Gregory the Great, a sixth century pope whose piety and teaching on spiritual formation have had an enduring legacy in the church, seems to have been the first Christian teacher to create the taxonomy of the "seven deadly sins." One thing is certain. Following Gregory these seven sins stood out as prominent in Christian theology. The seven were: pride, anger, envy, impunity, gluttony, slothfulness and avarice. I doubt many Protestants could name these if their life depended on it.
But what is gluttony? And is gluttony simply synonymous with being overweight? And if it synonymous with being overweight who determines what constitutes being overweight? If it is the infamous insurance tables then the standard has shifted quite a bit in the last decade. If it is the physicians and researchers then the standard is shifting even as I write these words. The most recent medical evidence suggests that excess weight is harmful to your well-being but there are many other factors that contribute to health and longevity of life than weight. In reality, some of these factors are far more deadly than carrying a little excess weight. Personally, I resist churches and Christians who determine their answer to the question of gluttony by referencing it to excess weight for several reasons. Let me explain.
Gluttony is "an insatiable desire This should make it clear that being normally weighted, whatever that is, and being slightly over-weighted, depending on what that is, are not the primary issues in gluttony. There are a number of complex factors that play a large part in what a person will weigh; e.g. "their set point," etc. Generally speaking, and I do not wish to be cruel here in the least, most hugely obese people have a medical problem and gluttony likely plays some role in how to deal with their problem. I leave to the human conscience the working out of this point. Gluttony may have contributed to this problem but a compassionate Christianity will not judge our brothers and sisters by what they weigh. As a personal aside, I have struggled to maintain my proper weight since I was about ten years old. My brother has no such problem. I always thought, at least as a teen, that this was truly unfair. But it is what it is. By the time I was in eight grade my physical size was pretty much what it has been, within about 10-15 pounds, ever since. Through rigorous diet I once got down over forty pounds in my early thirties. I used a crazy diet and hard long runs. After a bout with pneumonia I never was able to get back into the long runs. Slowly, over the years, I gained my weight back, reaching about the point that I think we call "the set point." I have recently dropped about eight pounds by eating better and through more regular exercise, which I try to do following some routine of discipline. My own problem is that I do every thing with passion so I tend to "attack" exercise programs and then quit when everything hurts. Make no mistake about it—gluttony is a vice and it is a dangerous one that most of us need to wrestle with far more than we do. This sin will not necessarily destroy your faith but it will chip away at serious spiritual formation and discipleship. I have always found it curious that in my evangelical church background we had rules against drinking, especially drinking a good glass of wine or a rich lager, and yet we ate like we were famished for the worst foods possible at every church social event we ever conducted. The irony was that we laughed about all this and thereby made ourselves feel better for our sinful attitude and gluttony. One thing I know for sure—gluttony is not a laughing matter. Take time to do a biblical word search and you will easily discover this is no laughing matter. And while you are at it stop judging others for their weight and work on your own tendency to commit this deadly sin regardless of what the scales tell you about your weight. I know that I need to do exactly that.
When I reached my lowest point in weight, as an adult, I soon became impressed with myself in a deadly way. I could easily judge others since I now knew what it took to lose weight. I also felt proud of myself for my hard work and my better body. A good friend once told me, with steely honesty, "I liked you better when you were forty pounds heavier." I got the message. The goal, of course, is to not add the weight but to drop the prideful and judgmental attitude. Man that hurt but it helped a lot.
The problem with Gregory's taxonomy is that it has mixed disease with sin. The deadly sins, in some cases, then became crimes. There is no support for such thinking in the New Testament. We are not criminal if we overeat and no laws should ever be passed, by the church or the state, about overeating. But gluttony is a sin. We must be clear about this if we read the Scriptures at all. Modern psychotherapy is right to stress some aspects of how to treat this problem but it is wrong to deny the role of human volition in sin, especially in this sin. I have no doubt that the awful problems of anorexia and bulimia have arisen again in our modern context precisely because this sin is so very real in the way it impacts fragile and deeply flawed humans.
Today gluttony is almost never talked about except by social activists who associate it with the freedom to enjoy a good meal in the West and the absence of good food in many parts of the world. I resist this type of thinking and still enjoy good food and drink as gifts from God. All things can be enjoyed, in this case, "with prayer and thanksgiving." Google the terms "gluttony" and "financial crisis" and you will see what I mean. So many writers now speak figuratively of the markets being driven by gluttony that the term seems almost irrelevant. Perhaps we resist coming to grips with the real sin of gluttony, which can impact normally weighted, thinly weighted and heavily weighted people all three, when we trivialize the way we use the term and then use it so widely to describe so much in popular culture. Interestingly, the word itself comes from a Latin word, gluttire, which means to "gulp down or swallow." There is a lot here to ponder for a serious Christian who eats with too much gusto. (I admit again that I am such a person and have always eaten too fast.)
