Addiction: A Biblical Deepdive

Addiction

A Biblical Deepdive Written by Dan Wells

“Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.”

(Proverbs 25:28)

Contents

Introduction

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What is addiction?

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Addiction and the Bible

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Addiction as disease

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Addiction as temptation

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Addiction as idolatry

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Addiction as slavery

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Jesus and addiction

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Battling addiction

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Hope for the addict

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Introduction The author Mark Twain once wrote: “Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it a hundred times.” Like most of his quotes, this line is both witty and deeply profound. Even the most acceptable of addictions, such as nicotine, hold us in their grip. People can find themselves addicted to a wide range of activities and substances, and then feel powerless to break free.

As rock singer Nikki Sixx wrote in his memoir, ‘The Heroin Diaries’, addiction is “when you can give something up any time, as long as it’s next Tuesday.”1

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Addiction is defined by an inability to stop, yet the need to stop is greater than ever. The Crime Survey for England and Wales in March 2024 found that 8.8% of the population aged 16 to 59, or nearly 3 million people, reported using drugs in the past year. Over 310,000 adults were in contact with drug or alcohol treatment between April 2023 and March 2024, with opiates and alcohol together making up three-quarters of those being treated. In 2023, England and Wales recorded 5,448 drug-related deaths, which is an 11% increase on the previous year.

Addiction is a problem. Even those

who are addicts will eventually come to realise this. But they also experience feelings of hopelessness and shame that make it difficult to seek help.

Many people understand the Eagles hit ‘Hotel California’ to be about the experience of drug addiction. Its writers, Don Henley and Glenn Frey, have been ambiguous about the meaning, but have spoken openly and honestly about their drug use at the time. The song’s words echo the feeling of an addict, with one line admitting: “We are all just prisoners here, of our own device”.2 The song’s famous line speaks of the hopelessness of addiction: “You can

check out any time you like, but you can never leave…”

The despair that addiction brings reveals the need to speak Biblical hope for the addict. Proverbs 20:1 tells us: “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise”. If we want to help those with addiction, or battle addiction ourselves, what we need is deep Biblical wisdom that explains the causes of addiction and sets out a cure. That is what this deepdive aims to do, giving the Biblical foundations to enable us to speak hope into the problem of addiction.

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What is addiction?

Addiction is something that most people understand even if they don’t have first-hand experience of it themselves. However, defining addiction is not exactly straightforward.

At the heart of addiction is doing something (such as gambling), or using something (such as drugs or alcohol). But simply taking part in a certain activity or taking a certain substance doesn’t necessarily mean that someone is addicted. For addiction to take hold there needs to be a compulsion to continue to do these things, even if there are negative consequences.

The NHS defines addiction as “not having control over doing, taking or using something to the point where it could be harmful to you”.3 The American ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition’ (DSM-V) takes a different approach. It defines substance abuse

disorder based on eleven criteria under the categories of impaired control, physical dependence, social problems, and risky use. Someone whose behaviour meets only one criterion might be identified as ‘at risk,’ while meeting six criteria or more indicates a severe disorder and addiction.4

A continual lust for more An addiction, therefore, is a continued pattern of behaviour with an inability or unwillingness to stop, despite the negative consequences of those actions. This compulsion, or feeling of lack of control over behaviour, is what distinguishes an addiction from a habit. As the Priory, a leading addiction and mental health organisation, puts it: “A habit is a repetitive behaviour that can be controlled and voluntarily stopped without much distress.

It doesn’t significantly disrupt a person’s life. For example, a person

may enjoy gambling casually without it interfering with their daily life or wellbeing. An addiction is a compulsive behaviour that a person feels unable to control despite the negative consequences it has on their life. For example, when a person feels unable to stop gambling despite it negatively affecting their work, relationships, wellbeing and finances.”5 Addiction is a compulsive behaviour that a person feels unable to control.

While the diagnosis of addiction tends to focus on the negative effects of that behaviour on the addict and those around them, the compulsion to keep doing something, and feeling unable to stop, is the basis of any addiction.

The Bible rarely uses the word ‘addict’ directly, but we can see this idea of addictive compulsion reflected in Paul’s words to the church in Ephesus.

In Ephesians 4, he describes what life is like for those who don’t know Jesus. They are separated from God with darkened understanding and hardened hearts. Therefore: “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” (Ephesians 4:19 NIV 1984) ‘Sensuality’ is the starting point of addiction, because most people take substances or indulge in behaviours because they are pleasurable.

Sensuality becomes addiction when there is a ‘continual lust for

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more’, as the NIV translates it (other translations simply render it as ‘greed’).

This ‘lust for more’ is mirrored in the book of Proverbs as part of the sayings of Agur: “The leech has two daughters. ‘Give!

Give!’ they cry. There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’: the grave, the barren womb, land, which is never satisfied with water, and fire, which never says, ‘Enough!’” (Proverbs 30:15-16) An extreme, but accurate, picture of addiction is this cry of ‘Give! Give!’ while never saying ‘Enough!’. It is a continual lust for more and more of something that might have started out as pleasurable, but now brings misery and pain rather than pleasure. “[Addiction] is a continual lust for more and more of something that might have started out as pleasurable, but now brings misery and pain rather than pleasure.”

