Fast (3522) (nesteuo from ne- = not + esthío = to eat) means to abstain from food for a certain length of time. Fasting consisted of abstinence from food to express dependence on God and submission to His will.
Other Resources:
Fast, Fasting - Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology
Webster's 1828
Fast; Fasting - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Fasting - Article by Archibald Alexander
Thayer - to abstain as a religious exercise from food and drink:
NIDNTT - says Nesteuo is from ne-, particle of negation, and edo, eat, i.e. not eating) means, having an empty stomach.
Manser - Abstaining from food, and possibly drink, for a limited period of time as a mark of religious commitment and devotion or as an expression of repentance for sins.
Zodhiates
Pharisees practiced often, sometimes twice a week (cf. Luke 18:12; Sept.: Is. 58:3ff.; Dan. 9:3). In their longer fastings they abstained only from better kinds of food. The Jews used to call such a fast “The great annual public fast of the great Day of Atonement” which occurred in the month Tisri, corresponding to the new moon of October. It thus served to indicate the season of the year after which the navigation of the Mediterranean became dangerous (Acts 27:9 [cf. Lev. 16:29ff.; 23:27ff.]). (Complete Word Study Dictionary- New Testament- Spiros Zodhiates)
Rothenberg
To fast is to abstain for a limited period from any kind of food. (Total and permanent abstinence from particular, “forbidden” foods is a quite separate matter.) What is the real motive for fasting? In the pagan religions of the ancient world, it was clearly fear of demons and the idea that fasting was an effective means of preparing oneself for an encounter with the deity, since it created the right kind of openness to divine influence. For this reason it belonged in the mystery religions to the ritual of initiation for novices. In magic and with the oracles fasting was also often regarded as a preparation necessary to success. The custom of fasting following a death was widespread. While the soul of the dead person is still near, there is danger of demonic infection in eating and drinking. Fasting was also required, for instance, in certain fertility rites. Thus at Athens he Nesteia is the name given to the fast-day in the women’s fertility festival in the month of sowing (October). Abstinence, here including particularly sexual abstinence, makes a person readier to receive the divine powers of fertility. In practice, fasting in the setting of religious rites and as a defence against trouble was common in the whole of the ancient world, but not fasting for ethical motives (asceticism).
In the LXX the Greek words represent the Heb. sûm, fast. Along with this the MT has 'innâh nepes, afflict oneself (lit., humble one’s soul), referring to a purification rite in which fasting played a part (Lev. 16:29, 31; 23:27, 32; Num. 29:7; Isa. 58:3; Ps. 35:13). Frequently too we read simply of “eating no bread and drinking no water” (e.g. Ex 34:28).
The forms and purposes of fasting are many. Fasting is practised in Israel as a preparation for converse with God (Exod. 34:28; Deut. 9:9; Dan. 9:3):
(a) It was practised by the individual, when oppressed by great cares (2 Sam. 12:16-23; 1 Ki. 21:27; Ps. 35:13; 69:10).
(b) It was practised by the nation in imminent danger of war and destruction (Jdg. 20:26; 2 Chr. 20:3; Est. 4:16; Jon. 3:4-10; Jud. 4:9, 13); during a plague of locusts (Joel 1 and 2); to bring success to the return of the exiles (Ezr. 8:21-23); as an expiatory rite (Neh. 9:1); and finally in connection with mourning the dead (2 Sam. 1:12).
Fasting and prayer go constantly together (Jer. 14:11-12; Neh. 1:4; Ezr. 8:21, 23). Fasting usually lasts from morning to evening (Jdg. 20:26; 1 Sam. 14:24; 2 Sam. 1:12), although Est. 4:16 tells of a 3-day fast. In the description in Ps. 109:24 the torments of fasting during the period of accusation are at the same time a reflection of the inward torments suffered by the suppliant.
