Answers from church history on today's questions
What Christian writers said, from about AD 140 to 1930.
173 passages · 33 writers · 13 centuries
Of the 173 passages here, 54 state a position and 119 mention gluttony in passing, many of them in comment on a single verse such as Philippians 3:19, Romans 16:18, or Luke 21:34. The 54 come from 17 writers, from Hermas (c. AD 140) to A. T. Robertson (1930), and Chrysostom and Matthew Henry supply 22 of them. Clement of Alexandria, Chrysostom, Augustine, Aquinas, and Luther define gluttony as excess or inordinate desire, not eating itself, and Aquinas calls it mortal when the desire turns a person from the last end. Writers apply "whose god is their belly" to those ruled by appetite, and cite Eden, Sodom, and Israel in the wilderness as cases of its results. No statements of position appear between Gregory the Great (590) and Aquinas (1265), or between Aquinas and Luther (1535).
15 passages · 8 writers · 100s to 1700s
Writers define gluttony by the terms Scripture uses and assess whether and how seriously Scripture counts it a sin.
Excess, which in all things is an evil, is very highly reprehensible in the matter of food. Gluttony, called ὀψοφαγία , is nothing but excess in the use of relishes ( ὄψον ); and λαιμαργία is insanity with respect to the gullet; and γαστριμαργία is excess with respect to food—insanity in reference to the belly, as the name implies; for μάργος is a madman.
Clement of Alexandria, Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.1 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2)
There are, in the Scriptures, countless divine answers condemning gluttony and approving simple food. But as fasting is not my present theme and an adequate discussion of it would require a treatise to itself, these few observations must suffice of the many which the subject suggests. By them you will understand why the first man, obeying his belly and not God, was cast down from paradise into this vale of tears; and why Satan used hunger to tempt the Lord Himself in the wilderness; and why the apostle cries: “Meats for the belly and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them;” and why he speaks of the self-indulgent as men “whose God is their belly.” For men invariably worship what they like best.
Jerome, Jerome, The Letters of St. Jerome 22 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 6)
“Meats,” he says, are on good terms with gluttony, and it with them. It cannot therefore lead us unto Christ, but drags towards these. For it is a strong and brutal passion, and makes us slaves, and puts us upon ministering to the belly. … But these things he says not concerning food and the body, but it is the passion of greediness and excess in eatables which he is censuring: and what follows shews it.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 18 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 12)
By “the belly” here he means not the stomach, but the stomach’s voraciousness. As when he says, ( Philip. iii. 19 .) “Whose God is their belly:” not speaking about that part of the body, but about greediness. … But he puts down two pairs of things, “meats” and gluttony, (which he terms “the belly;”) “Christ,” and “the body.”
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 18 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 12)
For whereas men really eat to live, they think that they live to eat. These will every wise man condemn, and holy Scripture especially, all gluttons, drunkards, gormandizers, “whose god is their belly.” … But they who descend to them from the duty of maintaining life, do not live to eat, but eat to live.
Augustine of Hippo, Augustine, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 3 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 6)
We should not say, Let there be no belly, but let there be no gluttony; for the belly makes not the gluttony, but our negligence. We should not say, that it is because of eating and drinking that all these evils exist; for it is not because of this, but because of our carelessness and insatiableness.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 17 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 9)
For it is possible that a wise man may use the daintiest food without any sin of epicurism or gluttony, while a fool will crave for the vilest food with a most disgusting eagerness of appetite. And any sane man would prefer eating fish after the manner of our Lord, to eating lentiles after the manner of Esau, or barley after the manner of oxen. For there are several beasts that feed on commoner kinds of food, but it does not follow that they are more temperate than we are. For in all matters of this kind it is not the nature of the things we use, but our reason for using them, and our manner of seeking them, that make what we do either praiseworthy or blameable.
Augustine of Hippo, Augustine, On Christian Doctrine 3.12 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 2)
I answer that, Gluttony denotes, not any desire of eating and drinking, but an inordinate desire. Now desire is said to be inordinate through leaving the order of reason, wherein the good of moral virtue consists: and a thing is said to be a sin through being contrary to virtue. Wherefore it is evident that gluttony is a sin.
Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II.Q148.A1
Reply to Objection 1: To make use of what is needful for self-support is not the sin of gluttony; but if a man do anything inordinate out of the desire for such support, it can pertain to the sin of gluttony. Now it is inordinate for a man who has human assistance at his command to seek to obtain food miraculously for mere bodily support.
Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas, Summa Theologica III.Q41.A4
Secondly, the gravity of a sin depends on the person who sins, and from this point of view the sin of gluttony is diminished rather than aggravated, both on account of the necessity of taking food, and on account of the difficulty of proper discretion and moderation in such matters. Thirdly, from the point of view of the result that follows, and in this way gluttony has a certain gravity, inasmuch as certain sins are occasioned thereby. Reply to Objection 1: These punishments are to be referred to the vices that resulted from gluttony, or to the root from which gluttony sprang, rather than to gluttony itself. For the first man was expelled from Paradise on account of pride, from which he went on to an act of gluttony: while the deluge and the punishment of the people of Sodom were inflicted for sins occasioned by gluttony.
Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II.Q148.A3
On the contrary, Gregory (Moral. xxxi, 45) assigns these daughters to gluttony. I answer that, As stated above ( AA[1] ,2,3), gluttony consists properly in an immoderate pleasure in eating and drinking. Wherefore those vices are reckoned among the daughters of gluttony, which are the results of eating and drinking immoderately.
Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II.Q148.A6
Therefore gluttony is a mortal sin. … Accordingly, if the inordinate concupiscence in gluttony be found to turn man away from the last end, gluttony will be a mortal sin.
Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II.Q148.A2
Paul does not say that eating and drinking are works of the flesh, but intemperance in eating and drinking, which is a common vice nowadays, is a work of the flesh. Those who are given to excess are to know that they are not spiritual but carnal. Sentence is pronounced upon them that they shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Paul desires that Christians avoid drunkenness and gluttony , that they live temperate and sober lives, in order that the body may not grow soft and sensual.
Martin Luther, Luther, Commentary on Galatians 5:19
Employing a figure of speech ( synecdoche ) which is frequent in the Prophets, and indeed in the whole of Scripture, he takes a part for the whole; as if he had said, “Wo to gluttony; Wo to intemperance.” But he purposely mentioned that which was disgraceful in the highest degree, in order to render that vice generally hated and abhorred; for, as we have said, nothing is more base or disgraceful than for a man to make trial of his strength in swallowing food or in guzzling wine, and thus struggling with himself so as to cram down as much as his belly can hold.
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah, Vol. 1 5.1 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 13)
We must not walk in rioting and drunkenness; we must abstain from all excess in eating and drinking. We must not give the least countenance to revelling, nor indulge our sensual appetite in any private excesses.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Romans 13.3 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 6)
11 passages · 6 writers · 100s to 1900s
Writers read Paul on those whose god is their belly as a charge about appetite ruling the person.
No one who uses it will ever study to become temperate, burying as he does his mind in his belly, very like the fish called ass, which, Aristotle says, alone of all creatures has its heart in its stomach. This fish Epicharmus the comic poet calls “monster-paunch.” Such are the men who believe in their belly, “whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” To them the apostle predicted no good when he said, “whose end is destruction.”
Clement of Alexandria, Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.1 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2)
But we who seek the heavenly bread must rule the belly, which is beneath heaven, and much more the things which are agreeable to it, which “God shall destroy,” says the apostle, justly execrating gluttonous desires. For “meats are for the belly,” for on them depends this truly carnal and destructive life; whence some, speaking with unbridled tongue, dare to apply the name agape , to pitiful suppers, redolent of savour and sauces.
Clement of Alexandria, Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.1 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2)
Besides, those dainty tastes, which trouble themselves about rich dishes, drive to practices of ill-repute, daintiness, gluttony, greed, voracity, insatiability. Appropriate designations of such people as so indulge are flies, weasels, flatterers, gladiators, and the monstrous tribes of parasites—the one class surrendering reason, the other friendship, and the other life, for the gratification of the belly; crawling on their bellies, beasts in human shape after the image of their father, the voracious beast. … Those the Holy Spirit, by Isaiah, denounces as wretched, depriving them tacitly of the name of love ( agape ), since their feasting was not in accordance with the word.
Clement of Alexandria, Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.1 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2)
For when one consumes his whole life in drinking and reveling, and expends some small trifle on the poor, whilst he consumes the larger portion on his belly, will not these words with justice apply to him? No words are more apt to call attention, or more cutting in reproof, than these: “Whose god is the belly, whose glory is in their shame.”
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on Philippians 14 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 13)
Let us see how Paul served God: let us see how gluttons serve their belly. Do not they undergo ten thousand such deaths? do not they fear to disobey whatever it orders? do not they minister impossibilities to it? Are not they worse than slaves?
