Why Do We Call It Fasting?

The King James Version (KJV) is mostly used in these lessons. Click here to access the KJV online.

We use the word fast today as a verb to speak of not eating. But when we say fast sometimes we might be talking about a car or a person or something like that. Why do we use the word fast? Our English word fast stems first from the old English word which meant to make firm or to establish. Like if I told you hold fast my brother my sister hold fast, stand firm stand established. A person who could control their appetite and not eat was said to be a person who had a firm hold on their natural desires. So therefore that word came to be used as a description of somebody who refrained from eating.

The word that's used in the Greek text of Matthew 6 here literally means not eating. So when you fast in Matthew 6:16, it means when you do not eat. We can fast from other things. People talk about we fasted TV or I fasted dessert or I fasted wine. It's always good to practice temperance. We should practice temperance to keep our flesh under subjection. However, the literal meaning of the word here means to not eat. So you are not fasting unless you are not eating. Abstaining from other things to practice temperance is good.

It's a good way but they're not substitutes for fasting. You will never get the effect that the scriptures speak about in regards to fasting if you don't do it as the scriptures teach.

Here Yahushua begins by saying, when you fast, so he's taking it for granted that those he is teaching are already practicing fasting. He doesn't say if you fast, if you think about it, if you get around to It, if you ever want to check it off your list. No, he says ‘when’ as though he assumes it to be part of a natural religious life. You talk about fasting today to a lot of people and they look at you like you're strange or you're weird. Why would you go without eating? The reason that we would go without eating, first and foremost, is because we want to draw close to Yahuwah. It’s getting rid of a fleshly desire and spending that time drawing close to our father in prayer or bible study or study of the Torah etc. Fasting is mentioned here right along with giving alms.