On this page, we will define the Temple of God, Diet Plan for God’s People, and The Wine of the Bible. God wants us to enjoy good health during our life on earth and He has given us instructions as to how to accomplish it. The gospel not only gives us eternal hope, but it improves the quality of our life in the present. The principles and precepts of God’s Word hold the secrets of the abundant life. Physical, Mental, and Spiritual health are not accident. They are divine prescriptions that if applied will improve the quality and length of life.
In The Beginning…
Genesis 1:28-30, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
When God created man, He made no mistakes! In the beginning, everything God made was perfect, from placing the earth in proper orbit around the sun (not too close lest we burn up and not too far lest we freeze). To the percentage of oxygen which was just right to sustain life. Even the food supply – It was all there in perfection. ‘And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good’ (Genesis 1:31).
Your Body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit
1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Our bodies are not disposable containers we can use and abuse according to our own desires. As trophies of God’s grace, redeemed by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should honor God with our bodies. The question is, ‘How do we do that?’
You are the temple of the living God. When the apostle Paul first mentioned the word temple to the inhabitants of Corinth, they did not think of their own bodies; rather, they thought of the temple of Aphrodite, a place where worshipers engaged in sexual immorality with temple prostitutes. That’s probably why in his letters to the Corinthians Paul goes to great lengths to reeducate the new believers concerning the temple where God dwells, which is in the hearts of those who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Paul declares, “You are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16), and “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19). Thus, the most compelling reason to care for our bodies is not simply that we might extend our lifespan or enjoy better health now, but because we choose to honor God with our bodies, which are His gifts to us. (Also see: John 1:1-4; 1 Cor 6:19, 20; 10:31, Gal. 3:13; Col. 1:16-17; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). And: Psalm 15:1-5, 1 Peter 2:9, Ephesians 3:16-19, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17,.
All Things Made by Him
The New Testament writers boldly proclaim that the Lord Jesus Christ is not only the Messiah, the Son of the Highest, but He is also the Creator of the world. Thousands of years before the Son of God entered into humanity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, He spoke the world into existence.
John makes three claims: from the beginning the Son of God (aka: the Word, Jesus) was with God and was God, everything was made by Him (the Word), and in Him is life (light of men). John 1:1-4,14.
The apostle Paul also emphasizes the supremacy of Jesus Christ, Son of God, as the Creator of all things, and the One from whom we have even our life. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God, Paul writes, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16, 17).
Compare: John 1:1-4, 14 with Colossians 1:16-17. Genesis 1:1 says that “God created the heavens and the earth.” Then, Colossians 1:16 gives the added detail that God created “all things” through Jesus Christ. The plain teaching of Scripture, therefore, is that Jesus is the Creator of the universe. Hebrews 1:2-3.
In the account of God making humanity, Genesis 2:7, notice the closeness, the intimacy, of the act, in contrast to how everything else in the Genesis account was made. He spoke everything else into existence, but with humanity He fashioned us from the dust (man) and the rib (woman). He then breathed upon us the breath of life. We are told that we are made “in the image of God and after His likeness” (Genesis 1:26-27).
The Word (aka: Son of God, Jesus Christ) created us with his own hands and gave us life. He then comes, because of the fall of mankind into sin, to once again offer us life. Truly, we are not our own – we were fashioned in the creative mind of God, the evidence is plain and can be seen all around us. What we are not is a product of pure chance from a primordial soup which is based on theory and conjecture.
Redeemed
As written previously, we saw that the Bible very clearly reveals Jesus Christ as the Creator, the One who created all things, the One who spoke the world into existence, and the One who in a very intimate act breathed “the breath of life” into the first human being. Thus, we are not our own, in that we somehow created ourselves or put ourselves here out of our own volition, and, therefore, have an absolute claim over ourselves. On the contrary. As the objects of His specific act of creation, we belong to God, whose claim over us is greater than our claim over ourselves.