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on Philippians 14 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 13)
These are they, whose god is their belly; for if they have no spiritual thoughts, but have all their possessions here, and mind these things, with reason have they their belly for their god, in saying, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.” … Thou hast received a belly, that thou mayest feed, not distend it, that thou mayest have the mastery over it, not have it as mistress over thee: that it may minister to thee for the nourishment of the other parts, not that thou mayest minister to it, not that thou mayest exceed limits.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on Philippians 14 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 13)
“Whose god,” saith he, “is the belly.” For this have they a God! That is, “let us eat and drink!” Dost thou see, how great an evil luxury is? to some their wealth, and to others their belly is a god. Are not these too idolaters, and worse than the common?
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on Philippians 14 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 13)
Others make a god of their belly. ‘Whose god is their belly.' Phil 3:19. Clement of Alexandria writes of a fish that has its heart in its belly; an emblem of epicures, their heart is in their belly, they mind nothing but indulging the sensual appetite; sacrificant lari [They worship home comforts]; their belly is their god, and to this they pour drink-offerings.
Thomas Watson, Watson, A Body of Divinity 3.11
Gluttons and drunkards make a god of their belly, and all their care is to please it and make provision for it. The same observance which good people give to God epicures give to their appetites. Of such he says, They serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, Rom. xvi. 18 .
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Philippians 3.5 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 6)
527. Why is belly-service referred to idolatry? Because belly-servers set sensual gratification above every thing, and therefore the Apostle Paul says that their god is their belly; or, in other words, that the belly is their idol.
Philaret of Moscow, Philaret of Moscow, The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church q. 516–528
The comic poet Eupolis uses the rare word Κοιλιοδαιμων for one who makes a god of his belly and Seneca speaks of one who abdomini servit. Sensuality in food, drink, sex then as now mastered some men. These men posed as Christians and gloried in their shame.
A.T. Robertson, Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament 12.3
7 passages · 5 writers · 100s to 1500s
Writers cite Eden, Sodom, Israel in the wilderness, and Moses on prosperity as Scripture cases of gluttony and its results.
I am a liar, if the Lord Himself, when upbraiding Israel with forgetfulness, does not impute the cause to “fulness:” “(My) beloved is waxen thick, and fat, and distent, and hath quite forsaken God, who made him, and hath gone away from the Lord his Saviour.” In short, in the self-same Deuteronomy, when bidding precaution to be taken against the self-same cause, He says: “Lest, when thou shalt have eaten, and drunken, and built excellent houses, thy sheep and oxen being multiplied, and (thy) silver and gold, thy heart be elated, and thou be forgetful of the Lord thy God.” To the corrupting power of riches He made the enormity of edacity antecedent, for which riches themselves are the procuring agents.
Tertullian, Tertullian, On Fasting 6 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4)
But neither is the body, nor food, of the devil, but luxury alone. For by means of it that malignant fiend brings to pass his innumerable evils. … And to declare this, Ezekiel said, “But this was the iniquity of Sodom, in pride and fulness of bread and refinements they waxed wanton.” ( Ezek. xvi. 4 .)
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 40 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 12)
For indeed both Adam by the incontinence of the belly was cast out of paradise; and the flood in Noah’s time, this produced; and this brought down the thunders on Sodom. For although there was also a charge of whoredom, nevertheless from this grew the root of each of those punishments; which Ezekiel also signified when he said, “But this was the iniquity of Sodom, that she waxed wanton in pride and in fullness of bread, and in abundance of luxury.”
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 16 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 10)
The belly when filled with all kinds of food gives birth to seeds of wantonness, nor can the mind, when choked with the weight of food, keep the guidance and government of the thoughts. For not only is drunkenness with wine wont to intoxicate the mind, but excess of all kinds of food makes it weak and uncertain, and robs it of all its power of pure and clear contemplation. The cause of the overthrow and wantonness of Sodom was not drunkenness through wine, but fulness of bread. … And because through fulness of bread they were inflamed with uncontrollable lust of the flesh, they were burnt up by the judgment of God with fire and brimstone from heaven.
John Cassian, John Cassian, The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 5.6 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 11)
Again, that levity of conduct follows closely upon gluttony sacred authority testifies, when it says, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play ( Exod. xxxii. 6 ). For the most part also edacity leads us even to lechery, because, when the belly is distended by repletion, the stings of lust are excited. … That lechery follows upon gluttony the prophet testifies, denouncing hidden things while he speaks of open ones, when he says, The chief of the cooks broke down the walls of Jerusalem ( Jer. xxxix. 9; 2 Kings xxv. 10 )
Gregory the Great, Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the Great 4.4.20 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 12)
But the Prophet seems to condemn in the Sodomites what was not blamable in itself: for when God feeds us bountifully, fullness is not to be considered a crime; but he takes it here for immoderate gluttony; for those who have abundance are often luxurious, and nothing is more rare than self-restraint when materials for luxury are supplied to us. Hence fullness of bread is here taken for intemperance, since the Sodomites were so addicted to gluttony and drunkenness, that they gratified their appetites worse than the brutes, who do retain some moderation, for they are content with their own food: but men’s covetousness is altogether insatiable. Let us observe, then, that by fullness of bread we are to understand that intemperance in which profane men indulge when God supplies them bountifully with the means of living; for they do not consider why they abound in wine, and corn, and abundance of all things, but they drown themselves in luxuries with a blind and brutal impulse.
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on Ezekiel, Vol. 2 16.42 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 23)
If any should object that it is said in Psalm 78:30 , “They were not yet estranged from their lust:” this is easily solved by understanding that their unrestrained gluttony is there rebuked, as if he called them guttlers (gurgites,) whom no abundance can suffice to satisfy. Therefore the Prophet says, that although they were bursting with excess, they were not satiated; but were so inflamed by their boundless voracity, that God’s vengeance could alone repress it.
John Calvin, Calvin, Harmony of the Law, Vol. 4 1.5 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 6)
10 passages · 7 writers · 300s to 1800s
Writers comment on Luke 21:34 and related New Testament warnings against surfeiting and excess.
I hear the voice of my God commanding, let not “your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness.” “Drunkenness,” it is far from me; Thou wilt have mercy, that it approach not near unto me. But “surfeiting” sometimes creepeth upon Thy servant; Thou wilt have mercy, that it may be far from me. … And by Thy favour have I heard this saying likewise, which I have much delighted in, “Neither if we eat, are we the better; neither if we eat not, are we the worse;” which is to say, that neither shall the one make me to abound, nor the other to be wretched.
Augustine of Hippo, Augustine, The Confessions 10.31 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 1)
But we should notice the ways in which the Lord points out that the soul is weighed down: for He did not mention adultery, or fornication, or murder, or blasphemy, or rapine, which everybody knows to be deadly and damnable, but surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares or anxieties of this world: which men of this world are so far from avoiding or considering damnable that actually some who (I am ashamed to say) call themselves monks entangle themselves in these very occupations as if they were harmless or useful. And though these three things, when literally given way to weigh down the soul, and separate it from God, and bear it down to things earthly, yet it is very easy to avoid them, especially for us who are separated by so great a distance from all converse with this world, and who do not on any occasion have anything to do with those visible cares and drunkenness and surfeiting.
John Cassian, John Cassian, The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X 10.5 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 11)
Wherefore, lest either gluttonous appetite throw the one sort off their guard, or the afflicted flesh trip up the other by elation, let the former hear this from the mouth of the Truth, And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged in surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this world ( Luke xxi. 34 ). … Let the former hear, Meat for the belly, and the belly far meats; but God shall destroy both it and them ( 1 Cor. vi. 13 ). And again, Not in rioting and drunkenness ( Rom. xiii. 13 ).
Gregory the Great, Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the Great 4.4.20 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 12)
To guard against this, the Redeemer of the human race, when He would restrain us from gluttony, saying, Take heed to yourselves that your hearts be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness ( Luke xxi. 34 ), forthwith added, Or with cares of this life: and in the same place also, with design to add fearfulness to the warning, He straightway said, Lest perchance that day come upon you unawares ( Ibid .): and He even declares the manner of that coming, saying, For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth ( Ibid.
Gregory the Great, Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the Great 4.3.7 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 12)
In Luke the exhortation is more pointed, or, at least, more special, Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life. And certainly he who, by living in intemperance, has his senses overloaded with food and wine, will never elevate his mind to meditation on the heavenly life. But as there is no desire of the flesh that does not intoxicate a man, they ought to take care, in all these respects, not to satiate themselves with the world, if they wish to advance with speed to the kingdom of Christ.
John Calvin, Calvin, Harmony of the Evangelists, Vol. 3 1.20 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 33)
We must alarm ourselves into temperance and moderation: " Put a knife to thy throat, that is, restrain thyself, as it were with a sword hanging over thy head, from all excess. Let these words, Take heed lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and so that day come upon you unawares —or those, For all these things, God shall bring thee into judgment —or those, Drunkards, shall not inherit the kingdom of God, be a knife to the throat." The Latins call luxury gula — the throat.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Proverbs 23.1 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3)
Two things we must watch against, lest our hearts be overcharged with them:—(1.) The indulging of the appetites of the body, and allowing of ourselves in the gratifications of sense to an excess: Take heed lest you be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, the immoderate use of meat and drink, which burden the heart, not only with the guilt thereby contracted, but by the ill influence which such disorders of the body have upon the mind; they make men dull and lifeless to their duty, dead and listless in their duty; they stupify the conscience, and cause the mind to be unaffected with those things that are most affecting.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Luke 21.4 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 5)
Let us keep our natural desires and appetites after the things of this world within due bounds. Sobriety is usually opposed to excess in meats and drinks, and here particularly it is opposed to drunkenness; but it also extends to all other temporal things. Thus our Saviour warned his disciples to take heed lest their hearts should be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come on them unawares, Luke xxi. 34 .
