Why Don’t Baptists & Evangelicals Observe Lent? LIVE Q&A for March 20, 2025
Why Don’t Baptists & Evangelicals Observe Lent?
This week’s question comes from Nathaniel:
Pastor David, as charismatic / evangelical, I’ve been curious why our tradition doesn’t collectively observe Lent in the way some other Christian denominations do. As a season of fasting and reflection, it seems to align with our understanding of faith and Scripture. Is there a history or reason behind this? Love the Enduring Word commentary, I use it all the time! Blessings
What Is Lent?
Traditionally, Lent is most often understood as the 40-day period before Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday. Since on most Christian calendars the day of Easter Sunday changes from year to year, the period of Lent changes every year. Many Christian traditions use this 40-day period as a time of fasting (of some type) or self-denial. So, these might include:
- Eating no meat on Fridays during Lent.
- Eating no meat at all during Lent.
- Fasting completely on Fridays.
- “Giving up” something: Alcohol, chocolate, donuts, coffee, whatever.
- Doing something: reading the Bible every day, special prayers, whatever.
According to some Christian traditions, this begins with “Ash Wednesday” – the first day of the season of Lent, which always falls on a Wednesday. In some Christian traditions, the believer goes to church and the priest or pastor makes a sign of a cross on their forehead with a smudge from ashes, marking the start of Lent. By the way, this is where “Fat Tuesday” or “Mardi Gras” or “Carnival” traditions come from – these take place on the day before Lent starts and is a way to get all the partying and sometimes debauchery out of the way before Lent.
The idea is that the season of Lent should prepare the believer for the significance of Good Friday, and the celebration of Easter Sunday (when the time of fasting or self-denial ends). The Christian traditions that observe Lent include Roman Catholic, the Orthodox Communions, Coptic Christians, Anglicans, Lutherans, and some others.
There really isn’t anything in the Bible that commands or instructs believers to commemorate Lent. That doesn’t mean it is a bad thing. Like many things in the Christian life, observing Lent can be good – a 40-day season of real spiritual devotion and preparation (what could be wrong with that?). Or, it can be bad – either an empty tradition, or an expression of works righteousness.
Why Don’t Some Christian Traditions Observe Lent?
Many Evangelical Christians, Charismatic Christians, don’t observe Lent. I don’t think many Baptist churches do. The same would go for a lot of Presbyterian, Reformed, Pentecostal, Anabaptist, and “non-denominational” churches.
Why?
For many, it’s because Lent is a non-Biblical practice. We can make three categories:
- Biblical (baptism, communion, worship)
- Un-Biblical (things the Bible speaks against – idolatry, praying to statues, worshipping anyone other than God)
- Non-Biblical (the Bible doesn’t really say anything about it – Like Christmas, or Lent)
Christians agree about the Biblical things – let’s do them (though we may disagree about how to do them). A starting definition of these Biblical things is in Acts 2:42:
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Christians agree about the Un-Biblical things – let’s not do them (though sometimes they disagree about what not doing them means).
Christians have freedom about the Non-Biblical things.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.
Not long ago, I posted this on X:
Dear believer, you have liberty in Jesus Christ (Galatians 5:1).
You are free to mark Ash Wednesday or Lent if you choose to.
You are free to not mark Ash Wednesday or Lent if you choose not to.
You don’t need to judge your brother or sister who does differently from you.
Last Thoughts:
- If you choose to observe Lent, do it in the best way: not as a legalistic ritual, but as a true time to deny self and seek the Lord.
- Self-denial – especially in the form of real fasting (abstaining from all food, all caloric intake) – is a good thing, something that Christians should be doing more of, and not less.
Is prayer and fasting the only way to grow spiritually?
Currently my husband is attempting a 3-week period of prayer and fasting. Beforehand, he read through a book on the topic and came to the conclusion that overall, the only way to get close to God (i.e., to grow spiritually) is through prayer and fasting. He’s also basing this on Jesus’ statement in Matthew 17:21. Can you clarify the support for this line of thinking?
Matthew 17:21 – “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Your husband is doing a good thing. It’s a good thing to take a particular time and dedicate it unto God, and to say, “Lord, I want to draw near to You in this time. I want to give special attention to You.” We find patterns of this displayed for us in the Old Testament and echoed into the New Testament, such as in the Nazarite vow. The Nazarite vow was a special vow of self-denial and dedication unto the Lord. We see the Nazarite vow being commanded and practiced sometimes in the Old Testament, but we also see it practiced in the New Testament. I’m not going to get into those occasions, but there are a couple of places in the book of Acts where it seems that Paul and some other disciples in Jerusalem were carrying out some kind of Nazarite vow, or a similar vow of dedication.
In general, it’s a good thing. I would not use the statement that prayer and fasting is the only way to get close to God or to grow spiritually. It is a way, but I’m not going to say that’s the only way. Any form of self-denial dedicated unto the Lord is a good thing, but I think we should reserve the term fasting for true fasting, which means abstaining from all food, drinking only water, and avoiding all caloric intake. That’s true fasting in a Biblical sense. Other forms of self-denial are good too. I think call it fasting would be incorrect, although I don’t want to make a big deal about it. Those practices are good, and we should pursue them. But know that we can draw close to the Lord in the everyday things of life. We can draw close to the Lord in the normal routines of life if we will truly seek Him and dedicate those times unto Him. I don’t say that to put down what your husband is doing at all. It’s a good thing, and he should pursue it.
Should a person pay tithes on land they sell?
I have a question based on the book of Acts and the story of Ananias and Sapphira. Does one still have to pay tithes on land one sells?