Types of addiction Given this definition of addiction, it would seem that almost anything could become addictive under the right conditions. However, there are some addictions that are much more common, and certain substances and activities seem to develop into addiction more rapidly.

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Alcohol: This is one of the most socially acceptable forms of addiction, with alcohol consumption being a significant part of UK culture. However, many with alcohol dependence will do the majority of their drinking alone and in secret. Signs of alcohol addiction can be behaviours like hiding alcohol use and drinking every day, including first thing in the morning.

Nicotine: While much less acceptable than it was, nicotine addiction is also very common, whether through smoking cigarettes or through vaping.

While the number of people smoking has been going down since the 1970s, it is estimated that one in eight people in the UK smoke.

Drugs: Both nicotine and alcohol are drugs, along with other legal and acceptable drugs such as caffeine.

Illegal drugs are often highly addictive and cover substances such as amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine, heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. This can also include addiction to sniffing solvents where you inhale substances such as glue, petrol, or lighter fuel.

Sex and pornography: Many people have an obsession with sex and sexual thoughts. Excessive use of pornography, along with an overwhelming and constant preoccupation with sex, often characterises this kind of addiction. It may manifest as needing sex multiple times a day with numerous different partners, or an addiction to online pornography.

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“Most addictions change our physical experience and they do it quickly, working within seconds or minutes rather than days or weeks.”

Gambling: Gambling in a wide variety of forms is known to be addictive.

People with a gambling addiction have a compulsion to keep gambling despite the negative effects. These effects often include losing a great deal of money, stealing to finance gambling, and a negative impact upon work and relationships.

Gaming: Video games might not be instantly addictive for many, but for some it can become overwhelming, affecting health, relationships, education, and work. The NHS has treated hundreds of people for gaming disorders since opening a clinic for the addiction in 2019.

While these are some of the most common forms of addiction, there are many others. Eating disorders can sometimes be linked with addiction and an unhealthy relationship with food. Shopping can develop into an addiction where you continually buy items you neither want nor need. Work

can become addictive, taking over your whole life, as can smartphone use and social media.

Despite the wide variety of potential addictions, they all have an effect on a physical level. Even things like gaming, gambling and shopping are known to affect chemicals in the brain, such as dopamine and serotonin.

Ed Welch, in his book ‘Addictions: A banquet in the grave’, writes: “What unites these and most other activities or substances described as addictions is that they deliver a bodily experience. With them we feel more alert, more calm, less shy, or more powerful. Furthermore, most addictions change our physical experience and they do it quickly, working within seconds or minutes rather than days or weeks. As a result, people are rarely addicted to vitamins, which take months of steady use to produce measurable changes, but they will be addicted to the rapid-onset 9

bodily feeling associated with Valium, alcohol, sex, or even pain.”6

How do people become addicted?

Just as it is difficult to define what addiction is, it is also difficult to pin down quite what causes addiction.

There does seem to be a potential genetic element to addiction. One study in Denmark, for example, found that children of heavy drinkers were three to four times more likely to be heavy drinkers themselves, even if they were adopted into a non-drinking household from birth. However, other studies with twins, who are genetically identical, found evidence of one twin being a heavy drinker while the other was not.7 While there is some kind of genetic connection to a tendency toward addiction, it is not possible to explain addiction entirely through genetics.

Some have pointed to environmental factors as the key to addictions. Once again, there is certainly some truth to this. Studies have shown that being around other people with addictions increases the risk of developing an addiction yourself. Unemployment, poverty, and stress can all contribute to addictive behaviours, as well as other negative life circumstances. A fifth of those who started treatment for substance abuse in 2023 were homeless.

There is also good evidence that trauma, and traumatic events, can act as triggers for addiction. Abuse, 10

neglect, and grief can all contribute towards someone turning to addictive behaviours. Substances, such as drugs or alcohol, can be used to deal with physical or emotional pain, or to block out difficult issues.

In the end, there is no one reason for addiction taking hold in a person’s life. It is a complex mix of physical, emotional, and psychological factors.

It involves genetics, our environment, our circumstances and our own choices. As Ed Welch comments, addictions can be “used for comfort, release from pain, punishing a parent or spouse, punishing oneself, and dozens of other reasons”.8

“[Addiction] is a complex mix of physical, emotional, and psychological factors.

It involves genetics, our environment, our circumstances and our own choices.”

Addictions work on our physical bodies as well as our emotional experiences. However, addictions are also spiritual issues. As such, we need to listen to what the Bible says about the nature of addiction and where freedom from addiction is to be found.