The Israelite law ordained fasting only on the day of atonement (Lev. 6:29-30; 23:27-32; Num. 29:7). After the destruction of Jerusalem (587 B.C.) four fast-days were laid down as days of remembrance (Zech. 7:3-5; 8:19). (New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology)
Lowery
Fasting consisted of abstinence from food to express dependence on God and submission to his will (cf. Mt 4:1). The fasting Jesus refers to is private fasting, probably done as an aid to prayer (cf. Luke 2:37). Although the early church collectively fasted and prayed (e.g., Acts 13:3, 14:23), it seems to have been done primarily by Jewish Christians. The practice is never mentioned in any of the NT letters and while Jesus is with them the disciples do not fast (Mt 9:14). Like alms and prayer, fasting is to be done as an act of devotion to God and not to win the approval of anyone else. (Matthew - The Bible Knowledge Key Word Study).
Comfort
The New Testament Christians regularly prayed and fasted (Acts 13:3, nesteuo in Greek). Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights without food or water, just as Moses had—an impossible human feat in each case; but God empowered each one (compare Ex. 24:18; 34:28; Matt. 4:2). We see in these cases that God’s presence and word was more life-giving than food Jesus Himself indicated that the time after His ascension would properly be a time of fasting, for He would be gone (Mark 2:19). But He clearly instructed His followers to fast with the heart, in secret to God, and not as a show for other people (Matt. 6:16–18). When fasting, keep your focus on the Lord and His will for you. (Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words- 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Explained and Defined- Philip W. Comfort, Eugene E. Carpenter)
Nesteuo - 20x in 15v but in seven major segments emphasizing fasting...
Matthew 4:2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
Matthew 6:16 "Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17 "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Matthew 9:14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
Spurgeon: But Jesus was to go. He says himself, “The Bridegroom shall be taken from them.” Here first He speaks about His death. Did His disciples note the warning word? When their Beloved was gone, they would have fasting enough. How true was this! Sorrows crowded in upon them when He was gone. It is the same with us. Our Lord is our joy: His presence makes our banquet; His absence is our fast, black and bitter. All Ritualistic fasting is the husk: the reality of fasting is known only to the child of the bride chamber when His Lord is no more with Him. This is fasting indeed, as some of us know full well. There is no wedding without a Bridegroom, no delight without Jesus. In his presence is fulness of joy; in his absence is depth of misery. Let but the heart rest in his love and it desireth nothing more. Take a way a sense of his love from the soul, and it is dark, empty, and nigh unto death.
John MacArthur: The Old Testament prescribed only one fast, the one on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (see Lev. 16:29, 31, where the phrase “humble your souls” [from the Heb. ˓āna, “to afflict or humble”] commonly included the idea of refraining from food). But Jewish tradition had come to require fasting twice a week (see Luke 18:12), and these disciples were careful to follow that practice.
Along with alms giving and certain prescribed prayers, twice-weekly fasting was one of the three major expressions of orthodox Judaism during Jesus’ day. The scribes and Pharisees looked on these practices with great seriousness and were careful not only to follow them faithfully but to do so as publicly and ostentatiously as possible-ostensibly as a testimony to true godliness but in reality as a testimony to their own self-styled piety. When they gave alms, they blew trumpets “in the synagogues and in the streets” in order to “be honored by men” (Matt. 6:2). When they prayed “in the synagogues and on the street corners,” they did so “to be seen by men” (Mt 6:5). And when they fasted, they “put on a gloomy face” and neglected their “appearance in order to be seen fasting by men” (Mt 6:16). They did not see religion as a matter of humility, repentance, or forgiveness, but as a matter of ceremony and proud display. And therefore the external rituals which they paraded as badges of godly righteousness actually marked them as ungodly hypocrites, as Jesus declared in each of the three verses just cited (cf. Mt 5:20).