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on First Thessalonians 5.2 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 6)
Take heed, lest at any time your hearts be overloaded with gluttony and drunkenness - And was there need to warn the apostles themselves against such sins as these? Then surely there is reason to warn even strong Christians against the very grossest sins.
John Wesley, Wesley, Notes on the Bible 3.21
(e) A holy man will follow after temperance and self-denial. He will labour to mortify the desires of his body—to crucify his flesh with his affections and lusts—to curb his passions—to restrain his carnal inclinations, lest at any time they break loose. Oh, what a word is that of the Lord Jesus to the Apostles, “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life” (Luke xxi. 34); and that of the Apostle Paul, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
J.C. Ryle, Ryle, Holiness 4
11 passages · 5 writers · 100s to 1700s
Writers describe what gluttony does to thought, the body, and other sins, and what restraint Scripture calls for at the table.
For some through the abundance of their food produce weakness in their flesh, and thus corrupt their flesh; while the flesh of others who have no food is corrupted, because they have not sufficient nourishment. And on this account their bodies waste away. This intemperance in eating is thus injurious to you who have abundance and do not distribute among those who are needy.
Hermas, Hermas, The Pastor of Hermas 2.3 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2)
For what end, then, are such dainty dishes prepared, but to fill one belly? The filthiness of gluttony is proved by the sewers into which our bellies discharge the refuse of our food.
Clement of Alexandria, Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 3.7 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2)
There is nothing worse, nothing more shameful, than gluttony; it makes the mind gross, and the soul carnal; it blinds, and permits not to see clearly. Observe, for instance, how this is the case with the Jews; for because they were intent upon gluttony, entirely occupied with worldly things, and without any spiritual thoughts, though Christ leads them on by ten thousand sayings, sharp and at the same time forbearing, even thus they arise not, but continue groveling below.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 47 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 14)
How great is the tyranny of gluttony, how great the fickleness of men’s minds! No longer do they vindicate the Law, no longer do they care for the violation of the Sabbath, no longer are they zealous for God; all such considerations are thrown aside, when their bellies have been filled; He was a prophet in their eyes, and they were about to choose Him for a king.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 44 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 14)
“We wrestle not against flesh and blood” ( Eph. vi. 12 ); and are you fattening yourself when about to wrestle? … Christ is pining through hunger, and are you frittering yourself away ( διασπᾅς ) with gluttony?
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 27 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 11)
And to make this clearer not only by a short discussion to the best of my ability, but by Scripture proof as well, gluttony and fornication, though they exist in us naturally (for sometimes they spring up without any incitement from the mind, and simply at the motion and allurement of the flesh) yet if they are to be consummated, must find an external object, and thus take effect only through bodily acts. … For the first Adam could not have fallen a victim to gluttony unless he had had material food at hand, and had used it wrongly, nor could the second Adam be tempted without the enticement of some object, when it was said to Him: “If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”
John Cassian, John Cassian, The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X 6.4 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 11)
Be strictly and conscientiously temperate in the use of the good creatures God has allowed us. If God's law has given us liberty, let us lay restraints upon ourselves, and never feed ourselves without fear, lest our table be a snare. Set a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite; and be not desirous of dainties or varieties, Prov. xxiii. 2, 3 . Nature is content with little, grace with less, but lust with nothing.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Leviticus 11.4 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 1)
Be not an excessive eater of flesh. Intemperance must be avoided in meat as well as drink. Be not a luxurious eater of flesh, not pleased with any thing but what is very nice and delicate, savoury dishes, and forced meat.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Proverbs 23.8 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3)
Gluttony and drunkenness, v. 20, 21 . The world is full of examples of this sin and temptations to it, which all young people are concerned to stand upon their guard against and keep at a distance from Be not a wine-bibber; we are allowed to drink a little wine ( 1 Tim. v. 23 ), but not much, not to make a trade of it, never to drink to excess. Be not a riotous eater of flesh, as the Israelites were, who lusted exceedingly after it, saying, Who will give us flesh to eat?
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Proverbs 23.8 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3)
The sin we are here warned against is luxury and sensuality, and the indulgence of the appetite in eating and drinking, a sin that most easily besets us. 1. We are here told when we enter into temptation, and are in most danger of falling into this sin: " When thou sittest to eat with a ruler thou has great plenty before thee, varieties and dainties, such a table spread as thou has seldom seen; thou are ready to think, as Haman did, of nothing but the honour hereby done thee ( Esth. v. 12 ), and the opportunity thou hast of pleasing thy palate, and forgettest that there is a snare laid for thee."
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Proverbs 23.1 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3)
Arrant gluttons, no doubt, there were; such as minded only the gratifying of their appetites with the daintiness and abundance of their fare; they had no regard to Solomon's caution, Prov. xxiii. 2 . Note, In common eating and drinking a holy fear is necessary, much more in feasting, though we may sometimes be more easily and insensibly overcome at a common meal than at a feast; for, in the case supposed, we are less upon our guard, and sometimes, at least to some persons, the plenty of a feast is its own antidote, as to others it may prove a dangerous snare.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Jude 1.4 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 6)
20 passages · 15 writers · 100s to 1800s
Writers apply Philippians 3:19 and related texts to those who make appetite, the belly, or dainties an object of devotion.
And the apostle ceased not proclaiming, and saying to them: Men and women, boys and girls, young men and maidens, vigorous and aged, both bond and free, withhold yourselves from fornication, and covetousness, and the service of the belly; for under these three heads all wickedness comes. For fornication maims the mind, and darkens the eyes of the soul, and becomes a hindrance of the due regulation of the body, changing the whole man into feebleness, and throwing the whole body into disease. And insatiableness puts the soul into fear and shame, existing by what pertains to the body, and forcibly seizing what belongs to another;…and the service of the belly throws the soul into cares and troubles and griefs.…Since, therefore, you have been set free from these, you are without care, and without grief, and without fear; and there remains to you that which was said by the Saviour: Take no care for the morrow, for the morrow will take care of itself.
Anonymous (ANF), Anonymous, Apocrypha of the New Testament 33.2.1 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 8)
He, in short, sacrifices his appetite to an idol-god; you to (the true) God will not. For to you your belly is god, and your lungs a temple, and your paunch a sacrificial altar, and your cook the priest, and your fragrant smell the Holy Spirit, and your condiments spiritual gifts, and your belching prophecy.
Tertullian, Tertullian, On Fasting 16 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4)
They desire gifts, and offerings, and gain, for which formerly they watched insatiably. They still long also for suppers and banquets, whose debauch they belched forth in the indigestion lately left to the day, most manifestly proving now that they did not before serve religion, but rather their belly and gain, with profane cupidity.
Cyprian of Carthage, Cyprian, The Epistles of Cyprian 63 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 5)
While thou obeyest the belly, thou sayest that thou art innocent; and, as if courteously, makest thyself everywhere ready. … Thou believest that thou livest, whilst thou desirest to fill thy belly. … Thou regardest thy belly as if thou canst provide for it.
Commodian, Commodian, The Instructions of Commodianus 2.24 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4)
His hope too is in the lord his god, who worshippeth Saturn; his hope is in the lord his god, who worshippeth Neptune or Mercury; yea more, I add, who worshippeth his belly, of whom is said, “whose god is their belly.” The one is the god of the one, the other of the other.
Augustine of Hippo, Augustine, Expositions on the Book of Psalms 146 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 8)
[1.] “ Whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame” ( Philip. iii. 19 ), said Paul of certain persons, writing to the Philippians. Now that the Jews were of this character is clear, both from what has gone before, and from what they came and said to Christ. For when He gave them bread, and filled their bellies, they said that He was a Prophet, and sought to make Him a King: but when He taught them concerning spiritual food, concerning eternal life, when He led them away from objects of sense, and spake to them of a resurrection, and raised their thoughts to higher matters, when most they ought to have admired, they murmur and start away.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 48 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 14)
To me it seems that in mentioning the chief of the temptations, he had spoken of all, as though the rest too were included in these. For the things that form the substance of innumerable evils are these: to be a slave to the belly, to do anything for vainglory, to be in subjection to the madness of riches.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 16 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 10)
Nebuzar-adan as is read in the xxv. chapter of the book of Kings that he burnt the house of God for he was prince of the cooks, and signifieth them that serve to gluttony and to luxury, and make of their belly their god. And after this that the apostle saith, that their belly is their god.
Jacobus de Voragine, Voragine, The Golden Legend 18 (Vol. 1)
On the contrary, That in which a man rests as in his last end, is master of his affections, since he takes therefrom his entire rule of life. Hence of gluttons it is written ( Phil. 3:19 ): "Whose god is their belly": viz. because they place their last end in the pleasures of the belly.
Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas, Summa Theologica I-II.Q1.A5
Why? just because their belly is their God, and their kitchen their religion; and they believe, that if these were away they would not only not be Christians, but not even men. For although some wallow in luxury, and others feed on slender crusts, still they all live by the same pot, which without that fuel might not only cool, but altogether freeze. He, accordingly, who is most anxious about his stomach, proves the fiercest champion of his faith. In short, the object on which all to a man are bent, is to keep their kingdom safe or their belly filled; not one gives even the smallest sign of sincere zeal.
John Calvin, Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion Pref.4
These are they of whom our apostle makes his bitter complaint: Phil. iii. 18, 19, “Many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” How many that are called Christians doth this character suit in these days!
John Owen, Owen, Pneumatologia 5.4
Other sins subject the creature and outward things to them, but acting in religious services for self, subjects not only the highest concernments of men’s souls, but the Creator himself to the creature, nay, to make God contribute to that which is the pleasure of the devil, a greater slight than to cast the gifts of a prince to a herd of nasty swine. It were more excusable to serve ourselves of God upon the higher accounts, such that materially conduce to his glory; but it is an intolerable wrong to make him and his ordinances caterers for our own bellies, as they did: 276 they sacrificed the נדבות of which the offerer might eat, not out of any reference to God, but love to their gluttony; not to please him, but feast themselves. The belly was truly made the god, when God was served only in order to the belly; as though the blessed God had his being, and his ordinances were enjoined to pleasure their foolish and wanton appetites; as though the work of God were only to patronize unrighteous ends, and be as bad as themselves, and become a pander to their corrupt affections.
Stephen Charnock, Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God 2
When he loves anything against the command of God, and prefers in the stream of his actions the enjoyment of that, before the fruition of God, and lays out more strength and expends more time in the gaining that, than answering the true end of his creation: when he acts so as if something below God could make him happy without God, or that God could not make him happy without the addition of something else. Thus the glutton makes a god of his dainties; the ambitious man of his honor; the incontinent man of his lust; and the covetous man of his wealth; and consequently esteems them as his chiefest good, and the most noble end, to which he directs his thoughts: thus he vilifies and lessens the true God, which can make him happy, in a multitude of false gods, that can only render him miserable.
Stephen Charnock, Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God 2
The Mammonist lives to his money, the Epicure lives to his belly; the design of a sinner's life is to gratify lust, but we glorify God when we live to God.
Thomas Watson, Watson, A Body of Divinity 2.1
They are greedy dogs which can never have enough ( Isa. lvi. 11 ), and they grudge if they be not satisfied. A contented man, if he has not what he would have, yet does not grudge, does not quarrel with Providence, nor fret within himself; but those whose God is their belly, if that be not filled and its appetites gratified, fall out both with God and themselves.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Psalms 59.2 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3)
Thus those who are guilty of spiritual idolatry, whose god is their money, whose god is their belly, deal treacherously against the Lord; they violate their engagements to him and frustrate his expectations from them.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Hosea 5.1 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 4)
Whatever is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is mammon. To some their belly is their mammon, and they serve that ( Phil. iii. 19 ); to others their ease, their sleep, their sports and pastimes, are their mammon ( Prov. vi. 9 ); to others worldly riches ( James iv. 13 ); to others honours and preferments; the praise and applause of men was the Pharisees' mammon; in a word, self, the unity in which the world's trinity centres, sensual, secular self, is the mammon which cannot be served in conjunction with God; for if it be served, it is in competition with him and in contradiction to him.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Matthew 6.5 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 5)
Is it no harm for people to make gods of their bellies, and to give all to these, instead of abounding in acts of charity and piety? Is it no harm for people to unfit themselves for minding the concerns of their souls, by indulging the appetites of their bodies? Surely that which brought flames upon Sodom, and would bring these miseries for which rich men are here called to weep and howl, must be a heinous evil! Pride, and idleness, and fullness of bread, mean the same thing with living in pleasure, and being wanton, and nourishing the heart as in a day of slaughter.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on James 5.1 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 6)
Enemies of the cross of Christ - Such are all cowardly, all shamefaced, all delicate Christians. 19. Whose end is destruction - This is placed in the front, that what follows may be read with the greater horror. Whose God is their belly - Whose supreme happiness lies in gratifying their sensual appetites.
John Wesley, Wesley, Notes on the Bible 11.3
Php 1:28, "perdition"; the opposite word is "Saviour" (Php 3:20). whose god is their belly—(Ro 16:18); hereafter to be destroyed by God (1Co 6:13). In contrast to our "body" (Php 3:21), which our God, the Lord Jesus, shall "fashion like unto His glorious body." Their belly is now pampered, our body now wasted; then the respective states of both shall be reversed.
Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, and David Brown, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Philippians 3
10 passages · 3 writers · 300s to 1700s
Writers use Romans 16:18 and Philippians 3:19 for those who serve their own appetites rather than Christ.
Then also to lash ( κωμῳδὥν ) those who dare to do such things, he mentions also the reason of their devising this division. “For they that are such,” he says, “serve not our Lord Christ, but their own belly.” And this he said too when he wrote to the Philippians, “Whose god is their belly.” ( Phil. iii. 19 .) But here he appears to me to intimate those of the Jews, whom he ever uses particularly to find fault with as gluttonous.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 34 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 11)
And whence come opinions of this sort? From men’s being slaves to the belly, and the other passions. For “such,” he says, “serve not the Lord, but their own belly.”
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 34 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 11)
It cannot be expected that a slave of Satan, ‘whose god is his belly, and who mindeth earthly things,’ should be any better than ‘an enemy to the cross of Christ.’ What though he live civilly, and preach plausibly, and maintain outwardly a profession of religion? He may be as fast in the devil’s snares, by worldliness, pride, a secret distaste of diligent godliness, or by an unsound heart that is not rooted in the faith, nor unreservedly devoted to Christ, as others are by drunkenness, uncleanness, and similar disgraceful sins.
Richard Baxter, Baxter, The Reformed Pastor 1.2
The tidings of Solomon's inauguration brought to Adonijah and his party, in the midst of their jollity: They had made an end of eating, and, it should seem, it was a great while before they made an end, for all the affair of Solomon's anointing was ordered and finished while they were at dinner, glutting themselves. Thus those who serve not our Lord Christ, but oppose him, are commonly such as serve their own belly ( Rom. xvi. 18 ) and made a god of it, Phil. iii. 19 .
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on First Kings 1.5 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 2)
Such as serve their own belly, and will be in the interest of those that will feast them what side soever they are of, are an easy prey to seducers, Rom. xvi. 18 .
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on First Kings 1.2 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 2)
Taking the words as we read them, they were the epicures who lived at ease, carnal sensual people, Job xii. 5 . The scoffers are such as walk after their own lusts and serve their own bellies, and the proud such as set God himself at defiance and had a high opinion of themselves; they trampled on God's people, thinking they magnified themselves by vilifying them.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Psalms 123.1 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3)
They made it all their aim to glut themselves, and serve their own belly, as the seducers in St. Paul's time ( Rom. xvi. 18 ), for their god is their belly, Phil. iii. 19 . They bite with their teeth, and cry peace; that is, they will flatter and compliment those that will feed them with good bits, will give them something to eat; but as for those that put not into their mouths, that are not continually cramming them, they look upon them as their enemies; to them they do not cry peace, as they do to those whom they look upon as their benefactors, but they even prepare war against them; against them they denounce the judgments of God, but as they are to them, as the crafty priests of the church of Rome, in some places, make their image either to smile or frown upon the offerer according as his offering is. Justly is it insisted on as a necessary qualification of a minister ( 1 Tim. iii. 3, and again Tit. i. 7 ) that he be not greedy of filthy lucre.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Micah 3.1 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 4)
They are luxurious themselves: They eat of the flesh of the fat; they will have of the best for themselves; and, like that wicked servant that said, My lord delays his coming, they eat and drink with the drunken, and serve their own bellies. … Woe unto thee, O land! when thy king is such a child!
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Zechariah 11.3 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 4)
If you would know whether they be right or not, observe how they live; their works will testify for them or against them. … If men pretend to be prophets and are immoral, that disproves their pretensions; those are no true friends to the cross of Christ, whatever they profess, whose God is their belly, and whose mind earthly things, Phil. iii. 18, 19 .
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Matthew 7.4 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 5)
But they serve their own belly —their carnal, sensual, secular interests. It is some base lust or other that they are pleasing; pride, ambition, covetousness, luxury, lasciviousness, these are the designs which they are really carrying on. Their God is their belly, Phil. iii. 19 .
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Romans 16.2 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 6)
18 passages · 7 writers · 300s to 1800s
Writers read Sodom, Jerusalem, Israel, and the rich man as cases where abundance led to excess and further sin.