Addiction and the Bible

If you do a search in an English Bible for words like ‘addict’ or ‘addiction’ you might be surprised to find that there are very few, if any, occurrences. In the New International Version, for example, addiction only comes up once, as Paul instructs Titus to teach older women in the church not to be “addicted to much wine” (Titus 2:3). Other translations might include 1 Timothy 3:8 where Paul tells Timothy to select deacons who are “not addicted to much wine“ (ESV). If you have a King James Version, then you will find Paul talking to the Corinthians about the household of Stephanas, who have “addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints” (1 Corinthians 16:15 KJV)!

Although the word ‘addiction’ does not crop up often in our Bibles, God’s word communicates deep truths about the nature and power of addiction in people’s lives.

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Creation twisted At its heart, addiction is an excessive consumption coupled with a compulsion to continue even if it causes harm. Addiction takes something that is good, such as food, drink, work, or sex, and twists it into something that traps and ensnares.

The roots of addiction start right back at the beginning of the Bible.

In Genesis 1-2, we read how God created the world full of good things to consume: “The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.” (Genesis 2:9) Human beings are designed to desire and consume the good things of creation in correct ways and appropriate amounts. But through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, sin enters the world and human desires become corrupted. We see that in the distorted desires in the relationship between men and women, as God declares to Eve: “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16) Our desire for the good things of creation is twisted and distorted by sin. Good things become harmful things and our desire for them no longer lines up with God’s good purposes. Even the ground that produces the good things to eat and drink is cursed by the arrival of sin: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food 12

from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.”

(Genesis 3:17-18) “God’s word communicates deep truths about the nature and power of addiction in people’s lives.”

“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.”

(Genesis 3:17-18)

Addiction takes God’s good gifts and twists our desires so that they become a burden. God has given us food to eat, but addiction turns that into food addiction or eating disorders.

God has given us the ability to make alcohol, but addiction turns that into alcoholism. God has given us plants that can produce medicine, but addiction turns that into powerful and addictive drugs. God has given us work to do, but addiction turns that into workaholism. God has given us sex to enjoy in marriage and to produce children, but addiction turns that into sex and pornography addiction.

Every addiction takes something good that God has given and distorts it into a source of harm. C. S. Lewis notes this in his masterful work, ‘The Screwtape Letters’, imagining the correspondence from a senior demon to a junior. He writes: “All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural 13

condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable.

An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula.

It is more certain; and it’s better style.

To get the man’s soul and give him nothing in return—that is what really gladdens Our Father’s heart.”9 Lewis hits the nail on the head: addiction is ‘an ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure’. Addiction starts with something pleasurable, something that God has given for our good, and twists it in ways which God has forbidden. Addiction transforms pleasure into pain.

Alcohol as a pattern When the Bible talks about this twisting of something good into something harmful, it tends to use one example above all else: alcohol.

This doesn’t mean that God’s word views alcohol as ‘worse’ than other addictions. Alcohol was simply more common in the ancient world than many other forms of addiction we encounter today. In the Bible, alcohol is used to illustrate the pattern of addiction: it is an example of something that twists a good gift of God and brings an ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure.

“Addiction is ‘an ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure’.”

20:1 says “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.” Proverbs 23 contains an extended warning about the effects of alcohol when consumed to excess: “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints?

Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. ‘They hit me’, you will say, ‘but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?’” (Proverbs 23:29-35) Drinking to excess does not always

imply addiction. But Proverbs powerfully describes the effects of alcohol abuse on the mind and the body, biting like a snake and poisoning like a viper. To endure that, and then to ask “When will I wake up so I can find another drink?” is a sure sign of addiction. Harm should be a warning to stop the excessive consumption.

When harm leads to more craving, then addiction has set in.

Isaiah also warns against alcohol as an example of addiction: “Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine. They have harps and lyres at their banquets, pipes and timbrels and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord, no respect for the work of his hands.”

(Isaiah 5:11-12) Desire for addictive substances

The book of Proverbs, for example, talks frequently about the danger of drink and the way in which it distorts our decisions and desires. Proverbs

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or activities replaces the desire for other things: looking after oneself, caring for one’s family, and honour for God. To use the good things of God’s creation in an addictive fashion shows no respect for the work of God’s hands. Isaiah also speaks realistically about the effects of excessive alcohol consumption: “And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer: Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions.

All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.”

(Isaiah 28:7-8) “To use the good things of God’s creation in an addictive fashion shows no respect for the work of God’s hands.”

The effects of addiction demonstrate themselves in lack of control and loss of dignity. Staggering and stumbling, the addict is unable to make decisions for themselves but is at the whim of their addiction. Selfcare is abandoned, allowing filth and vomit to accumulate as their focus is solely on their next fix.

Alcohol is not the only source of addiction, nor is it the only addictive behaviour that the Bible speaks about.

But alcohol has been a source of addiction across the centuries, and is still today. It acts as a vivid illustration of the power and pattern of addiction.

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Samson: an example of addiction The Bible not only shows the power of addiction with examples such as alcohol, but it also shows the effect of addiction in individual lives. One such example is Samson in Judges 13-16.

The book of Judges follows the various leaders, or judges, of Israel in the time before God’s people had a king. The judges were often flawed individuals and those flaws reach a particular low point with Samson.