Religious ritual and routine have always been dangers to true godliness. Many ceremonies, such as praying to saints and lighting a candle for a deceased relative are actually heretical. But even if it is not wrong in itself, when a form of praying, worshiping, or serving becomes the focus of attention, it becomes a barrier to true righteousness. It can keep an unbeliever from trusting in God and a believer from faithfully obeying Him. Even going to church, reading the Bible, saying grace at meals, and singing hymns can become lifeless routines in which true worship of God has no part....
The days will come, Jesus explained, when the bridegroom is taken away. Taken away is from apairō, which can carry the idea of sudden removal, of being snatched away violently. Jesus was obviously referring to His crucifixion, which would abruptly and violently take Him away from His followers, His faithful attendants. That will be the time for mourning, and then they will fast. But for the present time, He was saying, fasting was inappropriate. When there is no reason to mourn there is no reason to fast. Fasting springs naturally from a broken and grieving heart, but fasting as a shallow spiritual ritual apart from such brokenness is an affront to God. (MacArthur, J: Matthew 1-7 Chicago: Moody Press)
Mark 2:18 John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" 19 And Jesus said to them, "While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 "But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.
J C Ryle has some interesting comments: These words, we must of course see, were a parable. They were spoken with a special reference to the question which the Pharisees had just raised--"Why do the disciples of John fast, but your disciples do not FAST?" Our Lord's reply evidently means, that to enforce fasting among His disciples would be inexpedient and unseasonable. His little flock was as yet young in grace, and weak in faith, knowledge, and experience. They must be led on softly, and not burdened at this early stage with requirements which they were not able to bear. Fasting, moreover, might, be suitable to the disciples of Him who was only the Bridegroom's friend, who lived in the wilderness, preached the baptism of repentance, was clothed in camel's hair, and ate locusts and wild honey. But fasting was not equally suitable to the disciples of Him, who was the Bridegroom Himself, brought glad tidings to sinners, and came living like other men. In short, to require fasting of his disciples at present, would be putting "new wine into old bottles." It would be trying to mingle and amalgamate things that essentially differed.
Luke 5:33 And they said to Him, "The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink." 34 And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35 "But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days."
Luke 18:12 'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'
Comment: Perfect example of "bad" fasting. Pride puffed up fasting.
Acts 13:2 While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
Nesteuo: 19x in the Septuagint
Ex 38:8; Jdg 20:26; 1Sa7:6; 31:13; 2Sa 1:12; 12:16, 21, 22, 23; 1Kgs 21:9, 27; 1 Chr 10:12; Ezra 8:23; Neh 1:4; Esther 4:16; Isa 58:3, 4; Jer 14:12; Zech 7:5;
Fasting is a valid discipline and one which Jesus did not annul. The only fast God commanded was once per year on the Day of Atonement. The Jewish religious teachers had added two fasts to be performed each Monday and Thursday, a practice which was observed ritualistically by the "pious" Pharisees.
Phil Newton writes that...
Fasting has been practiced by many different religions for centuries. It is personal self-discipline in which a person denies himself a normal need in order to learn to restrain his passions and desires, and to express his devotion. Often God’s people have fasted in order to express humility before the Lord, and to show an earnest desire for the Lord to work in a particular way. Most commonly, fasting involves denying oneself a meal or meals in order to give oneself to the purpose of seeking God’s face. But fasting is never to be used for drawing attention to one’s spirituality or devotion... The gloomy, sullen looks on their faces give the pretentious fasters a ready audience. The language suggests an almost unrecognizable look, as they leave their hair disheveled, neglect bathing, and maybe even accentuate a strange pallor to the skin.
In our day it seems the most common thing is for people to announce that they are fasting or to tell about their fast. I received a booklet from a Baptist pastor several years ago telling about his 40-day fast, and how that became the key to his spiritual growth and his church’s growth. Then he outlined in true-Baptist program fashion how to institute such a fast in one’s own life. But Jesus tells us... Let this be between you and the Lord. The Lord sees in secret and rewards accordingly. (Sermon)
What principles for fasting are given in Matthew 6:16-18? Don't fast like a hypocrite, putting on a gloomy face to impress men - that's your entire reward! If you give, pray or fast for the admiration of man, you will lose the smile and reward of your Father! When you fast take care of your appearance so men don't know you are fasting - then your Father will repay you. Notice that Jesus says "when you fast" not "if you fast" indicating it is expected by our Lord. However, He does not command fasting. Thus fasting is a choice we each must make. It is a voluntary spiritual discipline.