“The people,” it is said, “sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Such were they at Sodom, such were they at the time of the deluge. For touching them of Sodom likewise it is said, that “in pride, and in plenty, and in fullness of bread, they waxed wanton.” And they who were in Noah’s time, seeing the ark a preparing for so many years, lived on in senseless mirth, forseeing nought of what was coming. For this cause also the flood came and swept them all away, and wrought in that instant the common shipwreck of the world.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 1 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 10)
That is, because meals and food are wont to dissipate and weigh down, they put this saying as a kind of bridle upon the soul, at the time of indulgence reminding it of the time of judgment. For they have learnt what befell Israel through a costly table. “For my beloved,” saith He, “ate, and waxed fat, and kicked.” Wherefore also Moses said, “When thou shalt have eaten and drunk and art full, remember the Lord thy God.”
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 56 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 10)
The rich man who is burning in the furnace; the Jews who live for the belly, “whose god is their belly” ( Phil. iii. 19 ), who were ever seeking ease in the wilderness, were destroyed; as also those in Sodom, on account of their gluttony; and those in the time of Noah, was it not because they chose this soft and dissolute life? For “they luxuriated,” it says, “in fullness of bread.” ( Ezek. xvi. 49 .) It speaks of those in Sodom. But if “fullness of bread” wrought so great evil, what should we say of other delicacies?
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 33 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 14)
It is not because Sodom, which has sunk for ever into ashes, is just in herself, that it is said by Ezekiel, “Sodom shall be restored to her former estate”; but that, in comparison with the more accursed Jerusalem, she appears just. For Jerusalem killed the Son of God; Sodom through fulness of bread and excessive luxury carried her lust beyond all bounds.
Jerome, Jerome, Against the Pelagians 1 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 6)
And after that a little while, Mary Magdalene appeared in a vision to that lady, saying: Wherefore hast thou so much riches and sufferest the poor people our Lord to die for hunger and for cold? … Thou tyrant and member of thy father the devil, with that serpent thy wife, that will not say to thee my words, thou restest now enemy of the cross, which hast filled thy belly by gluttony, with divers manner of meats and sufferest to perish for hunger the holy saints of our Lord.
Jacobus de Voragine, Voragine, The Golden Legend 14 (Vol. 4)
But now God shows that he did not pronounce rashly what we heard before, namely, that the Jews were worse than the Sodomites. How so? for this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, says he, first pride, then fullness of bread , and luxury in which they were in the habit of indulging, and of drowning themselves in ease to enjoy a long peace; afterwards, they did not seize the hand of the poor . Now he adds —
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on Ezekiel, Vol. 2 16.41 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 23)
Yet although they exult in their luxury, and even become outrageous against God, let the sons of God be admonished not to envy their fortune; but to wait a little while, till God, arousing them from their intoxication, shall call them to his dreadful judgment. Therefore, Ezekiel, speaking of the men of Sodom, declares it to have been the cause of their destruction, that, being saturated with bread and wine, and filled with delicacies, they had exercised a proud cruelty against the poor, ( Ezekiel 16:49 .)
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1 13.1 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 1)
For nothing is more dangerous than to live where the public license of crime prevails; yea, there is no pestilence so destructive, as that corruption of morals, which is opposed neither by laws nor judgments, nor any other remedies. And although Moses, in the next chapter Genesis 18:1 , explains the most filthy crime which reigned in Sodom, we must nevertheless remember what Ezekiel teaches ( Ezekiel 16:48,49 ,) that the men of Sodom did not fall at once into such execrable wickedness; but that in the beginning, luxury from the fullness of bread prevailed, and that, afterwards, pride and cruelty followed.
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1 18.1 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 1)
The rich man, devoted to the pleasures of the table and to display, swallowed up, like an unsatiable gulf, his enormous wealth, but remained unmoved by the poverty and distresses of Lazarus, and knowingly and willingly suffered him to pine away with hunger, cold, and the offensive smell of his sores. In this manner Ezekiel ( 16:49 ) accuses Sodom of not stretching out her hand to the poor amidst fullness of bread and wine.
John Calvin, Calvin, Harmony of the Evangelists, Vol. 2 1.34 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 32)
And one is hungry This was one evil in the case, that while the rich indulged themselves sumptuously, they appeared, in a manner, to reproach the poor for their poverty. The inequality he describes hyperbolically, when he says, that some are drunken and others are hungry , for some had the means of stuffing themselves well, while others had slender fare. Thus the poor were exposed to the derision of the rich, or at least they were exposed to shame. It was, therefore, an unseemly spectacle, and not in accordance with the Lord ’ s supper
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on Corinthians, Vol. 1 11.2 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 39)
Ye eat also the lambs from the flock, and the calves from the midst of the rich pasture, or of the stall. I prefer taking מרבק , merebek, for folds. Since then they loved fat meat, the Prophet reproves this luxury: he had indeed in view, as it has been already said, the then calamitous time; for if the rich had in their usual way feasted, and had even taken fat meat, they would not have deserved so severe a punishment: but when the Lord called them to mourning, and when the signals of his wrath spread horror all around, it was a stupidity not to be endured, for them to continue their indulgences, which they ought, on the contrary, to have renounced.
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on Joel, Amos, and Obadiah Amos 6.4 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 27)
Would you have indulged in the sins of Sodom — idleness, pride, fullness of bread — if you had stood by, and seen the flames which consumed it ascending up to heaven?
Richard Baxter, Baxter, The Reformed Pastor 3.3.4
All the goods of Sodom, and particularly their stores and provisions of victuals, were carried off by the conquerors. Note, When men abuse the gifts of a bountiful providence to gluttony and excess, it is just with God, and his usual way, by some judgment or other to strip them of that which they have so abused, Hos. ii. 8, 9 .
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Genesis 14.1 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 1)
II. During this siege the famine prevailed ( v. 3 ), so that for a long time they ate their bread by weight and with care, Ezek. iv. 16 . Thus they were punished for their gluttony and excess, their fulness of bread and feeding themselves without fear.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Second Kings 25.1 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 2)
(2.) Gluttony, here called fulness of bread. It was God's great mercy that they had plenty, but their great sin that they abused it, glutted themselves with it, ate to excess and drank to excess, and made that the gratification of their lusts which was given them to be the support of their lives.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Ezekiel 16.5 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 4)
Time was when Jerusalem was filled with the finest of the wheat ( Ps. cxlvii. 14 ); but now it would be glad of the coarsest, and cannot have it. Fulness of bread, as it was one of Jerusalem's mercies, so it had become one of her sins, Ezek. xvi. 49 . The plenty was abused to luxury and excess, which were therefore thus justly punished with famine.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Ezekiel 4.2 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 4)
Their vices not only expose them to the wrath of God in another world, but often bring them to misery and ruin in this life; and surely such impudent offenders, who glory in their shame, and to whom openness in sin is an improvement of the pleasure of sinning, most justly deserve all the plagues of this life and the pains of the next in the greatest extremity. Therefore whatever they meet with is the just reward of their unrighteousness. Such sinners as sport themselves in mischief deceive themselves and disgrace all they belong to, for by one sort of sins they prepare themselves for another; their extravagant feastings, their intemperance in eating and drinking, bring them to commit all manner of lewdness, so that their eyes are full of adultery, their wanton looks show their own impure lusts and are designed and directed to kindle the like in others; and this is what they cannot cease from—the heart is insatiate in lusting and the eye incessant in looking after what may gratify their unclean desires, and those who are themselves impudent and incessant in sin are very diligent and often successful in deceiving others and drawing others into the same excess of riot.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Second Peter 2.4 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 6)
pride—inherited by Moab, her offspring (Isa 16:6; Jer 48:26), and by Ammon (Jer 49:4). God, the heart-searcher, here specifies as Sodom's sin, not merely her notorious lusts, but the secret spring of them, "pride" flowing from "fullness of bread," caused by the fertility of the soil (Ge 13:10), and producing "idleness."
Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, and David Brown, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Ezekiel 16
13 passages · 7 writers · 100s to 1800s
Writers cite the quail episode, other Old Testament narratives, and the judgment after death as punishment of gluttony.
He, at all events, is the God to whom neither a People incontinent of appetite, nor a priest, nor a prophet, was pleasing. To this day the “monuments of concupiscence” remain, where the People, greedy of “flesh,” till, by devouring without digesting the quails, they brought on cholera, were buried.
Tertullian, Tertullian, On Fasting 16 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4)
The teeth that now are loosened in gluttonous eating shall be miserably clogged and choked. … The throat shall be clogged and the belly filled with worms, that have again and again been swollen by all manner of meats.
Anselm of Canterbury, Anselm, The Devotions of Saint Anselm 3.11
S. Gregory rehearseth in his dialogues that a nun entered into a garden and saw a lettuce, and coveted that, and forgat to make the sign of the cross, and bit it gluttonously, and anon fell down and was ravished of a devil. And there came to her S. Equicius, and the devil began to cry and to say: What have I done? I sat upon a lettuce and she came and bit me.
Jacobus de Voragine, Voragine, The Golden Legend 17 (Vol. 5)
For a man will be more grievously punished in the things in which he has sinned. There the lazy will be driven with burning prongs, and gluttons tormented with unspeakable hunger and thirst; the wanton and lust-loving will be bathed in burning pitch and foul brimstone; the envious will howl in their grief like mad dogs.