Samson is dedicated to God as a Nazarite before he is born, which means he was not to drink alcohol in any form (Numbers 6:1-3; Judges 13:5).

As such, alcohol was not Samson’s addiction; instead he exhibits an addition to lust.

Samson chooses a wife from among Israel’s enemies, the Philistines, a decision that caused much mayhem and violence (Judges 14-15). He visits a prostitute (Judges 16:1), an action that the text suggests was a regular habit. He then meets Delilah, another Philistine, who manipulates Samson into his own downfall (Judges 16).

Scripture tells the story of Samson without much commentary.

Nevertheless, it is clear that Samson has a problem when it comes to women. He is dictated to by his physical attractions, and makes unwise decisions based on his sexual desire. It is evident that Samson has a craving for sexual encounters – a craving that increases and leads to

deadly harm. Samson is addicted.

Samson’s addiction does not prevent God from working through him to inflict judgement on the Philistines.

But Samson’s addiction to lust causes him great pain and eventually leads to his destruction.

Addiction and discipleship The Bible paints a picture of addiction as a deadly path of twisted desires.

It uses alcohol as an example of the danger of addiction, but is aware of the way that other substances and activities can become addictive too.

No wonder, therefore, that when Paul talks to Titus about what to teach about Christian discipleship, avoiding addiction is included:

of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.” (Titus 2:1-3) Like Samson, an addict can be a Christian, and a Christian can fall into addiction. But addiction is not healthy, and addiction is not good for Christian discipleship. As Christians we ought to avoid addiction and help others to do the same. To see how to do that, we need to dig deeper into the Bible’s picture of addiction. There, we see four views about addiction: that addiction is a disease, addiction is temptation, addiction is idolatry, and addiction is slavery.

“You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy

“The Bible paints a picture of addiction as a deadly path of twisted desires.”

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Addiction as disease

The most prevalent understanding of addiction in today’s culture is that of addiction as a disease. It is a view espoused by the words of Catherine, Princess of Wales, who is patron of The Forward Trust, a charity which helps addicts to recover from addiction.

Speaking in November 2025, she said: “Addiction is not a choice, or a personal failing, but a complex mental health condition that should be met with empathy and support. But still, even now in 2025, people’s experience of addiction is shaped by fear, shame and judgement. This needs to change.

The stigma surrounding those who face addiction allows it to thrive behind closed doors, impacting families and communities, and ultimately ruining lives.”10 The idea of addiction as a medical condition arose in the 1950s and was

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asserted in 1997 by the director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse in a paper entitled ‘Addiction is a brain disease’.11 A 2021 paper nearly twentyfive years later continued to “assert that the foundational premise that addiction has a neurobiological basis is fundamentally sound”.12

tyrant alcohol wielded a double-edged sword over us: first we were smitten by an insane urge that condemned us to go on drinking, and then by an allergy of the body that insured we would ultimately destroy ourselves in the process.”15

Foundations of AA

“There was, they said, no such thing as the personal conquest of this compulsion by the unaided will.”

The understanding of addiction as a disease is seen in the foundations of one of the world’s most popular addiction support systems, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). The basis of AA is found in their ‘Big Book’, where their founder, Bill Wilson, writes about his own experience of addiction and recovery. He explains that, as he sought to understand his struggles: “Best of all, I met a kind doctor who explained that though certainly selfish and foolish, I had been seriously ill, bodily and mentally.”13 He goes on to declare: “We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness.”14 This idea of addiction as a progressive illness is further explained in AA’s ‘Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions’: “Our sponsors declared that we were the victims of a mental obsession so subtly powerful that no amount of human willpower could break it. There was, they said, no such thing as the personal conquest of this compulsion by the unaided will. Relentlessly deepening our dilemma, our sponsors pointed out our increasing sensitivity to alcohol—an allergy, they called it. The

This model of addiction as a disease affirms a number of things that we know to be true: that addiction affects the brain’s neural pathways and chemical connections,16 that addiction inflicts changes to the addict’s body and mind,17 and that addiction is at least partly tied to our genetic makeup.18

Christian perspective on disease As Christians, we understand that creation, and our relationship with it, has been twisted and distorted by the Fall. Sickness, and ultimately death, has entered the world as a result of humanity’s sin. As God says to Adam: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken;

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for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:17-19) “Sickness, and ultimately death, has entered the world as a result of humanity’s sin.”

The Fall has caused all of our relationships to break, including our relationship with our own bodies.

Chronic health conditions of every kind result from the brokenness of our world and will not fully be resolved until Jesus returns. Our human condition is full of weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and longs for the day when creation is restored. As Paul tells the Romans: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:22-23)

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

(Romans 8:22)

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Disease is part of life this side of Jesus’ return. Just as some will have a genetic predisposition for diabetes, allergies, heart disease, and certain types of cancer, so it seems that some have an inherited risk of developing addiction. This genetic component has been observed by scientists but is not fully understood.

Our brains are wonderful and complex creations, which function in extraordinary ways, but can

also be disrupted and damaged.