Related Posts
Comments
Comments are closed.
My Latest Book!
Use Promo code UNITY for 40% discount!
Gluttony preaching is starting to make a comeback in certain church circles. Those places tend to be led by young (age<40) men with a penchant for coupling expository preaching with constant calls to repentance. Gluttony is often mentioned alongside other sins like laziness and apathy. Idolatry is what leads to these sins. Idolatry of self, particularly.
I appreciate this candid preaching on sin, ramifications, and the need for repentance. What I personally struggle with is how these particular young male preachers also highly value "eating right," "exercise," "staying fit," and "being credible" in all things.
My problem with it is the seeming constant call to behave a certain way coupled with the specific gospel message of "there are no works" that can save. I actually believe these preachers are right in expecting their flock to seek credibility in the world. Not just through fitness but also through all the other ways the body of Christ can be known as Christ followers. Ethical practice, honesty, service, sacrifice, love... However, I find the "no works" preaching coupled with the constant conviction on behavior confusing and troubling.
The majority of people are not ever going to be "high performance" believers who can academically reconcile theological paradoxes and seek to dynamically live in grace based, loving communities of faith. This is why I think the constant call to high performance living AND living by grace alone can cause exhaustion and despair in so many of our brothers.
DJ|AMDG
P.S. Didn't know the history behind gluttony that you provided here. Good stuff. How about the other six sins?
Also, visiting UBF Rogers Park again today with the family. Looking forward to worshiping with those brothers and sisters up there.
Gluttony preaching is starting to make a comeback in certain church circles. Those places tend to be led by young (age<40) men with a penchant for coupling expository preaching with constant calls to repentance. Gluttony is often mentioned alongside other sins like laziness and apathy. Idolatry is what leads to these sins. Idolatry of self, particularly.
I appreciate this candid preaching on sin, ramifications, and the need for repentance. What I personally struggle with is how these particular young male preachers also highly value "eating right," "exercise," "staying fit," and "being credible" in all things.
My problem with it is the seeming constant call to behave a certain way coupled with the specific gospel message of "there are no works" that can save. I actually believe these preachers are right in expecting their flock to seek credibility in the world. Not just through fitness but also through all the other ways the body of Christ can be known as Christ followers. Ethical practice, honesty, service, sacrifice, love... However, I find the "no works" preaching coupled with the constant conviction on behavior confusing and troubling.
The majority of people are not ever going to be "high performance" believers who can academically reconcile theological paradoxes and seek to dynamically live in grace based, loving communities of faith. This is why I think the constant call to high performance living AND living by grace alone can cause exhaustion and despair in so many of our brothers.
DJ|AMDG
P.S. Didn't know the history behind gluttony that you provided here. Good stuff. How about the other six sins?
Also, visiting UBF Rogers Park again today with the family. Looking forward to worshiping with those brothers and sisters up there.
Posted by: Dan | January 31, 2010 at 08:25 AM
Verify your Comment
Previewing your Comment
Hi John, I just stumbled upon your blog via Shameless Popery. This is a really great post, and your honesty and reflection struck deep with me. I was always felt like I inherited the overweight gene in my family. My other siblings except one sister seemed to always have a normal body weight no matter how much they ate. Nevertheless, I never wanted to attribute my problem to the sin of overeating which is probably the real issue. This is certainly a wake-up call for me. In the past before I came more deeply into my faith, I lost weight for ascetic reasons. Now there are still ascetic reasons for me to want to lose weight I guess, but mostly I want to change my eating habits so I do not act in a way that is offensive to God. To grow in the spiritual life is to make room for God in every part of your life, even if it means giving up the immoderate desire for food to make that room for Him. It's strange though, when I'm in a period where I exercise, I typically don't overeat, but once I get busy and stop exercising, I start overeating. Anyways, thank you, thank you for this blog. It has helped me confront en face a big hindrance in my desired growth towards sanctity.
For the previous commenter, Dan; perhaps the reason why the conflicting messages of "no works" preaching and conviction on behavior is so confusing is because truth can not contradict truth. Both can not be true,(i.e. 'works' are important, or 'works' are not important) because one negates the other. The question becomes: "why worry about my behavior when nothing I do, that is my 'works,' can effect my salvation?" Well luckily, the Bible answers this question in the famous passage in Revelation 20:12 where the dead are being judged: "And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books." Jesus also mentions this when he says in Matt 16:27 "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works." I think the confusion for some people is between the term 'works' and 'works of the law.' In Romans 2:5-6 we have "But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. 6For he will render to every man according to his works" But in Romans 3:20 we have "because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin."