Thomas à Kempis, Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ 1.24
We shall afterwards see, that, when from weariness of the manna they began to desire meat, quails were again given them; but, while they were yet in their mouths, a terrible punishment was inflicted upon their gluttony. When here they had only complained of their want of food, God for once satiated them with flesh, that He might show them that He has in His hand all kinds and quantity of meats. Yet, it was His will that they should be content with one single sort; for, although they had complained that they were deprived of flesh, at the pots of which they had formerly sat, yet it was not reasonable that He should comply altogether with their unholy desires. Besides, it was profitable for them that certain bounds should be set, that they might learn dependence on His will.
John Calvin, Calvin, Harmony of the Law, Vol. 1 3.16.2 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 3)
This does not imply that he favourably regarded their fretful desires, but that he showed by the effect that it was in his power to do what they believed it to be impossible for him to accomplish. From this, we may perceive how injudiciously some expositors here join together the flesh and the manna. The reason why the flesh was given was altogether different from that for which the manna was given. God, in giving the manna, performed the office of a father; but by the flesh, he satisfied their gluttonous desires, that their very greediness in devouring it might choke them.
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on the Psalms, Vol. 3 78.6 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 10)
They were, then, suddenly surprised in the midst of their guttling; and hence it is said in the Psalm, ( Psalm 78:30 ,) “they were not yet estranged from their lust;” just as any glutton might choke himself, by devouring more than his throat could hold. Nor is that at variance with their repletion, of which mention was lately made; for, however the belly may swell with the quantity of its contents, the furious lust of eating is never appeased. But, in order that their punishment might be more manifest, God inflicted it in the very act; nor could any better opportunity have been chosen.
John Calvin, Calvin, Harmony of the Law, Vol. 4 1.5 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 6)
For “a whole month,” he says, ye shall gormandize, “till it come out of your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you.” Thus he compares them to those guttlers who so overwhelm themselves with gluttony, that they are obliged soon afterwards to vomit what they have eaten too greedily, or who abominate the taste of their superfluous luxuries, as if they were something filthy.
John Calvin, Calvin, Harmony of the Law, Vol. 4 1.5 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 6)
From whence their insatiable voracity may be gathered, which prevailed for so many continuous days, and could not be appeased by any quantity of food. God, therefore, allowed them time abundantly sufficient for them to gorge themselves, unless their gluttony was prodigious: and yet punished their intemperance, while the meat was yet in their mouths.
John Calvin, Calvin, Harmony of the Law, Vol. 4 1.5 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 6)
It must, in the first place, be understood, that Israel is compared to a heifer, and indeed to one that is wanton, which cannot remain quiet in the stall nor be accustomed to the yoke: it is hence subjoined, The Lord will now feed them as a lamb in a spacious place The meaning of this clause may be twofold; the first is, that the Lord would leave them in their luxuries to gorge themselves according to their lust, and to indulge themselves in their gormandizing; and it is a dreadful punishment, when the Lord allays not the intemperateness of men, but suffers them to wanton without any limits or moderation.
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on Hosea 4.16 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 26)
The worst effect of all was that at evening, when the restraint was taken off and they returned to their food again, they were so greedy and eager upon it that they ate the flesh with the blood, expressly contrary to the law of God, v. 32 . Two hungry meals, we say, make the third a glutton; it was so here. They would not stay to have their meat either duly killed (for they slew the cattle upon the ground, and did not hang them up, as they used to do, that the blood might all run out of them) or duly dressed, but fell greedily upon it before it was half boiled or half roasted, v. 32 .
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on First Samuel 14.3 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 2)
And here they may read their sin in their punishment: those that doted most on the meat that perishes, when they come to be sick are sick of it, and the dainties they loved are loathed; what they took too much of now they can take nothing of, which commonly follows upon the overcharging of the heart with surfeiting and drunkenness.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Psalms 107.3 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3)
See Num 11:19-20. The surfeit in which the people indulged, as described in Num 11:32, disposed them to sickness. God's wrath, visiting the gluttonous through their gluttony, aggravated natural consequences into a supernatural visitation.
Albert Barnes, Barnes, Notes on the Bible Numbers 11:4
13 passages · 8 writers · 300s to 1800s
Writers treat food in the fall, in Esau's sale of his birthright, and in the temptation of Christ as scriptural cases of gluttony.
And yet after the Saviour had fasted forty days, it was through food that the old enemy laid a snare for him, saying, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Under the law, in the seventh month after the blowing of trumpets and on the tenth day of the month, a fast was proclaimed for the whole Jewish people, and that soul was cut off from among his people which on that day preferred self-indulgence to self-denial.
Jerome, Jerome, The Letters of St. Jerome 130 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 6)
Esau was born first, and Jacob was born last; but he who was last born, was preferred to the first-born, who through gluttony lost his birthright. So thou hast it written, He longed for the pottage, and his brother said to him, If thou wilt that I give it thee, give me thy birthright. He loved more that which carnally he desired, than that which spiritually by being born first he had earned: and he laid aside his birthright, that he might eat lentils. … Therefore by desiring Egyptian food he lost his birthright.
Augustine of Hippo, Augustine, Expositions on the Book of Psalms 47 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 8)
What took captive the first created? Pleasure, and eating, and the love of dominion. … What the Sodomites? Insolence, wantonness; and fullness of bread.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Thessalonians 3 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 13)
Now these three kinds of vice, namely, the pleasure of the flesh, and pride, and curiosity, include all sins. And they appear to me to be enumerated by the Apostle John, when he says, “Love not the world; for all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” For through the eyes especially prevails curiosity. To what the rest indeed belong is clear. And that temptation of the Lord Man was threefold: by food, that is, by the lust of the flesh, where it is suggested, “command these stones that they be made bread:” by vain boasting, where, when stationed on a mountain, all the kingdoms of this earth are shown Him, and promised if He would worship: by curiosity, where, from the pinnacle of the temple, He is advised to cast Himself down, for the sake of trying whether He would be borne up by Angels.
Augustine of Hippo, Augustine, Expositions on the Book of Psalms 8 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 8)
And wherein was Esau a “fornicator”? He does not say that Esau was a fornicator. “Lest there be any fornicator,” he says, then, “follow after holiness: lest there be any, as Esau, profane”: that is, gluttonous, without self-control, worldly, selling away things spiritual.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 35 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 14)
For it was right that He who was in possession of the perfect image and likeness of God should be Himself tempted through those passions, through which Adam also was tempted while he still retained the image of God unbroken, that is, through gluttony, vainglory, pride; and not through those in which he was by his own fault entangled and involved after the transgression of the commandment, when the image and likeness of God was marred. For it was gluttony through which he took the fruit of the forbidden tree, vainglory through which it was said “Your eyes shall be opened,” and pride through which it was said “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” With these three sins then we read that the Lord our Saviour was also tempted; with gluttony when the devil said to Him: “Command these stones that they be made bread:” with vainglory: “If Thou art the Son of God cast Thyself down:” with pride, when he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and said:
John Cassian, John Cassian, The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X 6.6 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 11)
In His case then though it was fitting that He should undergo temptation, yet it was not necessary that He should fail under it. Nor could He who had vanquished gluttony be tempted by fornication, which springs from superfluity and gluttony as its root, with which even the first Adam would not have been destroyed unless before its birth he had been deceived by the wiles of the devil and fallen a victim to passion.
John Cassian, John Cassian, The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X 6.6 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 11)
Sometime God putteth out of Paradise the first parents which slept in the death of sin, buried from the beginning of inobedience and gluttony, and now she that hath borne life to all human lineage, and was obedient to God the Father, and put away from her all ordure of sin, how shall not she be in heaven? Wherefore should not she enjoy the gates of heaven? Eve stretched her ear to the serpent, of whom she took the venom mortal, and because she did it for delight, she was subdued to bearing and bringing forth children in sorrow and pain, and was condemned with Adam.
Jacobus de Voragine, Voragine, The Golden Legend 37 (Vol. 4)
Reply to Objection 2: Gluttony also had a place in the sin of our first parents. For it is written ( Gn. 3:6 ): "The woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold, and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat." … Hence the sin of gluttony resulted from the sin of pride.
Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II.Q163.A1
Reply to Objection 3: As Ambrose says on Lk. 4:13, the devil departed from Christ "for a time, because, later on, he returned, not to tempt Him, but to assail Him openly"---namely, at the time of His Passion. Nevertheless, He seemed in this later assault to tempt Christ to dejection and hatred of His neighbor; just as in the desert he had tempted Him to gluttonous pleasure and idolatrous contempt of God.
Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas, Summa Theologica III.Q41.A3
Although he had before rushed inconsiderately upon the food under the maddening impulse of hunger; now, at least, when an oath is exacted from him, some sense of religion should have stolen over him to correct his brutal cupidity. But he is so addicted to gluttony that he makes God himself a witness of his ingratitude.
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 2 25.1 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 2)
This example may be viewed as an exposition of the word profane ; for when Esau set more value on one meal than on his birthright, he lost his blessing. Profane then are all they in whom the love of the world so reigns and prevails that they forget heaven: as is the case with those who are led away by ambition, or become fond of money or of wealth, or give themselves up to gluttony, or become entangled in any other pleasures; they allow in their thoughts and cares no place, or it may be the last place, to the spiritual kingdom of Christ.