Addiction works on the brain’s neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, which control the pathways to pleasure. These neural pathways can be rewired under the influence of addictive substances or behaviours, producing cravings and weakening executive function.19 It is undeniable that addiction is affected by medical and neurological dimensions.

Diseases and cures Viewing addiction as a disease also brings with it the hope of a cure. If addiction is a medical issue, then there might be a medical solution to the problem of addiction. However, a simple pill to solve addiction has not been found. While there can be helpful medical interventions to aid recovery, such as methadone as a drug substitute, addiction needs more than medical help to be overcome.

Ultimately, our greatest hope for any disease is the healing that Jesus brings. Matthew describes Jesus’ ministry this way: “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” (Matthew 9:35) Jesus brings healing for every kind of disease and sickness. This healing is a sign of the coming kingdom that Jesus proclaims and brings in decisively through his death and resurrection. Not every sick person in Israel was healed by Jesus, but those 21

healings were a sign of the complete healing that would come in the New Creation. On that day, “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

Viewing addiction as a disease gives us hope, since Jesus is Lord over every disease and sickness. It gives us hope for the battle against addiction now, since every healing – medical or miraculous – is a sign of the coming kingdom of God.

But addiction as a disease does not tell the whole story. If we reduce addiction to a brain disorder alone, we fail to see addiction as a choice as well as a compulsion. We need to understand addiction as a disease, but also addiction as temptation.

Addiction as temptation The problem with understanding addiction as a disease is that it can make the addict feel like a victim of genetics, and powerless over their own brain chemistry. It is certainly true that addiction makes changes to our brains but, as Psychology Today notes, “unlike in disease, the brain changes that occur in addiction are not a malfunction of biology.”20 The changes are part of the brain’s response to learning, development, and choice.

The element of choice Viewing addiction as a disease alone removes the element of

choice. Psychology Today notes: “Seeing addiction as a disease can make individuals feel hopeless about change and helpless, with no possibility of control over their own behavior.”21 But addiction does involve choice, just as it involves brain chemistry.

Theodore Dalrymple, writing in The Telegraph, responds to the Princess of Wales’ claim that addiction is a disease and not a choice: “I am sure that HRH meant well, and that she feels genuine sympathy for addicts; but unfortunately, her view is simple, unsophisticated,

“Viewing addiction as a disease gives us hope, since Jesus is Lord over every disease and sickness.”

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dehumanising and empirically false. It is dehumanising because, by denying that addiction is a choice, it deprives addicts of their agency both in theory and to a certain extent in practice. If, after all, you persuade someone that he does not make a choice in doing something, you also persuade him that choice cannot prevent him from doing it. He is not a human being like you and me, but a helpless feather on the wind of circumstance.”22 Recognising the important insights around disease, we also need to affirm that addicts do have choice and agency in their addiction. A gambling addict chooses to take their first steps into online casinos; an alcoholic chooses to take a drink; a porn addict chooses to enter that online pornography site. There is choice at the start of addictive behaviour, and choice within the ongoing process of addiction. The further the addiction goes, however, the greater the craving and the less choice the addict feels they have over their actions.

also want to acknowledge that an addict has responsibility for their choices. They are responsible for their first steps into addiction, and are responsible for their actions while battling addiction, such as lying to keep their addiction a secret, or stealing to finance their next fix.

But this raises the question: who would choose to be an addict?

Nobody would truly choose that path if they knew where it led. Rather they pursue a pleasurable experience while ignoring or denying the inevitable cost.

Therefore it might be better to talk about addiction as temptation rather than choice.

Lure of temptation God’s word talks about the dangers of temptation, right from the start of the Bible. In the Garden of Eden,

“Nobody would truly choose that path if they knew where it led. Rather they pursue a pleasurable experience while ignoring or denying the inevitable cost.”

the serpent tempts Eve with the forbidden fruit, emphasising its pleasure while doubting the cost.

“You will not certainly die,” says the serpent, instead enticing the woman to see that it was “good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom” (Genesis 3:4–6).

Addictions involve powerful physical cravings that are not, by themselves, sinful. However they provide many opportunities for the addict to sin in pursuit of their cravings. Addiction acts as temptation, luring the addict with the promise of pleasure and then trapping them in a spiral of desire and destruction. James describes this spiral in his letter: “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me’. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt

As C. S. Lewis explains: “Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance…

An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.”23 While we want to affirm the powerful physical urges of addiction, we

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anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:13-15) An addict is certainly affected by their physical body and genetic disposition.

But an addict cannot say, “Well, God made me this way”. Each person is tempted, says James, by their desires.

Our desire for pleasure, or to numb pain, entices us to take the first steps.

That step of desire hooks us, much like a fish on an angler’s line, and drags us away. It draws us deeper into desire, wanting more and more, until desire gives birth to sin and then to death.

“Addiction acts as temptation, luring the addict with the promise of pleasure and then trapping them in a spiral of desire and destruction.”