The key is that when the word 'works' is used it means deeds or behavior. When 'works of the law' is used, it means the ceremonial works of the Jewish people like circumcision. And we know this because St. Paul will go on in the rest of Romans to continually use the example of circumcision when referring to this 'works of the law.' If 'works of the law' instead meant our moral behavior, it would make more sense for him to use examples like adultery or theft, which he doesn't do. Furthermore, this is how Romans 3:20 is then reconciled with the Book of James where he writes in 2:24 "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone."
Anyways, I just really love Biblical exegesis, perhaps it is the one thing I can happily and indulgently be a "glutton" about 🙂
Peace in Christ
Irene
Our understanding of what it means to eat and drink for the glory of God should, in my view, also be informed by a critical appreciation of the ways in which food in the modern age is grown, processed, transported and marketted.
By focusing exclusively on the “consumption” of food as the primary issue we risk missing the bigger picture of how the industrialisation of food production in the west has fundamentally changed our relationship to these “good gifts” which are to be received with thanksgiving.
A more sustainable approch to the way food is grown will have both social justice and health implications.
As a medical profession I see the rate of Obesity has grown in astounding rate in America for the last 30-40 years. It is ironic that the state of Mississippi is the most religious state in America according to a survey and at the same time it has the highest rate in Obesity.
John,
Great discussion! Here are the things I liked most about the post:
(1) you distinguished medically-induced overeating from overeating with sinful roots;
(2) you noted that gluttony isn’t limited to food, and can’t be measured by weight. Gluttons for food may be of any size and shape, and there are plenty of gluttons for other things. It seems to me that a number of people (myself included, at times) work excessively, not out of greed or even pride in their own abilities, but just a gluttony for the rush that working on something exciting can cause. And
(3) you cautioned that in removing one deadly sin from our lives, we may stumble into a more severe one, pride.
On all of these points, I think C.S. Lewis is pretty instructive in chapter 7 of the Screwtape Letters. There IS one point on which we seem to disagree, though. You write, “The problem with Gregory’s taxonomy is that it has mixed disease with sin.”
This is not, in my opinion, a weakness of Gregory’s taxonomy, but of the laws built upon it: pride, anger, envy, impunity, gluttony, slothfulness and avarice are not only sins, but are the sins which are responsible for every known sin on Earth. Gregory’s list is an absolute work of art on this point.
The problem is that legislators attempting to enshrine prohibitions against the seven deadly sins based their laws on fighting symptoms, rather than the sins themselves. That, obviously, is a bit of a ham-fisted approach.
A classmate of mine from high school had brain cancer, and in the process of trying (ultimately unsuccessfully) to battle it, his brain lost the ability to regulate hunger. He was always hungry, always thirsty, and soon became obese. He was many things, but not a glutton. And I can’t thank you enough for making that clear. His overeating may have been criminal (under the problematic civil codes) but it wasn’t, within Gregory’s taxonomy, sinful.
The only reason I bring up what may seem like an argument over nuance is that I think that Gregory’s list actually *supports* your point. Reducing sins to a set of specific actions with no consideration of motives dilutes and distorts everything we know (and need to know) about sin.
Peace of Christ, as always,
Joe.
John,
It occurs to me that I have a G.K. Chesterton quote for just this occassion:
“If there is anything on which I differ from the monastic institutions of the past, it is that they sometimes sought to achieve humility by means of emaciation. It may be that the thin monks were holy, but I am sure it was the fat monks who were humble. Falstaff said that to be fat is not to be hated; but it certainly is to be laughed at, and that is a more wholesome experience for the soul of man.”
– Joe.
“I doubt many Protestants could name these if their life depended on it.”
Yeah, guffaw, stupid Prots and their ignorance of sixth century Catholic tradition.
Just making friends. Otherwise good article. We plan to use it in our weekly men’s prayer/fellowship meeting.
Peace,
JB
A comment on the discussion about works and grace as it relates to the discussion. It seems like the paradox/”contradiction” is most pronounced when assuming that judgment is the ultimate motivation for change, while in the New Testament, it is exactly this motivation that is turned around. It is because of God’s justifying grace (while we were still enemies), that we can pursue righteousness without guilt or shame. Surely these two issues are central to the sin of gluttony. If I am judged on my works, I will feel the constant pressure of failure, the shame of my weight, etc. and likely fall farther down into sin. If, however, I have truly received the saving grace of God, I know that my lapses do not, in fact, “destroy my faith” or my standing with God. I can bathe in His love and grace and be refreshed in my cooperation with the Holy Spirit in God’s war to rid my life of sin. My motivation then is gratitude and a vision of Jesus’ life lived out in mine rather than whether I will measure up at judgment. And this is the motivation and assurance we need to truly address the sin of gluttony.
John,
Excellent post here! Just to add one more thought to the discussion; a wise old friend once commented on the Seven Deadly Sins by pointing out that “it is no accident that PRIDE heads the list”. In one sense, it is the sinful form of pride that is the root of the other 6. That is why we can never simply attack or control outward behavior without addressing the inward attitudes that drive it.
God bless!