Spiritual meat is nourishment for the inner life. It includes Christ Himself, obedience to God’s will, the truths of Scripture, and the spiritual provision prefigured by Israel’s manna.
Definition
Spiritual meat is nourishment for the soul or inner life. It includes Christ as the food of the soul, obedience to God’s will, the truths of Scripture, and the things of the Spirit. It is nourishment that sustains spiritual life rather than bodily life.
Biblical Usage
Paul calls the manna given to Israel spiritual food and relates it prophetically to Christian provision. Jesus identifies Himself as the bread of life and calls doing God’s will His food. Scripture also describes God’s word and the word of righteousness as nourishment.
Historical Background
The expression draws on Israel’s miraculous feeding in the wilderness. The manna becomes a figure for spiritual nourishment and is connected in the supplied material with the Christian sacrament’s bread symbolizing Christ’s body.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>(broma pneumatikon, "food spiritual"): Nourishment for the soul, referring specifically (1Co 10:3) to the manna by which the children of Israel were miraculously fed and which was made by Paul prophetically equivalent to the broken bread of the Christian sacrament symbolizing the body of Christ. Hence,</p><p>(1) Christ Himself as the food of the soul: "I am the bread of life" (Joh 6:48-58);</p><p>(2) anything that nourishes the spiritual life:</p><p>(a) obedience to the will of God: "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me" (Joh 4:32-34);</p><p>(b) the truths of God in the Scriptures: "Word of righteousness" = "strong meat" (Heb 5:12-14); "word of God" (Mt 4:4);</p><p>(c) the things of the Spirit (1Co 3:1-2; compare 1Co 2).</p><p>Dwight M. Pratt</p>
