What does the Bible say about gaining weight?
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The Bible calls believers to receive food with gratitude and to practice self-control, avoiding both gluttony and prideful obsession with the body. Proverbs 23:20-21 warns that habitual overeating can lead to poverty, while Proverbs 25:16 counsels moderation even in good things. Scripture also teaches that our bodies belong to God and are to be honored as temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Yet bodily discipline is not the foundation of godliness, for 1 Timothy 4:8 reminds us that godliness has eternal value. Whether gaining weight results from need, health, or circumstance, Christians should seek wise care, contentment, and thankful stewardship before the Lord.
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Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible
- Proverbs 23:20-21
[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.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
[19] Or don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own, [20] for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
- Proverbs 28:7
Whoever keeps the law is a wise son; But he who is a companion of gluttons shames his father.
- Proverbs 25:16
Have you found honey? Eat as much as is sufficient for you, Lest you eat too much, and vomit it.
- Proverbs 23:2
Put a knife to your throat, If you are a man given to appetite.
- 1 Timothy 4:8
For bodily exercise has some value, but godliness has value for all things, having the promise of the life which is now, and of that which is to come.
- Deuteronomy 21:20
and they shall tell the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
- Philippians 3:19
whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.
- Proverbs 25:27
It is not good to eat much honey; Nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor.
- Ezekiel 16:49
Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
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