What Does the Bible Say?
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The Bible does not directly state that smoking is a sin. But it does teach many principles of right human conduct and behaviour, clearly showing that habits such as smoking violate God’s supreme laws: love toward God and love toward fellow man (Matt. 22:36-40).
Ask yourself, “When I smoke, am I trying to please God, other people or myself?” If you answer honestly, you will realize that you are not doing it to please God, the One who created the heavens, the earth, and the human body.
God’s people are led by His Spirit (Rom. 8:9). I Corinthians 6:19-20 states, “What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy [Spirit] which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” What does it mean to “glorify God in your body, and in your spirit”? It means that the fruits of the Holy Spirit should be evident in your life: love (outgoing concern), joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance (self-control) (Gal. 5:22-23).
Understand that you are not pleasing others by smoking. Do other people enjoy inhaling your second-hand smoke? In Philippians 2:3-4, the apostle Paul exhorts us to “…in lowliness of mind let each esteem other[s] better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” Paul is not saying that we should covet (desire) the things of others, but rather that we should show concern for their well-being.
In I Corinthians 13:5, he states, “[Charity (love—outgoing concern)] does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own…” Someone who is concerned for the well-being of others takes their feelings and needs into consideration.
In Matthew 7:12, Christ said what came to be known as “The Golden Rule”: “Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”
In Ephesians 5:29, Paul wrote, “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it…” No one enjoys breathing polluted, foul-smelling air. Even the smoker would admit that he would rather live in an area with fresh air, than where there is prevalent smog.
Contents
Violates Sixth Commandment
In Matthew 19:19, Christ repeated the principle of love toward others: “…You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” He was summarizing Commandments five through ten, which provide the basic principles of how we are to treat our fellowman—that includes the Sixth Commandment, which simply states, “You shall not kill” (Ex. 20:13; Deut. 5:17). (To learn more, read our book The Ten Commandments – “Nailed to the Cross” or Required for Salvation?)
In addition to all the medical evidence proving that one who smokes is slowly killing himself(prolonged suicide, or self-murder), there is enough evidence proving that the smoke he exhales is harmful, and potentially fatal, to those inhaling it as second-hand smoke.
Again, some facts demonstrate this:
• “Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is responsible for approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths per year among non-smokers” (Healthy People 2000, emphasis ours).
• “Infants of parents who smoke have higher mortality rates throughout the first year of life than do infants of non-smoking parents, primarily because of the contribution of ETS to SIDS and other respiratory illnesses” (Pediatrics, November 2000).
• “It has been estimated that the total nicotine dose received by children whose parents smoke is equivalent to their actively smoking between 60 and 150 cigarettes per year” (East Mediterranean Health Journal, “Effects of Passive Smoking on Children’s Health: A Review”).
• “Babies exposed to second-hand smoke are almost twice as likely to develop allergies to inhaled allergens such as animal hair as infants who are not exposed to tobacco smoke. Children whose parents smoke are almost 50% more likely to be allergic to certain foods” (Medical News Today).
• “In the U.S., tobacco kills more Americans than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murders, suicides, drugs, and fires combined” (www.thetruth.com).
Ultimately, smoking is a form of hate. Many who smoke display a complete disregard for those around them. The very necessity for “No Smoking” signs demonstrates this. Most people do not naturally concern themselves with even the basic needs of others. Many smokers do not consider that those around them find it uncomfortable to dine, shop, work or enjoy anything while inhaling second-hand smoke.
I John chapters 3:1-24 and 4:1-21 contain instruction concerning how we are to show love toward others. You may wish to read them to understand how the principle of “love toward man” is violated when one smokes.
Violates Tenth Commandment
Stop and think! Realize that, ultimately, you do not even smoke to please yourself. You do it because it tames a psychological craving or appetite, just as someone with an eating disorder seeks to appease an unbalanced mental perception. That motivation is based on covetousness, which violates the Tenth Commandment (Ex. 20:17; Deut. 5:21).
Some may argue, “I am not desiring something that belongs to someone else. I buy my own cigarettes and smoke them!” But another underlying motivation for those chained to addictive habits is the lust for certain lifestyles.
As previously mentioned, cigarette manufacturers employ advertising tactics that appeal to vanity. The conveyed message is: “If you want to go somewhere in life, amount to something, be somebody, then you should smoke, because everybody who is anybody does it.”
This same line of reasoning was the cause of the fall of the archangel Lucifer (transforming him into Satan the devil): “For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the Most High” (Isa. 14:13-14).
Lucifer was not content with the power and responsibility that he had been given. He wanted more.
Addiction Is Idolatry
You have probably never considered that any addictive habit, including smoking, is a form of idolatry. God forbids it in the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3; Deut. 5:7).
How does smoking put “other gods” before the one true God? Paul asked, in Romans 6:16, “Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
If you have an addictive habit, you are a slave to it, whether it is alcoholism, drug addiction, nicotine dependence, etc. It literally becomes an addict’s god, because it drives his thoughts and actions. In Hebrews 12:1, we read, “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” God expects us to face our problems head-on and to overcome them. Those who do are promised great rewards: “Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God…” (Rev. 3:12). (Read our article “You Can Overcome and Prevent Sin.”)
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