Returning to Biblical Fasting: Breaking Free from Platonic Shadows

Returning to Biblical Fasting: Breaking Free from Platonic Shadows

In modern Christian circles, fasting is often viewed through a lens shaped more by Greek philosophy than biblical context. What was once a deeply embodied, communal, and covenantal act has often become a hyper-individualized, dualistic effort to "escape" the flesh in pursuit of "spiritual" enlightenment.

But the Bible was written in the context of the Ancient Near East (ANE), not Plato's Academy. To truly recover the power and purpose of fasting, we must rediscover its ANE roots and shake off the Greek shadow that distorted its meaning.

Fasting in the Ancient Near East

In the Ancient Near East (including Israel), fasting was:

A bodily expression of grief, humility, or covenantal repentance

Often practiced in response to national crisis, divine judgment, or sacred seasons

Accompanied by prayer, mourning, ashes, sackcloth, and communal gathering

A way of saying, “We are desperate before you, Yahweh—we need you to act!”

Biblical Examples:

David fasted in mourning for his son (2 Sam. 12:16).

Ezra and Nehemiah called for national fasts when Israel was in distress (Ezra 8:21, Neh. 1:4).

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) was a national fast tied to covenantal purification (Lev. 16, 23:27).

Fasting in the ANE was always embodied—it wasn’t about escaping the body, but expressing something deeply human and covenantal through the body.

Enter Platonism: The Spiritualizing Shift

As Christianity spread into the Greco-Roman world, its ideas merged with Platonic dualism.

Plato taught that the body is a prison, and the soul’s goal is to escape into the realm of pure spirit. This crept into Christian thought, turning fasting into a way to “subdue the flesh,” “transcend the material,” or “draw nearer to heaven.”

This shift de-emphasized:

The communal nature of fasting

The covenantal grounding of fasting in the story of Israel

The embodied grief and solidarity it expressed

Instead, fasting became:

A tool for personal piety

A means to detachment

A form of ascetic self-denial divorced from historical purpose

The Problem with the Platonic Model

Platonic fasting often leads to:

Legalism: “If I fast hard enough, God will be pleased.”

Escapism: “If I punish my body, I’ll become more spiritual.”

Disembodiment: “My body is the problem, not part of God's good creation.”

But biblical fasting says:

“You are dust, and you are desperate—but not hopeless. Cry out to Yahweh in your weakness. He sees.”

A Call to Return: Embodied, Covenant-Based Fasting

If we are to reclaim fasting as a life-giving spiritual discipline, we must return to its biblical roots:

Not to escape the body, but to express the body’s need.

Not as a mystical ladder to heaven, but a prophetic cry for renewal on earth.

Not to achieve spiritual rank, but to humble ourselves as God’s people.

What this could look like today:

Fasting in community, not just privately

Fasting tied to injustice, grief, or repentance—just as in Isaiah 58

Fasting that prepares us for action, not escapism

Fasting that reminds us we are earthy, dependent, and yet hopeful

The Fulfilled Fast

The 70 AD judgment marked the end of covenantal waiting. Yet fasting still has a place—not as a cry for Messiah to come, but as a way to embody our hunger for the manifestation of Christ through us now. We no longer fast in Sheol-waiting—we fast in Spirit-empowered solidarity with the brokenness around us, proclaiming the presence of God now dwelling in His people.

Conclusion

Fasting is not a spiritualized diet or mystical achievement. It is a return to the soil of our humanity—a covenantal, embodied act of crying out to the God who listens. Let us leave behind the disembodied asceticism of Plato, and return to the fasting of the prophets, the psalmists, and the covenant people of Yahweh. Let’s fast with purpose, not to escape, but to engage with God’s mission in the world—fully present.