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on Hebrews 12.4 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 44)
fornicator—(Heb 13:4; 1Co 10:8). or profane—Fornication is nearly akin to gluttony, Esau's sin. He profanely cast away his spiritual privilege for the gratification of his palate. Ge 25:34 graphically portrays him.
Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, and David Brown, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Hebrews 12
13 passages · 9 writers · 100s to 1900s
Writers quote or comment on the warning that hearts not be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness.
And therefore did the Lord say to His disciples, to make us become good workmen: “Take heed to yourselves, and watch continually upon every occasion, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day shall come upon you unawares; for as a snare shall it come upon all dwelling upon the face of the earth.” “Let your loins, therefore, be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding.” “For as it was in the days of Noe, they did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they married and were given in marriage, and they knew not, until Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all; as also it was in the days of Lot, they did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they planted and builded, until the time that Lot went out of Sodom; it rained fire from heaven, and destroyed them all: so shall it also be at the coming of the Son of man.”
Irenaeus of Lyons, Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV 37 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1)
Let the disciples also be warned, “lest their hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this world; and so that day come upon them unawares, like a snare” —if indeed they should forget God amidst the abundance and occupation of the world.
Tertullian, Tertullian, The Five Books Against Marcion 4.39 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3)
That “winter,” moreover, refers to these “cares of this life” which Luke has specified directly; and the “Sabbath-day” refers in like manner to the “surfeiting and drunkenness.” For sad cares are like a winter; and surfeiting and drunkenness drown and bury the heart in carnal delights and luxury—an evil which is expressed under the term “Sabbath-day,” because of old, as is the case with them still, the Jews had the very pernicious custom of revelling in pleasure on that day, when they were ignorant of the spiritual Sabbath.
Augustine of Hippo, Augustine, The Harmony of the Gospels 5.78 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 6)
Unreasonable vigils and nightly watchings have also been the ruin of some whom sleep could not get the better of: wherefore as the apostle says “with the arms of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,” we pass on with due moderation, and walk between the two extremes, under the guidance of discretion, that we may not consent to be led away from the path of continence marked out for us, nor fall by undue carelessness into the pleasures of the palate and belly.
John Cassian, John Cassian, The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X 3.16 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 11)
For as the body is weighed down by surfeiting and drunkenness, ( Luke 21:34 ,) so as to be fit for nothing, so the cares and lusts of the world, idleness or carelessness, are like a spiritual surfeiting that overpowers the mind. “ Sont comme vne yurongnerie spirituelle, qui assopit et estourdit l’entendement ;” — “Are like a spiritual drunkenness, which makes the mind drowsy and stupid.”
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on Corinthians, Vol. 2 2.3 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 40)
For as an indulgence in surfeiting and sleep renders the body unfit for its duties, so the vain cares and pleasures of the world inebriate the mind and render it drowsy.
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles 1 Peter 4.2 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 45)
Surfeiting produces sloth and sleep; even so they who indulge in earthly cares and pleasures, think of nothing else, being under the power of spiritual lethargy.
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles 1 Peter 5.3 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 45)
And though we shall immediately find him commanding the disciples to guard against surfeiting and earthly cares, yet in this passage he does not directly condemn the intemperance, but rather the obstinacy, of those times, in consequence of which, they despised the threatenings of God, and awaited with indifference their awful destruction.
John Calvin, Calvin, Harmony of the Evangelists, Vol. 3 1.20 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 33)
All that are good husbands will keep good hours, and not indulge themselves nor their families in unseasonable mirth. … So that he went sober to bed, his heart was in a good frame, and not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Ruth 3.2 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 2)
Christ, in providing thus plentifully for the guests, though he hereby allows a sober cheerful use of wine, especially in times of rejoicing ( Neh. viii. 10 ), yet he does not invalidate his own caution, nor invade it, in the least, which is, that our hearts be not at any time, no not at a marriage feast, overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, Luke xxi. 34 . When Christ provided so much good wine for them that had well drunk, he intended to try their sobriety, and to teach them how to abound, as well as how to want. Temperance per force is a thankless virtue; but if divine providence gives us abundance of the delights of sense, and divine grace enables us to use them moderately, this is self-denial that is praiseworthy.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on John 2.1 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 5)
Let us learn from these verses, the spiritual danger to which even the holiest believers are exposed in this world. Our Lord says to His disciples, "Watch out! Don't let me find you living in careless ease and drunkenness, and filled with the worries of this life. … Yet even to them our Lord holds out the peril of surfeiting, and drunkenness, and worldliness!
J.C. Ryle, Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke Luke 21:34-38 (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Vol. 3)
surfeiting, and drunkenness—All animal excesses, quenching spirituality. cares of this life—(See on Mr 4:7; Mr 4:19). 36. Watch … pray, &c.—the two great duties which in prospect of trial are constantly enjoined. These warnings, suggested by the need of preparedness for the tremendous calamities approaching, and the total wreck of the existing state of things, are the general improvement of the whole discourse, carrying the mind forward to Judgment and Vengeance of another kind and on a grander and more awful scale—not ecclesiastical or political but personal, not temporal but eternal—when all safety and blessedness will be found to lie in being able to "STAND BEFORE THE Son of Man" in the glory of His personal appearing.
Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, and David Brown, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Luke 21
"And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." … It is the life which counts, and our praying suffers, as do other phases of our religious experience, from bad living.
E.M. Bounds, Bounds, The Necessity of Prayer 8
12 passages · 5 writers · 300s to 1700s
Writers describe gluttony as dulling the heart and mind, feeding lust, and leading to other sins.
For if there be a widow who is able to support herself, and another woman who is not a widow, but is needy by reason of sickness, or the bringing up many children, or infirmity of her hands, let him stretch out his hand in charity rather to this latter. But if any one be in want by gluttony, drunkenness, or idleness, he does not deserve any assistance, or to be esteemed a member of the Church of God. For the Scripture, speaking of such persons, says: “The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom, and is not able to bring it to his mouth again.” And again: “The sluggard folds up his hands, and eats his own flesh.”
Anonymous (ANF), Anonymous, Constitutions of the Holy Apostles 3.2 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7)
For the measure of the food is the same for all; we having but one stomach to fill; only thou who feedest luxuriously hast more to get rid of. And as in that case they who in their houses gathered more than the lawful quantity, gathered not manna, but more worms and rottenness; just so both in luxury and in covetousness, the gluttonous and drunken gather not more dainties but more corruption.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 41 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 12)
“And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned.” And after this again, certain of those who as they pretended were of the more perfect sort, and who for gluttony’s sake used to eat of things offered unto idols, and sit at meat in the temples, were bringing all to ruin.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 1 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 12)
For when the heart is not stifled within by excess of food, it soon recovers itself, and is immediately wakeful.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on 1 Timothy 15 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 13)
Yet further consider, how of old these Egyptians were both avaricious, and gluttonous, together with their other vices. For there were the flesh-pots which the Jews remember; there, the great tyranny of the belly.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 11 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 10)
For He saith not, “O ye gluttons and belly-slaves, I have wrought so many wonders, and ye never have either followed Me, or marveled at My doings”; but mildly and gently somewhat in this manner; “Ye seek Me, not because ye saw miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled”; speaking not only of the past, but also of the present miracle. “It was not,” He saith, “the miracle of the loaves that astonished you, but the being filled.”
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 46 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 14)
Oh, excess of gluttony! He had done ten thousand things more admirable than this, but nowhere did they make this confession, save when they had been filled.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 44 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 14)
For the chief of the cooks is the belly, to which the cooks pay observance with great care, that it may itself be delectably filled with viands. But the walls of Jerusalem are the virtues of the soul, elevated to a longing for supernal peace. The chief of the cooks, therefore, throws down the walls of Jerusalem, because, when the belly is distended with gluttony, the virtues of the soul are destroyed through lechery.
Gregory the Great, Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the Great 4.4.20 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 12)
For ye are there inebriated with your pleasures: as cows, when fattened, are burdened with their own weight, and can hardly draw along their own bodies; so it is with you, such is your slowness through your gluttony. Samaria then, though it may seem to be a watch-tower, is yet nothing different from mount Bashan: for ye are not there so very solicitous (as ye pretend) for the public safety; but, on the contrary, ye devour great riches; and as your cupidity is insatiable, the whole government is nothing else to you than fatness or a rich pasturage.”
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on Joel, Amos, and Obadiah Amos 4.1 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 27)
He means that they indulged themselves, not only as far as to satisfy nature, but as far as their cupidity led them. He adds a similitude, as in a day of slaughter , because they were wont in their solemn sacrifices to eat more freely than according to their daily habits. He then says, that the rich feasted themselves every day of their life, because they immersed themselves in perpetual indulgences.
John Calvin, Calvin, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles James 5.1 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 45)
The comment of Jerome is indeed a childish one, that “A fat belly does not engender a quick understanding:” for many corpulent men are of vigorous and active intellect, and indeed leanness is often the consequence of drinking too much. But those who stuff their bodies will never have sufficient activity of mind to execute the office of teaching.