We might belong to God because He is our Creator, but, according to the Bible, that’s not His only claim over us (Acts 20:28; Gal. 3:13, 4:4-5; Col. 1:14; Heb. 9:12; 1 Peter 1:18-19). In the Bible, the idea of being redeemed is to be ransomed, to be bought back, to be recovered, to be rescued, or to be set free. Through Jesus our Redeemer, all these things have happened to us, which means His claims over us are even greater than before, for now we are His, by both creation and redemption. And redemption might even be a greater claim, because simply being created doesn’t necessarily mean something good. After all, some people might curse their own existence and wish they had never been born. In contrast, as the One who redeemed us in an act that promises us a new existence in a world without sin or suffering, Christ has done something wonderful for us that nothing can diminish or destroy (see Dan. 2:44).
The Temple of the Holy Spirit
As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot use and abuse our bodies with careless indifference. Too often, people say, “This is my life, and I can do what I want with it.” The Word of God challenges that self-centered philosophy. Our body is the “temple of the Holy Ghost” and because we have been bought with an immeasurable price – we are to “glorify God in our body”.
Sexual Immorality
In his first epistle to the Christians in Corinth, the apostle Paul emphasized the importance of honoring God with our bodies. The Corinthian believers were facing some intense challenges. They lived in a city where sexual immorality was not only prevalent, it was encouraged. Satan was marring the image of God in unbelievers and believers alike. Promiscuity was not only plaguing the culture, it was permeating the church (1 Cor. 6:19, 20).
Honoring God with our bodies involves more than refraining from sexual immorality. Once we recognize that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, this realization will affect every aspect of our lives. We will not only seek to avoid defiling our body temple with any substance or activity that is harmful or inappropriate. We will also actively seek to care for our body temple and involve ourselves in activities that honor God.
Grape Juice – Unfermented (non-alcoholic) vs. Fermented (alcoholic)
In the Hebrew and Greek, the word Wine is used to mean Grape Juice – either fermented or unfermented. In Hebrew, the word is “yayin” (H3196) except for where New Wine is specifically used the word “tiyros” (H8492) which is a blessing from God and can be used to mean grapes, or juice, or New Wine (unfermented). In the New Testament, the word for wine is “oinos” (G3631), and can mean either fermented, or unfermented grape juice.
When wine is used to symbolize doctrine it can be “Old Wine” or fermented grape juice which is false doctrine and “New Wine” or unfermented grape juice which is true doctrine. (see Isaiah 28:7). Fermentation is a symbol of sin especially in wine where “leaven” or yeast is used to make the wine ferment. Yeast is also the leaven in bread that causes bread to rise. Since wine and bread are both symbols of the body of Christ, neither can be made with leaven or yeast which is a symbol for sin, since that would destroy the symbols of communion and Passover. The Greek word “Zume” (Strong’s G2219) is the word used for leaven which also means “fermenting matter”.
– New Wine = Ecclesiastes 2:3; Isaiah 65:8
– Old Wine = Deuteronomy 32:33; Romans 3:13; Proverbs 20:1; Isaiah 28:7; Isaiah 5:12; Isaiah 5:22–24; Isaiah 28:7; Isaiah 29:9–11
– Jesus’ Blood – Matthew 26:27-29; 1 Corinthians 11:25
– Affliction, Wrath, Violence – Revelation 14:10; Jeremiah 25:15-18
Further Reading see article “Wine in the Bible”, at the end of the page.