Fasting is a Christian’s voluntary, non-coerced abstinence from food or water for spiritual purposes.
Fasting by a non-Christian has no eternal value since the discipline’s motives and purposes are to be God-centered.
Fasting runs counter to America's self-indulgent, "me, my, mine" mindset, and thus it is not surprising that many Christians have not given serious consideration to the discipline of fasting. The act of fasting directly opposes the desires of our fallen flesh, which are continually appealed to by the world and the tempter. Of course, there are some people who cannot and should not fast because of medical reasons. However, for the majority of Christians, it be prudent to consider engaging in the practice of fasting, as saints have done throughout the Old Testament and in the early church (cf Acts 13:2, 3, 14:23).
Fasting is not to impress God not to earn His acceptance, our acceptance having been made full and complete on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fasting does not earn God’s favor! Like alms and prayer, fasting is to be done as an act of devotion to God and not to win the approval of anyone else. When we fast, we must not do anything that will draw attention to our appearance, our hungry state or our dedication to God. Fasting is between the saint and his God.
Fasting is mentioned in Scripture more than several other important doctrines including such teachings as baptism (about 77 times for fasting, 75 for baptism). Most believers have been baptized but how many have fasted?
Fasting in Scripture is almost always associated with prayer. Some feel that fasting helps one focus our prayers of intercession and supplication. We should not however assume that fasting is like a "spiritual hunger strike" that in any way compels or manipulates God. Clearly, if we petition for something out of God’s will, fasting does not incline Him produce an affirmative response. In short, fasting does not change God’s hearing so much as it changes our praying.
Fasting for God's guidance is clearly seen in Scripture (see Jdg 20, Acts 14:23), but fasting does not ensure certainty that we will receive clear guidance. On the other hand, fasting rightly motivated does make us more receptive to our Father Who seeks to guide us.
Fasting is often a manifestation of grief or mourning, as when King Saul was killed by the Philistines resulting in the men of Jabesh Gilead fasting seven days (cf 1Sa 31:13)
Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote that...
Fasting, if we conceive of it truly, must not...be confined to the question of food and drink; fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose. There are many bodily functions which are right and normal and perfectly legitimate, but which for special peculiar reasons in certain circumstances should be controlled. That is fasting. (Lloyd-Jones, D. M. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount)
David R Smith adds that...
A selfish person is unable to enjoy the gospel; a Christian is someone who has begun to deny himself, and is in the continuous process of denying himself. Jesus said “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Self-denial is not limited to one particular kind of giving; it embraces all personal disciplines. Fasting is only one discipline; nevertheless, it is self-denial. This does not mean that to fast is to embrace legalism; it is gospel liberty which encourages us to deny ourselves...
Nobody can maintain a desired state of mind whilst his bodily condition is not in accordance with it. If a man is anxious to devote himself to spiritual things, for a time, he is obliged to ensure that his body is in similar environment, or else he may not succeed. He cannot be reverent in the midst of his own physical irreverence. Fasting ensures the correct environment for sorrowful and serious considerations. Asterius wrote, in the 4th Century, that one role of fasting is to ensure that the stomach does not make the body boil like a kettle, to the hindering of the soul...