John Calvin, Calvin, Harmony of the Law, Vol. 2 2.4.10 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 4)
And that which aggravated their sin was that it was the abuse of God's favours to them: When they were fed to the full, then their lusts grew thus furious. Fulness of bread was fuel to the fire of Sodom's lusts. Sine Cerere et Bacchio friget Venu—Luxurious living feeds the flames of lust. Fasting would help to tame the unruly evil that is so full of deadly poison, and bring the body into subjection.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Jeremiah 5.1 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 4)
13 passages · 10 writers · 300s to 1900s
Writers name gluttony in lists of vices or offenses, in comment on Proverbs and Deuteronomy, and in reproach of others.
12. Children have been seen by me, sons of righteous men; yea, also youths, sons of chaste women; and I have moved them from the womb, one by one, and I have seen in them our leaven. For they were wrathful men and revilers, yea, also furious and gluttonous; fruits were they that by instruction were to be ripened and sweetened.
Ephrem the Syrian, Ephrem the Syrian, Ephraim Syrus: The Nisibene Hymns 24 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 13)
“Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the Church of God:” i.e., give no handle to anyone: since in the case supposed, both thy brother is offended, and the Jew will the more hate and condemn thee, and the Gentile in like manner deride thee even as a gluttonous man and a hypocrite.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 26 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 12)
“Believe these things, therefore, and be on your guard against temptations (for the devil seeks for others who may be brought to perish along with himself); so that not only may that adversary fail to seduce you by the help of those who are without the Church, whether they be pagans, or Jews, or heretics; but you yourself also may decline to follow the example of those within the Catholic Church itself whom you see leading an evil life, either indulging in excess in the pleasures of the belly and the throat, or unchaste, or given up to the vain and unlawful observances of curious superstitions, whether they be addicted to (the inanities of) public spectacles, or charms, or divinations of devils, or be living in the pomp and inflated arrogance of covetousness and pride, or be pursuing any sort of life which the law condemns and punishes.
Augustine of Hippo, Augustine, On the Catechising of the Uninstructed 27 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 3)
Then are subjoined the evils of luxury: “ye that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch yourselves upon couches; that eat the lamb from the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the herd.” … “Ye that are set apart for the day of evil, and come near the seat of oppression;” the second to lasciviousness: “ye that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch yourselves upon couches;” the third to gluttony: “who eat the lamb from the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the herd.”
Augustine of Hippo, Augustine, On Christian Doctrine 4.7 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 2)
How often is Scripture wrested to be a plea for unbecoming practices, that God, in his word, may be imagined a patron for their iniquity? It is not unknown that some have maintained their quaffing and carousing (from Eccles. viii. 11), “That a man hath no better thing under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry:” and their gluttony (from Matt. v. 11), “That which goes into the belly defiles not a man.” The Jesuits’ morals are a transcript of this.
Stephen Charnock, Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God 11
If he carry himself proudly and insolently towards his parents, contemn their authority, slight their reproofs and admonitions, disobey the express commands they give him for his own good, hate to be reformed by the correction they give him, shame their family, grieve their hearts, waste their substance, and threaten to ruin their estate by riotous living—this is a stubborn and rebellious son. He is particularly supposed ( v. 20 ) to be a glutton or a drunkard.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Deuteronomy 21.4 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 1)
Their own writers acknowledge that this feast is commonly celebrated among them with gluttony, and drunkenness, and excess of riot. Their Talmud says expressly that, in the feast of Purim, a man should drink till he knows not the difference between Cursed be Haman, and Blessed be Mordecai. See what the corrupt and wicked nature of man often brings that to which was at first well intended: here is a religious feast turned into a carnival, a perfect revel, as wakes are among us.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Esther 9.2 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 2)
She shames herself; she is filthy and polluted ( v. 1 ), has made herself infamous (so some read it), the gluttonous city (so the margin), always cramming, and making provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it. Sin is the filthiness and pollution of persons and places, and makes them odious in the sight of the holy God.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Zephaniah 3.1 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 4)
A glutton and a drunkard - Under which two offenses others of a like or worse nature are comprehended.
John Wesley, Wesley, Notes on the Bible 32.21
Pro 23:20 Riotous eaters of flesh - The word is the same as "glutton" in Pro 23:21 and Deu 21:20. Pro 23:21 The three forms of evil that destroy reputation and tempt to waste are brought together. Drowsiness - Specially the drunken sleep, heavy and confused.
Albert Barnes, Barnes, Notes on the Bible Proverbs 23:15
It were easy to add from Rabbinic sources repulsive details of their luxuriousness, wastefulness, gluttony, and general dissoluteness.
Alfred Edersheim, Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah 3.5
And to those who talk to us with interfering eloquence about Jaeger and the pores of the skin, and about Plasmon and the coats of the stomach, at them shall only be hurled the words that are hurled at fops and gluttons, “Take no thought what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Those amazing words are not only extraordinarily good, practical politics; they are also superlatively good hygiene.
G.K. Chesterton, Chesterton, Heretics 11
Idle gluttons (γαστερες αργα). "Idle bellies." Blunt and forceful. See Php 3:19 "whose god is the belly" (η κοιλια). Both words give the picture of the sensual gormandizer.
A.T. Robertson, Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament 18.1
3 passages · 3 writers · 300s to 1500s
Writers separate the body and food from the fault, in comment on Paul on the body, the quail and manna, and Israel's complaints.
Then lest any one should suppose that the body is the object of his censure, and suspect that from a part he is blaming the whole, and say that the nature of the body was the cause of gluttony or of fornication, hear what follows. “I blame not,” he says, “the nature of the body, but the immoderate license of the mind.” And therefore he subjoins, “Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord;” for it was not formed for this purpose, to live riotously and commit fornication, as neither was the belly to be greedy; but that it might follow Christ as a Head, and that the Lord might be set over the body.
John Chrysostom, John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 18 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 12)
I know, too, that Esau was deceived by a longing for lentiles, and that David took blame to himself for desiring water, and that our King was tempted not by flesh but bread. And the people in the wilderness, therefore, also deserved reproof, not because they desired flesh, but because, in their desire for food, they murmured against the Lord.
Augustine of Hippo, Augustine, The Confessions 10.31 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 1)
By this comparison with the former mode of living, they depreciate the present grace of God: and yet they enumerate no delicacies, when they speak of leeks, and onions, and garlic. … Scornfully, therefore, do the Israelites magnify things which, in themselves, are but of little value, in order the more to stimulate their depraved appetite, already sufficiently excited.
John Calvin, Calvin, Harmony of the Law, Vol. 4 1.5 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 6)
4 passages · 4 writers · 300s to 1700s
Writers discuss Christ at table, the accusation that he was a glutton, and his plain meals.
For it was not for the sake of pleasure that our Lord mingled with gluttonous men and winebibbers, as the Pharisee supposed; but that in their food as mortals He might mingle for them His teaching as the medicine of life. For even as it was in the matter of eating that the Evil One gave his deadly counsel to Adam and his helpmeet, so in the matter of eating the Good Lord gave His life-giving counsel to the sons of Adam. For He was the fisherman Who came down to fish for the lives of the lost. He saw the publicans and harlots rushing into prodigality and drunkenness; and He hastened to spread His nets amongst their places of assembly, that He might capture them from food that fattens bodies, to fasting that fattens souls.
Ephrem the Syrian, Ephrem the Syrian, Ephraim Syrus: Three Homilies 2 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 13)
For as it is true that, in the words of the apostles, “it is evil for that man who eateth with offence,” it is equally true that it is evil for that man who fasteth with offence. Let us not therefore be like those who, seeing John the Baptist neither eating nor drinking, said, “He hath a devil;” but let us equally avoid imitating those who said, when they saw Christ eating and drinking, “Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.” After mentioning these sayings, the Lord subjoined a most important truth in the words, “But Wisdom is justified of her children;” and if you ask who these are, read what is written, “The sons of Wisdom are the congregation of the righteous:” they are they who, when they eat, do not despise others who do not eat; and when they eat not, do not judge those who eat, but who do despise and judge those who, with offence, either eat or abstain from eating.
Augustine of Hippo, Augustine, Letters of St. Augustin 1.36 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 1)
It is called a great banquet, with reference not to the multitude of the guests, but to the abundance and magnificence of the provisions: for we know that Christ did not practise such austerity, as not to allow himself to be sometimes entertained more splendidly by the rich, provided that there were no superfluity. Yet we cannot doubt that, as he was a remarkable example of temperance, so he exhorted those who entertained him to frugality and moderation in diet, and would never have endured wasteful and extravagant luxuries.
John Calvin, Calvin, Harmony of the Evangelists, Vol. 1 5.75 (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 31)
His blessed body was lean and emaciated with labour, grief, and fasting, during the whole course of his ministry, which made him look as if he was nearly 50 years old when he was yet but 33, as we find, John viii. 57 . His wrinkles now witnessed for him that he was far from being what was called, a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber.
Matthew Henry, Henry, Commentary on Psalms 22.2 (Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3)
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