Wanting more and more Addiction as temptation is illustrated for us in C. S. Lewis’ book, ‘The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe’. In that story, Edmund encounters the White Witch in his first visit to Narnia, who entices him with flattery, hot chocolate and, most of all, Turkish Delight: “At last the Turkish Delight was all finished and Edmund was looking very hard at the empty box and wishing that she would ask him whether he would like some more.

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Probably the Queen knew quite well what he was thinking; for she knew, though Edmund did not, that this was enchanted Turkish Delight and that anyone who had once tasted it would want more and more of it, and would even, if they were allowed, go on eating it till they killed themselves.”24 Edmund’s addiction to the Turkish Delight (as well as to power and prestige) leads him to lie and betray his brothers and sisters, aligning himself with the White Witch and needing Aslan’s sacrifice to set him free.

For an addict, their addiction is like an enchanted Turkish Delight. If they were allowed, they would go on consuming it, even if it leads to death. Temptation wraps the addict in a cycle of craving and compulsion. But the choice to take the first step, and the choice to take further steps, is theirs.

In control of the first drink AA explain that the key first step that an addict needs to take is to admit their struggle with alcohol.25 Christians would also affirm that it is crucial for a person to be honest about their sin, and their weaknesses.

David, in Psalm 51, which was written after he committed adultery and murder, says: “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (Psalm 51:3). In Psalm 32 he says “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away” (Psalm 32:3). But then he turned back to God and confessed his sin: “Then I acknowledged my

sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity” (Psalm 32:5).

As we have seen, James accurately describes the lure of temptation which addicts know so well. At the end of his letter, James tells his readers: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Acknowledging our sins and vulnerabilities is a vital part of Christian living for everyone, including the addict who hides their addiction with lies and deception.

“Temptation wraps the addict in a cycle of craving and compulsion. But the choice to take the first step, and the choice to take further steps, is theirs.”

Knowing our weaknesses means we can take steps to protect ourselves against temptation and sin. The actor Matthew Perry, who sadly died of a drug overdose in 2023, debated with

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Peter Hitchens on BBC Newsnight in that same year. In that discussion he said:

and a person who lacks self-control lacks the ability to resist temptation and fend off its allure.

“I’m in control of the first drink and so I do all these things to protect myself from not having the first drink. But once I have that drink the allergy of the body kicks in… then I can’t stop after that.”26

This is not to say that addiction is purely a lack of self-control. That would be to deny the real effects of addiction on the brain, and the powerful compulsions that it produces. But it does affirm that addiction begins with temptation and a choice to step towards temptation rather than away from it.

Most addicts would agree with this assessment. Once they have started the addictive behaviour, they feel unable to stop. But they have some element of control during the temptation to take that first step.

Proverbs 25:28 tells us: “Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.” A city with broken walls is defenceless, unable to resist attack from its enemies. Self-control acts as a person’s defence against temptation,

So why might someone give in to the temptation of addictive substances or behaviours? For that, we need to look at the next part of the Bible’s understanding of addiction: addiction as idolatry.

Addiction as idolatry “Knowing our weaknesses means we can take steps to protect ourselves against temptation and sin.”

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We have seen two ways of understanding the power of addiction: addiction as a disease, and addiction as a choice, or to use a more Biblical idea, temptation. The Bible affirms elements of both these perspectives on addiction, but it also goes further.

As writer Ed Welch notes, Scripture helps us to see that ultimately all addictions are about God.27 Therefore we need to see addiction as not only a disease or a temptation, but as idolatry.

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A factory of idols Talking about addiction as idolatry might seem strange at first. After all, visit an addict’s home and you are unlikely to see a golden idol set in a shrine in the corner of a room. You might not see an addict prostrating themselves before a graven image in a pagan temple either. You might think idolatry is far from the addict’s biggest problem.

But idolatry can take many different forms beyond a golden statue in a temple. The Bible tells us that an idol is anything that takes the place of God in our worship and devotion. The American pastor Tim Keller puts it this way: “What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you see to give you what only God can give.”28

nature as “a perpetual factory of idols”.29

Idolatry lies at the heart of all sin: the choice to turn away from God and turn to something else instead. Paul, as he writes to the church in Rome, explains the roots of human sin this way:

The Old Testament Law specifically prohibits worshipping anyone, or anything, other than God. Right at the start of the Ten Commandments, we read:

“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator.” (Romans 1:25)

“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.”

(Exodus 20:3-5)

Idolatry replaces the Creator with created things in our desire and devotion. Human beings are infinitely creative in the ways in which we turn things that are part of God’s good creation into objects of idolatry. This led John Calvin to describe human 30

Three times we are effectively told to watch out for our human tendency to create idols. Everything that follows

in the Ten Commandments, and sin in general, flows from replacing God as our centre of worship. We murder, envy, and commit adultery, because we have followed our own desires rather than God.

“Scripture helps us to see that ultimately all addictions are about God.”

