The Bible contains no direct commandment about smoking: tobacco is not mentioned in it. The question is addressed by applying biblical principles—self-control and refusing what takes control of a person, care for the body, conscience, and love for one’s neighbor. Christians reach different conclusions here; there is no basis in Scripture for calling smoking a sin “by direct commandment.”
Biblical Principles
- Application: “nothing should master me” (1 Cor. 6:12)—the principle of freedom and self-control; a habit that enslaves a person contradicts it.
- Self-control is named as the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23); Paul compares it to the self-discipline of athletes (1 Cor. 9:25–27).
- The believer’s body is called a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19–20). Paul’s context is sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:18), so regarding smoking this is merely an application of the principle of caring for the body, not a direct statement about it.
- Everything that is not from faith is sin (Rom. 14:23): if a person’s conscience condemns them for it, they should not do it.
- Conclusion: medical information about the harms of smoking is not a biblical argument, but it is consistent with the principles of caring for the body and self-control; help can be useful in cases of addiction.
The brief answer was prepared by the editorial team; the Scripture quotations are from the Father’s Blessing Bible.
Key Scripture Passages
5 Scripture Passages · Father’s Blessing Bible
1 Corinthians 6:12
Everything is permissible for me—but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me—but I will not be mastered by anything.
Galatians 5:22–23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such people there is no law.
1 Corinthians 9:25–27
25 Everyone who competes exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. 26 Therefore I run in such a way as not without purpose; I fight in such a way as not beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a high price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which belong to God.
Romans 14:23
But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