FAITH
AND FASTING
Fasting does not create faith, for faith grows in us as we hear, and read, and dwell upon, God’s Word; it is a work of the Holy Spirit to bring faith to God’s people. However, fasting has the capacity to encourage faith in the one who is involved in this discipline. It seems as though the neglect of self feeds the faith which God has implanted in the hearts of born-again believers. This doesn’t mean that those who eat the least have the most faith; such a view is not only untrue, it is extremist. It is simply that regular self-denial has its benefits, and one of these is seen in a personal increase in faith. (Fasting: A Neglected Discipline. Christian Literature Crusade, 1954)
Fasting in the Old Testament was commonly associated with seeking of God's deliverance and/or protection before one made a critical decision or pursued a potentially dangerous or difficult course of action (cf 2Chr 20:1, 2, 3, 4-29, 2Chr 30:3, 4, Ezra 8:21, 22, 23, Neh 1:4). Queen Esther called for a "cooperative fast" from the Jews of Susa as she prepared for an uninvited and therefore potentially dangerous entrance into the presence of King Xerxes. In this hour of great need, Queen Esther requested Mordecai to...
Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him. (Esther 4:16, 17)
Fasting can be associated with confession and repentance (see Da 9:3, 4-note). In First Samuel 7 we read a study of national revival (read the entire chapter 1Sa 7:1-17) in which God raised up Samuel, who called the people to repentance, confession, and cleansing. Intercession was made through the blood of a lamb, and there was victory over the Philistines. Fasting was a component of this "revival"...
And they (the Israelites) gathered to Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD (this was a sacrificial act in the arid land of Israel, symbolic of their repentant hearts as described in 1Sa 7:3-4 where Samuel called them to return to the LORD and they responded by removing their idols and serving Jehovah), and fasted on that day, and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah. (1Sa 7:6, 1-17)
The prophet Joel in light of impending judgment (The Day of the Lord) asked "Who can endure it?" and then provided the "way of escape"...
"Yet even now," declares the LORD, "Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping, and mourning; and rend your heart and not your garments." Now return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, and relenting of evil. (Joel 2:12, 13)
Here God Himself associates fasting with a changed change (repentance) and a return to Him. This passage also warns that fasting without a changed heart is a meaningless dead work. Beloved, is God calling you to deal with a specific sin in your hardened heart, so that you might return to Him in brokenness and repentance with fasting, weeping and mourning? Jesus promised that blessed are those mourn over their sins for they shall be comforted (see Mt 5:4-note) Don't try to substitute a spiritual discipline such as fasting, for God' clear call to confess and forsake that sin which so easily entangles you (cf Pr 28:13). It is a perversion of fasting from food or drink when we refuse God's "chosen fast" (cf Isaiah 58:3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, especially v6-7) to cease feeding a sin we want to continue feeding.
Fasting, rightly motivated, is a physical expression of humility before God, just as kneeling or prostrating yourself in prayer can reflect humility before Him. For example first Kings records that one of the most wicked men in Israel's history, King Ahab, eventually humbled himself before God and demonstrated it by fasting...
And it came about when Ahab heard these words, that he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and fasted, and he lay in sackcloth and went about despondently. Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, "Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but I will bring the evil upon his house in his son's days." (1Kings 21:27-29)
David, a man after God's Own heart, illustrates the relationship between prayer, fasting and humility recording that...
as for me, when they (David's enemies!) were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer kept returning to my bosom. (Psalm 35:13)
Fasting is not always associated with humility, as illustrated by the self-righteous Pharisee who boasted...
'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' (Luke 18:12)
The Jews of Jesus' day had a teaching that Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the Law on a Thursday, and returned with it on a Monday. Consequently, the Pharisees considered fasting on those two days was considered a special mark of holiness.
Fasting can be the work of God in a place that has experienced tragedy, disappointment, or apparent defeat as seen with Nehemiah when he heard that despite the return of many Jewish exiles to Jerusalem, the city still had no wall...
Now it came about when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 1:4)
Nehemiah had a deep sense of Jerusalem’s significance to God and was greatly distressed that affairs there had not advanced the cause and glory of God. Note that Nehemiah's focus was toward the God of heaven and for the glory of God. When I fast is that my focus and my goal?
