The Mystical Meaning of Fasting: Returning to the Order of Eden
- Fr. Scott Haynes
- 4 hours ago
- 4 min read
Fr. Scott Haynes
A Meditation on Romans 6:19-23
7th Sunday after Pentecost
Saint Paul tells us in today’s Epistle:
“As you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity, unto iniquity; so now yield your members to serve justice, unto sanctification.” (Romans 6:19)
That may sound a little severe at first, but Saint Paul is really describing something very familiar. Every day, we use our bodies, our minds, and our desires in one direction or another. We can give our eyes, our tongue, our imagination, our appetites, and our will over to disorder, or we can offer them back to God.
Fasting helps us do exactly that.
The very first command God gave to man in Eden was a command of abstinence:
“But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat.” (Genesis 2:17)
It is worth noticing that the first test of obedience had to do with appetite. Adam and Eve were surrounded by abundance. They lacked nothing. Yet there was one thing they were told not to take.
And they took it.
The first sin, then, was not simply about food. It was about refusing restraint. Appetite was allowed to rise above obedience. Desire was placed above the command of God. Once that order was broken, everything else began to fall into disorder. Man rebelled against God, and soon the body began to rebel against the soul.
Saint Basil the Great expressed the remedy in a striking way:
“Because we did not fast, we were cast out of paradise; let us fast, therefore, that we may return to it.”
That is a beautiful way to understand fasting. Fasting is not merely eating less. It is a kind of spiritual return. It reverses the movement of the fall.
In Eden, man reached out and took what God had forbidden. In fasting, we freely step back even from something lawful and say,
“I do not have to take this. My appetite does not rule me. God does.”
When we deny ourselves something good for the sake of something greater, the will becomes stronger. Appetite learns to bow before reason, and reason learns to bow before God. Little by little, the order of Eden begins to be restored within us.
Saint Paul also reminds us that sin is not freedom. It is slavery:
“For when you were the servants of sin, you were free men to justice.” (Romans 6:20)
The passions often promise freedom. Anger says, “Say whatever you want.” Appetite says, “Take as much as you want.” Impurity says, “Follow every desire.” Pride says, “You owe nothing to anyone.”
But sooner or later, those passions begin to rule us.
A person who cannot control anger is not free. A person who cannot control the tongue is not free. A person who must satisfy every appetite is not free. The passions may begin as servants, but they soon become masters.
Fasting helps loosen their grip. It teaches the soul to say no. It reminds the body that it is meant to serve the soul, not rule it.
Of course, true fasting must go beyond food.
Saint John Chrysostom taught that the eyes, the ears, the hands, and the tongue must fast as well. We must fast from gossip. We must fast from resentment. We must fast from impure curiosity, envy, harsh judgment, and the desire always to have the last word.
A man may abstain from meat and still feast upon anger. He may deny his stomach while feeding his pride. He may eat very little and complain all day long.
That kind of fasting has not yet reached the heart.
The deeper purpose of fasting is not to make us irritable, proud, or self-satisfied. It is meant to make us more peaceful, more watchful, more charitable, and more aware of our need for God.
Fasting must also be joined to prayer. Our Lord said:
“This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:28)
Prayer turns the soul toward God. Fasting weakens the grip of the flesh. Together, they strengthen us for spiritual combat.
This is why Christ, the New Adam, began His public ministry by fasting for forty days.
Adam stood in a garden filled with food and broke the fast. Christ stood in a barren desert, hungry and tempted, and remained obedient.
Adam listened to the tempter and reached for the fruit. Christ heard the tempter and answered with the word of God.
In Christ, the disobedience of Eden was reversed.
Saint Paul then asks a very direct question:
“What fruit therefore had you then in those things, of which you are now ashamed?” (Romans 6:21)
That is a question each of us should take seriously.
What lasting good has sin ever given us? It may offer a moment of pleasure, a brief satisfaction, or the thrill of getting our own way. But afterward, what remains? Emptiness, regret, shame, and sometimes wounds that take years to heal.
Obedience bears a very different fruit:
“You have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting.” (Romans 6:22)
That is the true purpose of fasting.
We do not fast in order to impress God. We do not fast to prove how strong we are. In fact, we fast because we know how weak we are.
We fast because we need help. We fast because our appetites easily become disordered. We fast because grace must restore what sin has damaged. We fast so that Christ may reign more fully in our hearts.
The Epistle concludes:
“For the wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting, in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
Fasting does not purchase Heaven. Eternal life is not something we earn by eating less. It is the gift of God in Jesus Christ.
But fasting helps us turn away from the master who pays the wages of death. It helps us return to the God who gives life.
So let us fast, not only from food, but from excess, self-indulgence, anger, gossip, impurity, and pride. Let us fast with our eyes, our tongues, our appetites, and our hearts.
Then fasting becomes much more than a bodily discipline.
It becomes a return to spiritual order.
It becomes a small victory over the ancient rebellion of Eden.
And it becomes a way of preparing the soul for everlasting life in Christ.
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