenship in heaven. Galatians 5:21 includes drunkenness and similar excesses among works of the flesh. Yet Genesis 1:29-30 shows that food is God’s good provision. Christians therefore need not despise eating, but should seek moderation, contentment, and Spirit-enabled self-control.
Top passages, ranked by readers
Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible
- Proverbs 23:20-21 13 votes
[20] Don't be among ones drinking too much wine, Or those who gorge themselves on meat: [21] For the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; And drowsiness clothes them in rags.
- Philippians 3:19 11 votes
whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.
- Galatians 5:21 10 votes
envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
- Proverbs 23:2 9 votes
Put a knife to your throat, If you are a man given to appetite.
- Genesis 1:29 7 votes
God said, "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.
- Genesis 1:30 5 votes
To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food." And it was so.
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