Fasting can be an act of sheer devotion to God as we see with the godly prophetess Anna, Luke recording that...
there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with a husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. And she never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. (Luke 2:36-37)
Anna is one of those people that I cannot wait to meet. Luke gives details of her life which suggest that for well over half a century she was at the Temple serving God with “fastings and prayers.” Clearly for Anna, her fasting as an incredible expression of worship to her Lord. Here we see fasting can be an expression of finding one's greatest pleasure and enjoyment in God.
May you and I dear reader yearn for times when God causes us like Anna to crave the spiritual banquet of His presence more than any physical, temporal and earthly meal. Remember that Jesus promises that our Father in heaven will reward us when He sees a rightly motivated, pure in heart fast for His eyes only.
Happy would it be if both churches and their individual members, were more frequently to set apart special seasons of fasting and prayer to seek a renewed communication of divine influence - John Angell James (The Church in Earnest)
Spurgeon
Prayer and fasting produce an elevated condition of heart; and if this can be maintained, we escape the injurious tendency of our surroundings, and in a sense this corruptible puts on incorruption. (The Salt Cellar)
THE church of God would be far stronger to wrestle with this ungodly age if she were more given to prayer and fasting. There is a mighty efficacy in these two gospel ordinances. The first links us to heaven, the second separates us from earth. Prayer takes us into the banqueting-house of God; fasting overturns the surfeiting tables of earth. Prayer gives us to feed on the bread of heaven, and fasting delivers the soul from being encumbered with the fulness of bread which perishes. When Christians shall bring themselves up to the uttermost possibilities of spiritual vigor, then they will be able, by God’s Spirit working in them, to cast out devils which to-day, without the prayer and fasting, laugh them to scorn. (Flashes of thought)
Complete Gathered Gold Quotes on Prayer and Fasting...
Since this is a holy exercise both for the humbling of men and for their confession of humility, why should we use it less than the ancients did? - John Calvin
Prayer is one hand with which we grasp the invisible; fasting the other, with which we let loose and cast away the visible. - Andrew Murray
By fasting, the body learns to obey the soul; by praying the soul learns to obey the body. - William Secker
Fasting is calculated to bring a note of urgency and importance into our praying, and to give force to our pleading in the court of heaven. The man who prays with fasting is giving heaven notice that he is truly in earnest. - Arthur Wallis
Few disciplines go against the flesh and the mainstream of culture as this one. - Donald S. Whitney
Without a purpose, fasting can be a miserable, self-centered experience. - Donald S. Whitney
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A Hunger
for God
There are a number of books available on this discipline but many are less than spiritually sound and border on the mystical. In his Preface to A Hunger for God (I highly recommend this excellent resource which is generously made available at no charge online) Dr John Piper gives believers wise counsel regarding the spiritual discipline of fasting writing...
Beware of books on fasting. The Bible is very careful to warn us about people who “advocate abstaining from foods, which God created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth” (1Ti 4:1, 2, 3). The apostle Paul asks with dismay, “Why .. . do you submit yourself to decrees, such as ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch’?” (Colossians 2:20, 21-note). He is jealous for the full enjoyment of Christian liberty. Like a great declaration of freedom over every book on fasting flies the banner,
“Food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat” (1Co 8:8).
There once were two men. One said,
“I fast twice a week”; the other said, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
Only one went down to his house justified (Luke 18:12, 13, 14).
The discipline of self-denial is fraught with dangers— perhaps only surpassed by the dangers of indulgence. These also we are warned about:
“All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything” (1Corinthians 6:12).
What masters us has become our god; and Paul warns us about those “whose god is their appetite” (Php 3:19-note). Appetite dictates the direction of their lives. The stomach is sovereign. This has a religious expression and an irreligious one. Religiously “persons . . . turn the grace of our God into licentiousness” (Jude 1:4) and tout the slogan,
“Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food” (1 Corinthians 6:13).
