Can we tell from the Bible if smoking is a sin?
Answer:
There is a growing abundance of scientific and medical evidence that smoking seriously damages human health. In some countries the government requires tobacco companies to include health-warning messages on every cigarette pack.
Since smoking is a relatively modern practice, the Bible does not speak of it directly. Yet God's Word certainly addresses smoking in principle. In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, for example, Paul goes right to the heart of the matter regarding actions that can harm us: "...Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit [which] is in you, [which] you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."
God not only created us, but Jesus Christ paid for our sins with His life's blood. Since we belong to God, why would we want to defile His property by smoking? This practice breaks the spirit of God's law and certainly in principle falls into the category of sin. By no stretch of the imagination can smoking be construed as "glorify[ing] God in your body and in your spirit."
The Ten Commandments express God's way of love first toward our Creator and secondly our neighbor. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," says both Jesus Christ and the law (Matthew 22:39; Leviticus 19:18). The damaging effect of secondhand smoke is well-documented. So out of loving concern for our neighbors and family members, we should certainly avoid smoking. The apostle Paul tells us that "love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law" (Romans 13:10).
For many, however, it is not simply a matter of deciding to quit. They face a difficult struggle with a stubborn physical addiction. Indeed, this fact magnifies the wrong of smoking. Some might argue that smoking every long once in a while is not harmful—that regularly eating hamburgers is much more damaging. But smoking can all too quickly become an addiction. It may begin as something done every once in a while—but soon it becomes established as a regular routine that severely damages health.
And while harming oneself is a sin, the root sin here is the addiction itself—an enslaving habit. Paul wrote, "Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" (Romans 6:16). Addiction is a covetous obsession—a "lust of the flesh" (1 John 2:16). It is frankly idolatrous since it puts something before God in one's life (compare Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:5). Gluttons are described in Scripture as those "whose god is their belly" (Philippians 3:19). A smoking addiction takes on the same character.
Yet we are to have "self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23)—"bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). Knowing this, we should not engage in practices that can easily enslave us—as smoking certainly can.
For those who already smoke, quitting may not be easy—but it is a must. Making a personal commitment is essential to ultimate success. So is praying regularly for God's help. It may also be necessary to seek advice and/or treatment from those who are professionally competent in dealing with nicotine addiction. No matter what your situation, you can quit—people do it all the time, even those who have smoked for decades.
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