Matthew 6:16-18: Fasting is a powerful spiritual weapon like no other. Let’s learn from the Lord who fasted forty days and forty nights. I also include a brief study of fasting in other verses.

Let’s look verse by verse at Matthew 6:16-18.

The translation is mine, but if you would like to look up many others translations, please click on this link: biblegateway.com.

If you don’t read Greek, ignore the left column.

Let’s begin.

Teaching about Fasting (Matt. 6:16-18)
16 Ὅταν δὲ νηστεύητε, μὴ γίνεσθε ὡς οἱ ὑποκριταὶ σκυθρωποί, ἀφανίζουσιν γὰρ τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν ὅπως φανῶσιν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις νηστεύοντες· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἀπέχουσιν τὸν μισθὸν αὐτῶν. 17 σὺ δὲ νηστεύων ἄλειψαί σου τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ τὸ πρόσωπόν σου νίψαι, 18 ὅπως μὴ φανῇς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις νηστεύων ἀλλὰ τῷ πατρί σου τῷ ἐν τῷ κρυφαίῳ· καὶ ὁ πατήρ σου ὁ βλέπων ἐν τῷ κρυφαίῳ ἀποδώσει σοι.	16 Whenever you fast, do not become as the gloomy hypocrites, for they do up their faces in order to appear to people to be fasting. I tell you the truth: they have their reward. 17 But you, as you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to people to be fasting, but only to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Comments:

16:

“whenever”: it is atemporal. There is no command here. But it does assume that kingdom citizens do fast.

“do up”: it could be translated as “hide,” since the root meaning of the verb means to “appear.” So Jesus is drawing a contrast between public appearance of fasting and a relationship with the Father among people who are so secure in this relationship that they can fast in private and not appear to be fasting in public. Jesus is against ostentatious display and for private devotion.

People into ostentatious display have their cheap reward down here on earth, when people pay them the utmost respect. But that’s all they get. They get no heavenly reward for their fasting.

17:

Here we begin the contrast. Don’t be like the hypocrites, but be like kingdom citizens who have a relationship with their Father and understand his ways.

“you”: it is singular in Greek. You can fast by yourself.

“anoint”: people used oil for cleanliness and also for going through a public ceremony, like being anointed for the priesthood (Lev. 8:12) or for kingship. (See the post  What Is the ‘Anointing’?) Therefore when we fast, we should live life as if we are celebrating God, not by looking gloomy. “Oh, look at me! I’m fasting! I’m suffering for God! Pay attention to me! Praise me for my devotion to God!” Instead, do the opposite. Wash your face and put oil in your hair as if you are ready to celebrate something.

Ordination of Aaron and Sons in Leviticus 8 from a NT Perspective

“This does not contradict 9:14-15, which says the disciples weren’t fasting, for Jesus says there that this would last only so long as ‘the bridegroom … is with them.’ Afterwards, the disciples would return to fasting” (Osborne, comment on 6:17)

18:

The Greek phrasing is elliptical (omitting some elements) because the Greek language has case endings. So it could be more fully translated: “So that you don’t appear to people to be fasting, but that you appear to your Father to be fasting.”

“But” is a strong contrast in Greek. Also, the Greek really does say that “your Father who is in secret.” But this could be translated more fully: “your Father who sees in secret,” which overlaps with the next clause, but that’s the intent. But again I like the brevity. And I like the idea that your Father meets you in secret, he lives there with you. He is there in your private fasting as you live your everyday life, but who knows? … Maybe we can expand the meaning to include the idea that he is there in secret with you during your pain. But the context is about fasting, so I’ll leave it there.

Other Bible Teaching about Fasting

Before I end this post on fasting, let’s explore it more thoroughly.

There are all sorts of ways to fast:

Eating no food, but drinking water only, which is standard;

No food and no water, but only for a short time (Acts 9:9);

No delicacies (Dan. 10:3);

Sometimes people fast from TV or social media, which is a good idea.

And anything in between.

In the OT the purposes of fasting were, as follows:

Preparing for God’s law (Ex. 34:28; Dt. 9:9, 18);

Preparing for the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29, 31);

Showing grief at time of death (1 Sam. 31:13; 2 Sam. 1:12);

Showing remorse for sin (1 Kings 21:27; Neh. 9:1; Ps. 35:13);

Praying in time of national need (2 Chron. 20:3; Ezr. 8:21; Est. 4:16; Joel 2:15-17);

Praying for personal reasons (2 Sam. 12:16, 21; Neh. 1:4; Dan. 9:3-4);

But be warned: prophets criticized fasting for outward show (Is. 58:3-7; Jer. 14:12; Zec. 7:4-10).

In the NT, the purposes of fasting were as follows:

Jesus fasted to overcome temptation and prepare for his ministry (Matt. 4:1-11 // Luke 4:1-13);

Saul fasted after his conversion to humble himself and work out the massive change in his worldview (Acts 9:9);

Part of worship and prayer (Acts 13:2);

Preparing for ministry (Acts 13:1-3; 14:23);

Sending off for ministry (again Acts 13:3; 14:23);

Jesus’s disciples did not fast while he was there, but when he was gone, they would fast (Matt. 9:14-15);

Jesus criticized fasting for its outward show (Matt. 6:16-18; Luke 18:9-14).

“Whenever fasting becomes a performance, it ceases to be righteous activity. Private activity with the Father is the true goal of fasting. Reward from God is predicated on the right attitude and motivation” (Osborne, comment on 6:18).

Let’s wrap up this brief study.

My counsel in the next three points is general. You must consult your heath care professional for guidance in your specific case.

In addition to the list above, you should fast for these three reasons:

1.. You need to overcome a sin that always undermines you, like lust and porn and temper and gluttony. In this case I recommend you go on a partial fast at lunch at work, and have a private communion in your car. That is, take some pita bread and grape juice. Eat and drink most of it for your lunch. But save some at the end for your private communion. Pray over the remaining juice and flat bread to consecrate it for this holy purpose. As you partake, ask God to empower you to overcome your snaring sin. When you are tempted to click on your old websites, tell you flesh, “No, I’m in the middle of fasting, and my fast includes those websites.”

Offer your body and soul and spirit as instruments of righteousness.

¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Rom. 6:11-14, NIV)

If you fast regularly for one month or even two months (as outlined above, a partial fast), you should experience victory. Cling to the cross of self-denial, which is best done by fasting.

2.. You need power for ministry. Fasting denies your fleshly impulses and focuses your mind on him. During this time of fasting, you should pray, asking God to empower you for ministry, like demon expulsion. This fasting can be regular, such as a meal on your preferred day, or it can be on an “as needed” basis. Example, if you know you will have a particularly difficult ministry need that day, fast breakfast or lunch or both. Make the appointment in the afternoon.

3.. You need healing. If you have cancer, for example, you can fast (with your doctor’s permission). If he says no, then you can eat pita bread and grade juice for private communion once or twice or even three times a day. Take it after breakfast or lunch or dinner. (See the directions under the first point.)  Pray that God will heal the body part that is being invaded by this foreign, destructive cells. They don’t belong in your body. As you partake, speak to the cancer and command it to go–in Jesus’s name and his authority. Drive it out and rebuke it. Stand up for you invaded body part. Fight for it.

I pray that fasting blesses your walk with God.