If the root of all sin is idolatry, what distinguishes the kind of idolatry associated with addiction? Ed Welch observes that some idols work specifically on our bodily passions and desires.30 This plays into the physical responses we saw when considering addiction as a disease, and makes these idols much more difficult to resist. As Kent Dunnington writes: “Addiction is—like all sin—a form of idolatry because it elevates some 31

proximate good to the status of ultimate good, a status that belongs to God alone. But addiction is uniquely alluring, uniquely captivating, and uniquely powerful because its object comes so close to making good on its false promise to be God.”31

Refuge and reward The church reformer Martin Luther described the problem of idolatry like this: “A ‘god’ is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart.”32 Luther identifies two driving forces behind our tendency to turn to idols.

We want something to grant us good things, and we want something that will protect us during hard times. The reason we pursue idolatry is because we think idols will bring us reward and grant us refuge.

Both reward and refuge, however, are to be found in God alone. When God appears to Abraham in Genesis 15, He announces that: “I am your shield, your very great reward” (Genesis 15:1). Psalm 91 encourages us to say of God, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” (Psalm 91:2) Nevertheless, human sin turns us away from God and lures us toward idols for refuge and reward. Both of these motivations are responses to our circumstances, particularly when

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times are bad. When experiencing seasons of struggle or suffering, our natural response is to wish for something good to happen (reward) and to look for protection from harm (refuge).

Many addicts will attest to the fact that their first steps into addiction were taken at times of difficulty or trauma. They used addictive substances or activities in order to seek pleasure or numb pain during a difficult ordeal. One of the reasons why addiction is uniquely alluring and powerful is because it gives an immediate sense of refuge and reward.

The gambler loses themselves in the next game; the porn addict seeks out the pleasure of sexual gratification; the drug user takes a hit which numbs their pain.

“One of the reasons why addiction is uniquely alluring and powerful is because it gives an immediate sense of refuge and reward. ” TV presenter, Ore Oduba, speaking about his nearly thirty-year addiction to pornography says: “I know it had been dogging me, it had been destroying my life from the inside out, but it was the thing from a very early age that I was running to as a response to a trauma.”

Object of worship

the object of their worship.

However idolatry begins, the end result is worship. For Christians, worship might bring to mind ideas of music and singing. But worship goes much deeper than this: it is wholehearted devotion to someone or something.

Romans 12:1, for example, talks about offering our bodies “as a living sacrifice” as the Christian’s “true and proper worship”. Our whole lives are given to God in sacrificial worship.

In his book ‘Beyond the Yellow Brick Road: Our Children and Drugs’, author Bob Meehan observes:

We were made to be worshippers, devoted to God above all else.

Addiction draws our devotion away from God to the source of our next high. You could argue that addiction is fundamentally a worship disorder.33 For the addict, the object of their addiction – alcohol, drugs, gaming, gambling, sex or shopping – becomes

“For the addict dope is God. It is the supreme being, the Higher Power, in the junkie’s life. He is subjugated to its will. He follows its commandments.

The drug is the definition of happiness, and gives the meaning of love. Each shot of junk in his veins is a shot of divine love, and it makes the addict feel resplendent with the grace of God.”34 The addict sees their addiction as the best thing and the most important thing. Even when that addiction is actively causing harm, they are devoted to it, giving it all of their time, attention, money, and love.

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This is illustrated for us in C. S. Lewis’ Narnia book, ‘The Silver Chair’. In the story, the children Jill and Eustace are summoned into Narnia to find the missing son of King Caspian. After various adventures, they eventually locate him deep underground, but he has forgotten who he is. He is under the power of a witch who has promised him a great kingdom and freedom from his enchantment. This witch is the same one who the Prince saw kill his mother, and yet he has become completely besotted with her.

“I can hear no words against my Lady’s honour,” says the Prince, adding, “you shall know her and love her hereafter.” Despite her plans for war and conquest, Prince Rilian laughs them off and says, “Is that not a lady worthy of a man’s whole worship?”

Rilian and ‘The Silver Chair’ show us the idolatrous nature of addiction.

Rilian devoted himself entirely to the very person who caused him immense harm, and who had him trapped and enslaved. He could not see his desperate predicament, but wholly gave himself over to what she wanted. He had made her his object of worship. In the same way, addiction traps us in devotion to the very thing that causes us harm.

“For the addict, the object of their addiction – alcohol, drugs, gaming, gambling, sex or shopping – becomes the object of their worship.”

and the things they treasure are worthless.” (Isaiah 44:9) An addict may eventually come to realise that their addiction is an idol, and that it leads people into desiring what is worthless. But too often the addict already feels trapped in their addiction by the time they come to their senses.

One verse that illustrates the nature of addiction as idolatry, and the foolishness that surrounds it, is Jeremiah 2:13: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13) Through Jeremiah, God diagnoses the problem that will bring the

Babylonians to invade Israel. He says “my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols,” something that should cause the very heavens to shudder (Jeremiah 2:12).

The two sins of Israel are this: they have abandoned God, the spring of living water, and have tried to provide their own water. They turned their back on the one who could give them life, and attempted to find their own source of life. They rejected the true God and turned to worship idols.

