Christians are well-versed with sins like sexual immorality, dishonesty, murder, and idolatry. You know, the biggies. However, some sins the Bible speaks of confound us, like gluttony.

For a long time in my walk with Christ, I was curious on why gluttony is even mentioned in Scripture, let alone rebuked and warned of. What’s the big deal if someone eats a little too many sweets or has a few inches on their waste band? Aren’t there bigger things to focus on?

If that’s you, I hope this helps.

What Is Gluttony?

First, let’s define our terms. Gluttony is when we allow our appetites to rule over our reasoning. It is when what we want controls what we ought. Gluttony causes our desires to move from the passenger seat to driver seat in our hearts. In this way, gluttony can meaningfully be applied to other areas beyond food (Deut. 21:20; Prov. 28:7), but food is often focused because the desires it elicits are so frequent and strong.

With this, you may better see why the Bible warns against it.

Proverbs 25:16 – “If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.”

Proverbs 28:7 – “The one who keeps the law is a son with understanding, but a companion of gluttons shames his father.”

Philippians 3:19 – “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.”

1 Corinthians 6:12 – “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything.”

Titus 1:12 – “One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’”

God does not want his people to be ruled by desires, but by truth. We used to be slaves to our “the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind” (Eph 2:3) and worshiped the belly god (Philippians 3:19), but God frees and instructs us in Jesus to worship and serve Him instead. God warns of gluttony because he know that our desires are great servants, but terribly cruel masters.

Why Is Gluttony Dangerous

If someone allows their desires to run the show, what happens? A lot of things and all of them bad in varying degrees. Here are five dangers gluttony offers.

1. It Enslaves the Heart, Not Just the Stomach

Gluttony is dangerous because it trains the heart to obey appetite rather than reason or God. John Calvin warns, “We must hold to moderation lest our appetites become our masters.” When food or any desire becomes a source of comfort, identity, control, or escape the heart is no longer free. We no longer simply enjoy the thing, we obey it. A person can be gluttonous without eating excessively because the sin is enslavement to desire. Over time this habit conditions the soul to seek satisfaction from created things rather than from God and turns good gifts into bad gods.

2. It Turns a Gift into a King

The human body is a gift from God meant to be stewarded wisely and cared for as a temple (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). Gluttony turns the gift of our bodies into a tyrant by letting our bodily cravings dictate our choices. Instead of eating to nourish and strengthen us to worship God and love others, gluttony causes us to merely indulge for our own immediate pleasure. This overindulgence with food can lead to poor health, exhaustion, or diminished ability to serve others. In obeying our appetites, we progressively lose the ability to obey God. Gluttony is not just a moral failing it is a increasing hindrance to living faithfully.

3. It Weakens Self-Control Across Life

Gluttony is a failure of self-control, a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). When appetite consistently wins, we lose our own ability to control our lives and increasingly become “slaves to various passions and pleasures” (Titus 2:3). Lacking restraint in our eating and drinking also diminishes our restraint in other areas of life such as speech, temper, finances, or relationships. A person who cannot say no to seconds, the extra piece of cake, or another beer loses strength to say no to other impulses as well. Over-indulgence in one area spreads like a cancer to others.

4. It Crowds Out Love of God and Neighbor

Self-indulgence causes us to make personal satisfaction more important than the needs of others. It trains us to think about me instead of them. Scripture often notes that gluttony often gives way to neglecting generosity, hospitality, or care for the poor (Prov. 23:20–21; Ezek. 16:49). When pleasure becomes a primary concern then we begin redirecting time, energy, and resources that could serve others to serve only ourselves. Gluttony is a personal habit that has relational consequences.

5. It Distorts Gratitude

Food is a gift meant to lead to thanksgiving yet gluttony consumes without thought or acknowledgment of the Giver. Romans 1 shows the downward spiral that happens when we exchange truth with our desires. When we mindlessly consume, our hearts forget God’s provision and neglect his wisdom. Indulgence replaces gratitude. Gluttony turns joy in God’s gifts into self-focused obsession.

God Is Not a Joy-Killer

To the untrained mind, the Bible’s warnings against habits like gluttony can seem like a buzz-kill. Many read verses against overindulgence and think God is out to steal our joy. The opposite is true. The Father sent His Son into the world destroy the one who began our misery: Satan, the Snake of old (Genesis 3:15; Romans 16:20). Jesus has come to bear our griefs and sorrows so we may learn from his commands how to live lives marked by his joy (John 15:11). God fills us with his Holy Spirit of adoption to replace the spirit of fear and slavishness (Romans 8:15). God isn’t out to kill our joy, but to kill all the things that kill our joy.

This is no less true in his command to run from gluttony. He calls us to rid ourselves of the cruel masters that is our own appetites and desires (1 Corinthians 6:12; Galatians 5:16–17) and instead master them by his power. In doing so, God does us a great kindness. Effectively, God’s word against gluttony is him saying, “Break up with the god of your belly! He’s a mean son-of-a-gun!”Alternatively, he invites us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Ditch your cruel belly-god and follow the Loving One.