In the Old Testament, you paid tithes, not on what you had, but on what you earned. So, a farmer wouldn’t necessarily pay tithes based on the value of his land, but he would pay tithes based on the income he received from that land, whether it be income from the grain he grew or from the livestock that was on the land. In the Old Testament, the tithe was based on what one earned, or on their income or inflow, not on their assets or what they possessed. So, the question was, if you had an asset and sold it, did you make money on it? Was there income derived from it? That’s the idea in the Old Testament.
Different Christian teachers will approach this differently, but I’ll give you my take on it. I believe that the New Testament does not emphasize tithing. Now, the New Testament does not ignore tithing. It always speaks of it in a positive sense, but it does not emphasize tithing. What the New Testament emphasizes is giving, generosity, and being generous to other believers. That’s what the New Testament emphasizes. More than tithing, it emphasizes generosity. I think there’s a very specific reason why. Under the New Covenant, God doesn’t want our giving to be limited to 10%. There are some believers for whom giving the tithe, or 10%, is a sin. You’re not giving nearly enough, because God has blessed you so wonderfully. Praise the Lord for the wonderful way that He’s blessed you. But it could be that God has blessed you so wonderfully with resources that you actually should be giving well more than 10%. I think that’s one reason why the New Testament doesn’t emphasize the tithe, although it doesn’t neglect the tithe, and it never speaks negatively of the tithe.
So, if you sell a piece of land, did you make income on it? Did you turn a profit on the sale of the land? Well, if you turn a profit, then maybe you should tithe. Maybe you should give from those resources. And if you’re just being generous unto God and His work, I would suggest that you pray about it. If you’re married, pray about it with your spouse, because these are decisions that should be made by a husband and wife together. Pray and ask Him, “Lord, You blessed us with this money. What do You want us to do with it?” I think that’s a good way to practice Christian generosity.
Since our works don’t save us, who is Jesus referring to when He says, “I never knew you” in Matthew 7:21-23?
According to the Gospel, we all believe that our salvation is not by our works, but by faith. Then in Mathew 7:21, about whom is Lord Jesus speaking when he says, “I never knew you”?
Matthew 7:21-23 – “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Jesus was speaking about people who hear the word of God, but do not do the word of God, which means they don’t actually put their faith in Jesus Christ. I want to be clear that it’s difficult to talk about faith in our modern Western world, because oftentimes, if somebody asks, “Do you believe in Jesus?” the idea behind that is simply, “Do you believe that Jesus existed? Do you believe that Jesus was a good man? Do you believe that Jesus did some wonderful things?”
Friends, there are many people who believe in Jesus in that sense. They believe that He existed, they believe He’s a good man, and they believe He did some good things. But friends, they never put their trust in Jesus Christ. That’s why I like to emphasize Greek scholar Kenneth Wiest’s definition of faith, based off the original word in the Greek New Testament. He said that to believe means to trust in, to rely on and to cling to. There are people who hear the gospel and hear about Jesus, but they never truly trust in, rely on, or cling to Jesus Christ, and all that He is and all that He’s done for them, especially what He did at the cross and His resurrection. Friends, those people never enter into true relationship with God. Of those people, Jesus can rightly say, “I never knew you.” There was never that active faith.
We’re talking about salvation by faith. The kind of faith that saves is real faith. It’s not just intellectual agreement. It’s to trust in, to rely on, and to cling to Jesus. Friends, if you trust in, rely on and cling to Jesus, two things are true. First, you will be saved. And secondly, it will show in your life. It’s going to be evident in your life. If a person used to trust in, rely on, and cling to themselves (or to sin, or to Satan, or to the world) will be changed as they turn away from that begin to trust in, rely on, and cling to Jesus Christ. Their life will look different. The kind of faith that truly saves will be evident in a person’s life.
How much authority does a Christian have over demonic forces?
I came up hyper-charismatic Word of Faith. I know that this is heresy. But how much authority does a Christian have over demonic forces?
This is a good question, because I don’t know if we can quantify the authority that believers have over demonic forces. I don’t know if you can assign a quantity to it. Here’s what I would say: in Christ, we have authority. As Jesus Christ wants to move and act in a specific situation, we can be His agents. In some sense, we can even be His voice in expressing the end of a demonic dominion and the beginning of the Lord’s freedom. But I think that’s just led by the Spirit.
In the Word of Faith circles where you were raised, there is an exaggerated sense of the believer’s authority. There are some who would say that a believer can rebuke and bind any demon at any time, in any circumstances, and to any extent. Well, if that’s the case, then why don’t you and I together as two believers touching one thing, just rebuke Satan’s activity all over the world for the rest of eternity? Following that logic, he would have to stop, since we rebuked him for the rest of eternity. But we understand that it doesn’t work like that.
I do believe that, led by the Spirit, a believer can be a mouthpiece for expressing the authority of Jesus and the defeat of demonic forces in a specific situation. How do you know if it was of the Lord? Ultimately, I think we know it’s of the Lord by whether or not it happens. If God is behind it, then it’s going to happen. If He isn’t behind it, then it’s just like all of those empty Word of Faith promises and proclamations and declarations that are spoken repeatedly, but nothing happens.
To any Word of Faith believers listening or reading, I love you in Jesus’ name, and I’m grateful that you proclaim a respect for God’s word. But you have to be real and admit that of all the declarations and proclamations you’ve been making, many of them just haven’t worked. And you bury your head in the sand and pretend that you know something happened when it didn’t, or you pretend like you never said it. Listen, there’s a connection between our walk with Jesus Christ and the real world. So, please remember that, my dear Word of Faith brothers and sisters, whom I love in Jesus’ name. I want you to come to a more biblical expression of your Christian life.
