Someone inquires about “fasting and prayer.” Immediately, the Bible student is aware that one can read repeatedly in both testaments of the Bible about children of God who practiced fasting and prayer for a number of different reasons. Old Testament examples of fasting and prayer include when a loved one is deathly ill (2 Samuel 12:16), in the face of impending danger (Esther 4:16), coupled with contriteness and acknowledgement of sin (Nehemiah 9:1-2), during bereavement (1 Chronicles 10:12) and in response to wickedness among the people of God (Ezra 10:6). Fasting and prayer was commonplace in the first century before the establishment of the church and Christianity. The Pharisees and even the disciples of John the Baptist routinely fasted and prayed (Matthew 9:14). Further, we have the example of our Lord Jesus Christ also engaging in fasting and prayer following the Great Temptation (Matthew 4:1-2). However, since Jesus lived and died under Judaism, that He fasted and prayed as did others living under the Old Testament Law does not necessarily imply that fasting and prayer ought to be a part of Christianity as well.
Turning to the New Testament, though, the Bible reader discovers occasions of Christians practicing fasting and prayer under the New Law, too. The church of Antioch of Syria engaged in fasting in prayer at the appointment of Barnabas and Saul (the apostle Paul) to be foreign evangelists (i.e., what we call missionaries) (Acts 13:3). Since that congregation was predominantly or perhaps wholly of Gentile ancestry, its use of fasting and prayer cannot be linked to Jewish custom, but transcends Judaism and encompasses Patriarchal, non-Jewish people and times as well (Jonah 3:5-10). Next, one notes that fasting and prayer accompanied the appointment of elders in the early church (Acts 14:23). In addition, the apostle Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthian church anticipated that Christians would sometimes practice fasting and prayer (1 Corinthians 7:5).
Anciently, fasting and prayer was a universally adopted cultural practice, which was also engaged by the people of God with religious significance besides for personal family situations. Consequently, we find in Scripture numerous examples of fasting and prayer. Yet, we do not find that fasting and prayer was commanded under either testament. Apparently, fasting and prayer is a matter of voluntary personal choice or something to which mankind is often driven involuntarily because of great personal turmoil (e.g., death of a family member). Fasting and prayer is not a prescribed religious activity comparable, for instance, to preaching, the Lord’s Supper, the church contribution, singing and praying in the assembly – the five acts of New Testament worship.
Nevertheless, the solemnity and soberness accompanying fasting and prayer as well as the benefits of prayers themselves, if practiced today, would duly emphasize the seriousness of important congregational decisions (e.g., appointment of elders, deacons, preachers, etc.; the exercise of church discipline) or even other areas of pressing concern (e.g., the awful moral, political and judicial state of one’s country; etc.). While fasting and prayer cannot be legislated today under Christianity, it certainly could be encouraged on significant occasions on a congregational level or adopted as needed on a personal basis.
Finally, Jesus did regulate fasting so that it would not become a demonstration of hypocrisy (Matthew 6:16-18). Instead, it was frequently a personal activity of which onlookers were unaware, only God knowing about it. Furthermore, even when fasting and prayer was typically practiced, it was not obligatory (Matthew 9:14-17).