Irreligiously, with no pretext of pardoning grace, persons simply yield to “the desires for other things [that] enter in and choke the word” (Mark 4:19).
“Desires for other things”—there’s the enemy. And the only weapon that will triumph is a deeper hunger for God.
The weakness of our hunger for God is not because he is unsavory,
but because we keep ourselves stuffed with “other things.”
Perhaps, then, the denial of our stomach’s appetite for food might express, or even increase, our soul’s appetite for God. (Piper, John. available in Pdf online - A Hunger for God)
DO NOT PUT ON A GLOOMY FACE AS THE HYPOCRITES DO, FOR THEY NEGLECT THEIR APPEARANCE SO THAT THEY WILL BE NOTICED BY MEN WHEN THEY ARE FASTING: me ginesthe (2PPMM) hos hoi hupokritai skuthropoi, aphanizousin (3PPAI) gar ta prosopa auton hopos phanosin (3PAPS) tois anthropois nesteuontes; (PAPMPN) (Mt 6:2,5; 1Kings 21:27; Isaiah 58:3, 4, 5; Zechariah 7:3, 4, 5; Malachi 3:14; Mark 2:18; Luke 18:12)
Matt 6:2 “When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 5 “And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
1Kgs 21:27 And it came about when Ahab heard these words, that he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and fasted, and he lay in sackcloth and went about despondently.
Do not put on a gloomy face - Young's rendering is more literal "be ye not as the hypocrites, of sour countenances". The present imperative is a command that is coupled with a negative particle (Greek = "me") which calls for them to stop this practice.
Gloomy (4659) (skuthropos from skuthros = sullen, grim + ops = countenance) means to look sad, somber, downcast or gloomy.
Spurgeon writes that...
I heard persons speak of certain emaciated ecclesiastics as being such wonderfully holy men. “How they must have fasted! They look like it. You can see it in their faces.” Probably produced by a fault in their digestion much more likely, than by anything else and if not — if we are to suppose that the spareness of a man a person is to be the token of his holiness — then the living skeleton was a saint to perfection. But we are not beguiled by such follies as these. The Christian man fasts but he takes care that no one shall know it. He wears no ring or token even when his heart is heavy. Full often he puts on a cheerful air, lest by any means he should communicate unnecessary sorrow to others, and he will be cheerful and happy, apparently, in the midst of company, to prevent their being sad, for it is enough for him to be sad himself, and sad before his Father’s face.
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Do not imagine that the appearance of sadness indicates sanctity—it often means hypocrisy. To conceal one’s own griefs for the sake of cheering others implies a self-denying sympathy which is the highest kind of Christianity.
Noticed by men - This is the reward the hypocrites desire. If we are honest, we will all agree that it is in a sense "rewarding" when others compliment us on our spiritual discipline, zeal, or devotion?
How you fast depends on whom you want to impress. If your fast is for your spiritual benefit and God’s glory, no one else needs to applaud your commitment.
Harry Ironside reminds us that our Lord Jesus...
was guileless in all His ways, and He calls for absolute honesty in the behavior of His disciples. Let him who is abstaining from food or other things in order to have more time with God, cultivate a cheerful manner as becomes one who enjoys communion with the Father.
Piper adds that...
Few things feel more gratifying to the heart of fallen man than being made much of for our accomplishments, especially our moral and religious accomplishments... All of this we are prone to do because of our seemingly insatiable appetite for the praise of men. We want to be made much of. We want people to like us and admire us and speak well of us. It is a deadly drive. Jesus warned us, “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). (Ibid)
TRULY I SAY TO YOU, THEY HAVE THEIR REWARD IN FULL: amen lego (1SPAI) humin apechousin (3PPAI) ton misthon auton
Reward in full - Jesus is saying that that if you love to be "rewarded" with praise and admiration from people, you will receive that "reward" but nothing more.
The following Topical summary is modified from Torrey's Topical Textbook (See also ISBE article on fasting)
Spirit of, explained-