You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial. – 1 Corinthians 10:23 NLT
While the Bible doesn’t directly address smoking, the Scriptures teach us some valuable lessons that help us answer the question, Is it a sin to smoke?
God created a world that was good. A place for humans to flourish with an abundant life. However, when misused and abused, that creation loses its goodness. In the creation story from Genesis, one of the first lessons we’re taught is that God wants us to partake of the goodness of creation in the way He designed. One of the lessons we learn right after that is that God wants us to obey Him to keep us away from things that harm us (in other words, protect us from sin).
Smoking is one of those areas that needs to be viewed through both of those lenses: is it good for us and is it sin to us.
Sin is a direct disobedience against what God has commanded. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they were eating from a tree that God declared as good alongside all of the trees in the garden:
And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. – Genesis 2:9 ESV
But God made it abundantly clear that it was not meant for them to eat:
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” – Genesis 2:16-17 ESV
The tree was good; the sin was found in Adam and Eve’s disobedience.
Smoking isn’t declared wrong in the Scriptures, meaning it is not a sin to smoke. Those who choose to smoke have been given that freedom without it being an obstacle to salvation and life with God. However, as the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:23, we have a certain freedom in Christ that permits us to do things like smoke, but that doesn’t mean everything we’re permitted to do is good for us.
If you currently smoke, you don’t need to feel condemned for it. But if smoking has been an obstacle to experiencing the goodness of God and His creation and you are trying to quit, remember that God can free you and bring healing.
For more resources about addiction, visit our Addiction Resources pages.