| Diet: The Original Menu – Our Nutrition Plan God placed Adam and Eve in a garden home and directed them to consume a simple, which He Himself provided for them. As verse 29 of Genesis 1 tells us, the fruits of the tree and the herbs bearing seed were established to be their diet. God provided our first parents the food He designed for them to eat. Death, human or animal, was not in His plan. The original plan was: “every herb bearing seed” and “every tree…which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed”. So, we have fruit, nuts, and grains as the original diet. Original Plan Altered After Sin The Bible also tells us that after Adam sinned he was driven out of the Garden of Eden and God instructed him to add the “herb of the field” to the original diet plan of Genesis 1:29 (see Genesis 3:18). Vegetables, the herbs of the field, were added to the original live food program, because Adam had lost access to the Tree of Life, which provided immortality. Altered Again After the Flood The Great Flood was the next crisis that caused an alteration to pure plant diet of Genesis 1:29 and 3:18. After the Great Flood in Noah’s day, God made a provision to the original diet plan and added clean flesh to man’s diet, just as he added the herb of the field after sin. “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. God now adds flesh, just as he mentioned the adding of ‘green herb’ (vegetables). God gave permission, for the first time, for His people to eat the flesh of dead animals, but prohibited consuming the blood or the fat. “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat” (Genesis 9:4). It needs to be understood that in the provisional diet of flesh eating, God gave specific dietary instructions on which animals could be eaten and which animals could not (see: Leviticus 11, for the clean and unclean list). This provision was made because all living things were destroyed in the flood (Genesis 7:21-23). Prior to the flood, Noah was instructed to take two of every “kind” (Genesis 6:20). This was done in order to preserve the seed and to keep them alive. The clean animals or ‘kind’ there were seven pairs taken on the ark (Genesis 7:2-3). This was done for sacrificial purposes once they landed, they would have enough pairs to provide a sacrifice (Genesis 8:20). This would leave enough to perpetuate the ‘kind’ AND provide food to eat until the plants were re-established on earth. Let’s look at the phrase, “every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you”. The phrase “everything that lives and moves” appears to be all-inclusive, but that’s not necessarily the case. “Everything,” or “all,” is used in the story to refer to “all” unclean animals (Gen. 6:19) as well as to “all” clean animals (Gen. 7:2). The phrase “that lives and moves” is problematic and is not employed anywhere else in the Flood narrative. While “what lives” is used in other parts of the story to refer to living creatures (Gen. 6:19; 8:21), “what moves” (Hebrew remeś, “creeping things”) designates mainly small animals such as reptiles (e.g., Gen. 6:7; 7:23). A literal translation would read “All living creeping animals will be food for you.” The other possibility is to interpret the Hebrew term as designating animals in general based on the use of the verb rather than on the use of the noun (e.g., Gen. 7:21; Ps. 104:20). This is the most common interpretation of the phrase among Bible students. But the singularity of the expression, as well as the use of “all/everything” to designate all clean or unclean animals, suggest that the biblical writer was not necessarily referring to all types of animals, only to clean ones. In addition, this interpretation is in harmony with the rest of scripture, such as the dietary laws found in Leviticus 11, swine and rats being called an abomination and unclean (Lev. 11:7, Deut. 14:3-21, Isaiah 66:17), etc. The passage is about food for humans and therefore regulates human diet. God modified the human diet immediately after the Fall, allowing Adam and Eve to eat “green plants” (Gen. 9:3). Interestingly, according to Genesis 1:30, the phrase “green plants” (yereq c ēśv) was a general designation for the food of animals. But in Genesis 9:3 the same phrase is used to refer to “seed-bearing plants” (e.g., legumes and cereals), as indicated in Genesis 3:18. The all-inclusive phrase “green plants” is not all-inclusive but is restricted to the meaning found in Genesis 3:18. Now the Lord is allowing humans to eat animal flesh as food for them; and again, it is not flesh in general but certain types of it. The context strongly indicates that this is the flesh of all clean animals. Must We Continue on the Provisional Diet? Is it necessary to continue on the provisional diet when the plant foods are in great abundance and available at any supermarket, or better yet, from one’s own garden if available? With all the disease around us, man and animal alike, would it be wise to return to His original design, that is, not to subsist upon the flesh of dead animals? A pure plant-based diet is packed with all the nutrients we were intended to have. We are assured that in the future we will again eat from the ‘tree of life” (Revelation 2:7; 22:2,14,19). Further Reading: Which Animals Does the Bible Designate as Clean Unclean, see article at the end of the page. |
