Food – Biblical Nutrition

The Bible tells us in I Corinthians 6:19, “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” When we use something that does not belong to us, we tend to be extra careful with what is lent to us. One way we can take care of the bodies in our care is to nurture them properly.

God addresses how we can best do this in the Bible. He gave Adam and Eve a diet to follow to maintain the perfect health with which they were created. Man was given fruit and every “herb bearing seed.” [Genesis 1:29.] After man sinned, God added the “herb of the field” to our diet. (See Genesis 3:18.) Our diet was changed once more following the flood when flesh was added to the diet. Not all flesh was permitted though. God gave very strict guidelines to adhere to. Clean meats only were acceptable and without the blood or fat. (See Genesis 9:3,4; Leviticus 3:17; 11:47.)

During the Jews captivity in Egypt, the diet was polluted by the Egyptians. “The perverted appetite was to be brought into a more healthy state, that they might enjoy the food originally provided for man—the fruits of the earth, which God gave to Adam, and Eve in Eden.” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 118. (See also Exodus 16:1–4, 35.) During their deliverance from the land, God once again changed the diet of His people and provided manna.

Many people believe that Peter’s vision was yet another modification in God’s prescribed diet, giving man permission to eat all flesh, but this is not the case. In reading Acts:10:9–17, 28, it is seen that the vision did not pertain to diet at all.

We will have yet another change in our diet in heaven. It is clear that all living species will be returned once again to a vegetarian diet. Isaiah 11:6–9 and 21–25 says, “The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.”

“The education of the Israelites included all their habits of life. Everything that concerns their well-being was the subject of divine solicitude and came within the province of divine law. Even in providing their food, God sought their highest good. The manna with which He fed them in the wilderness was of a nature to promote physical, mental, and moral strength.” Child Guidance, 378. I Corinthians 10:11 speaks in regard to the purpose God had for His dealing with the Israelites in the wilderness.

God has entrusted to us the bodies he created. It is surely a wonderful thing that He would provide us also with a manual to care for His creation.