Does the Bible encourage the practice of Lent?
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Asked February 20 2023
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tony mccullough
Supporter
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Tim Maas
Supporter
By my understanding, the observance of Lent in its present forty-day form (from "Ash Wednesday" to "Holy Saturday", excluding Sundays) was not officially established until the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, hundreds of years after the end of the biblical record. Certainly, Christians prior to that date set aside periods of time for fasting, abstention (that is, temporarily giving up selected practices or foods), and prayer, and those customs are all recognized in the Bible as ways to allow the individual to focus more on God and to form a closer relationship with Him. Also, the number forty is used in multiple instances in the Bible in connection with times of testing (such as the Flood lasting forty days and nights, Israel's wandering in the wilderness for forty years, or Jesus' forty days in the desert following His baptism). However, "Lent" (in its modern sense) was not observed in Biblical times.
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