| Exercise – Isaiah 40:31 God created us to work and subdue. He wants us to be active as much as we possibly can. A good form of exercise is walking. It can also be a time of enjoying nature, deep breathing, and reflection on the wonder of an awesome God. So, bodily exercise is important, but spiritual training has value for all things (1 Timothy 4:7-9). Water – Daniel 1:11-13 Your body is about 75% water. Lots of water is needed for optimal function. Every process in your body depends on the presence of adequate water. Water flushes out the toxins that cause many health problems. It is recommended that one should drink at least eight glasses of water a day. We are also instructed to drink from the Living Water (verses). Sunshine – Ecclesiastes 11:7 Sun, in moderation, can improve your sleep, reduces stress, helps to support strong bones, furnishes vitamin D, helps to manage calcium levels, fights off depression, reduces inflammation, supports the immune system and glucose metabolism. It is sweetness for the seed to grow into the food we eat. God fit everything intricately together! We are told that “the Sun of righteousness comes with healing in His wings” which clearly refers to Christ (Malachi 4:2; Psalm 84:11, John 8:12, Rev. 22:16). Temperance – Galatians 5:22-25 Temperance is a state of mind wherein you seek to practice balance with your body and your passions. It’s really an age-old conflict, stretching back the creation of mankind. If you remember the story, the first humans, Adam and Eve, struggled with intemperance (among other things) in diet and wound up eating the forbidden fruit. Temperance is moderation in thought, word, or action. Those who practice temperance are self-controlled and show restraint in their passions and behaviors. God does not leave us alone to accomplish these things, He gives us the strength we need (Romans 7:21-25, 13:14; 1 Cor. 10:31). Air – Ezekiel 37:5 Pure fresh air is very important to our well-being. That means good air with lots of oxygen. Walking in a wood area is great. Deep breathing exercise is helpful to our overall health. We are to praise God for the air, the breath he has bestowed upon us (Psalm 150:6). Rest – Proverbs 3:24 Get adequate restful sleep. Being active during the day will contribute to a good night sleep. Do something that is relaxing before you go to bed, like a warm bath. Go to bed at regular times and getting up at regular times is most helpful. There is much activity that occurs in our bodies during sleep that quality and quantity of sleep is important. Our Lord and Savior wants us to come to him and he will give us rest (Exodus 33:14, Psalm 62:1, Matthew 11:28-30, verses Trust in God – Proverbs 3:5 An abiding faith in our loving God will help in well-being. He has made every provision to forgive and cleanse us from all our past mistakes. He gives power to break harmful habits and the strength to overcome anything that ‘eats us up inside’. If we are ‘willing to be made willing’ He will work with us, take away our love for sinning, and make us free in Him. Ask Him. We can build a relationship with Him by reading his love letter to us…it is called the Bible, by talking to him…that’s called prayer, and worship Him…that is called reverence (aka: fear of the Lord). He is our friend, our hope, and our redeeming Savior (Psalm 9:10, 28:7, 37:4-6, 46:10; Proverbs 3:6; Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28; verses). New Heaven and New Earth We are physical beings. In the new heaven and the new earth, we will still be physical beings (1 Cor. 15:20,23,42,52; John 20:27; Matthew 27:52; Revelation 21:4,14; Revelation 22:2). The idea that we are temples serves to prove even more so how sacred, and important, the physical aspect of our being is. No wonder, then, we are admonished to take care of ourselves, to use our bodies in ways that glorify the One who made them. Any kind of physical indulgence, any kind of bodily sin, any kind of abuse of our body simply defiles what God has created and given us. Also, if God loves and cares about us, then it should be no surprise that He wants us to take care of our bodies, which can be a source of much joy or so much suffering, often depending upon how we ourselves take care of them. Shalom! Many people have heard of the Hebrew word shalom, understood as “peace.” The word shalom itself has a very rich and deep meaning in the Old Testament, where it appears in one form or another hundreds of times. It carries within it the idea of completeness, good welfare, wholeness, soundness, well-being, inner harmony, and health. The word itself incorporates every aspect of life, including the physical, mental, and the spiritual, whether individually, collectively, or nationally. For example, in one of the earliest uses of the word, Jacob inquires about the well-being (shalom) of Laban (see Gen. 29:6). The word translated “well” both times in the text is shalom. In contrast, in Jeremiah 29:7, Jeremiah tells the Jews in captivity to pray for the shalom “of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away,” because, the Lord says, in the shalom of the city will be the shalom of the Hebrew captives. The Bible calls Jesus, Sar-Shalom, “the prince of peace,” which makes sense because, in Him, through faith in Him, through obedience to His law, both moral and physical, we can find “shalom,” wholeness, completeness, and well-being in our lives. |
As stated in the beginning, the gospel not only gives us eternal hope, but it improves the quality of our life in the present. The principles and precepts of God’s Word hold the secrets of the abundant life. Physical, Mental, and Spiritual health are not accident. There are divine prescriptions that if applied will improve the quality and length of life.