The irony of Jeremiah’s words is that the people were attempting to dig their own cisterns – places to store water.

But the reservoirs they were turning to were cracked and broken. They could not hold water; they could not give life.

Addictions promise a source of joy and life: the high of a gambling win,

The foolishness of idolatry Despite all its promises, addiction cannot deliver the reward and refuge that we desire, other than a brief initial high. As Isaiah accurately details: “All who make idols are nothing, 34

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a dose of drugs, a sexual release. But those things are nothing more than broken cisterns. They are cracked and dry, unable to quench our thirst for joy and life.

Recapturing our hearts Joy and life can be found, but not in the cisterns of our own making, or our own addictions. We need to return to the source of living water. If addiction is a worship disorder, then overcoming addiction will require our worship to be reorientated. We need to abandon our own cisterns and return to the source of living water. We come to Jesus, who once stood and shouted out: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

(John 7:37-38) God’s response to idolatry is to expose it. This is never easy or comfortable, especially if that idolatry involves addiction. But God’s desire in exposing the depth of our idolatry is to bring us back to himself:

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When any of the Israelites set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet, I the Lord will answer them myself in keeping with their great idolatry. I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.” (Ezekiel 14:4-5) God acts to recapture the hearts of the people from the idols that have invaded their hearts. When Jesus begins his teaching ministry, he announces it using words from Isaiah, saying “the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isaiah 61:1).

The Lord comes to bind up the brokenhearted, free the captives and release prisoners. The addict needs all of these things because, along with disease, temptation and idolatry, addiction is also slavery.

Addiction as slavery Of all the characters in J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic, ‘The Lord of the Rings’, one of the most intriguing is that of Gollum. He is also a fascinating picture of the enslaving power of addiction.

Gollum starts out as a hobbit-like creature called Sméagol. His friend discovers the One Ring while out fishing, and Sméagol kills him to obtain it. The Ring then proceeds to consume him, occupying his every thought and desire. His personality becomes corrupted, distorting him into Gollum: alone, friendless, miserable, and constantly pursuing his ‘Precious’. In the opening chapters of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, Gandalf explains Gollum’s plight to Frodo: “‘He was altogether wretched. He hated the dark, and he hated light more: he hated everything, and the Ring most of all.’

“If addiction is a worship disorder, then overcoming addiction will require our worship to be reorientated.”

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‘What do you mean?’ said Frodo. ‘Surely the Ring was his precious and the only thing he cared for? But if he hated it, why didn’t he get rid of it, or go away and leave it?’

‘You ought to begin to understand, Frodo, after all you have heard,’ said

Gandalf. ‘He hated it and loved it, as he hated and loved himself. He could not get rid of it. He had no will left in the matter.’”35 Whether Tolkien set out to write Gollum as an example of addiction or not, he vividly illustrates the way addiction works. Andy Serkis, who played the character in Peter Jackson’s film adaptations, has said that he based his performance on the desperation and desire of heroin addicts:36 “I thought of it as addiction in the sense that the Ring could have a real hold over this character, much like any sort of drug addiction or alcohol addiction could have over a human being.”37 Gollum shows his addiction to the power of the One Ring by his choices (in murdering his friend), his idolatry (in pursuing his ‘precious’), and his enslavement. As Gandalf explains, he has become so trapped in his addiction that he no longer has power to get rid of it. Everything he has is given over in service to his master. He has no will left in the matter.

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“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods” (Galatians 4:8).

The gospel sets us free from slavery to sin and slavery to anything that is not God.

Voluntary slavery Addiction, therefore, as writer and counsellor, Ed Welch observes, is ‘voluntary slavery’:40 “If we think of sin only as overt, calculated disobedience, we will not find what we are looking for in Scripture. But sin is more than selfconscious rebellion against God. It is also a blinding power that wants to control and enslave us.”41

Addictus This picture of slavery to addictive behaviours demonstrates the paradox at the heart of addiction. The addict has some choice and agency over their actions. They choose to give in to temptation and take the first steps into addiction.

Yet the feeling addict experiences is a complete lack of control. Once addiction has taken hold, an addict does not feel they have choice or agency any more. They are trapped.

They have become a slave to their addiction.

The very word ‘addict’ has its roots in this idea of slavery. In the Roman world, a person who has run up a debt that they cannot pay, often through gambling, would be known as an

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‘addictus’. They would be handed over to act as a slave to the person to whom they owed money. If they could not repay within sixty days, they would become a permanent slave to be “kept, killed or sold”.38 They were no longer a person or a citizen, but property.39 In the Bible, slavery is an important theme. Release from slavery in Egypt is the defining moment for the people of Israel. As a result, Israelites are not to be sold as slaves to other Israelites (Leviticus 25:39). God’s people are to live as free people, not as slaves.

Jesus diagnoses the issue of sin as an issue of slavery, telling the people of his day: “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).

Slavery is also linked with idolatry because, as Paul tells the Galatians:

“The gospel sets us free from slavery to sin and slavery to anything that is not God.”

Addiction as voluntary slavery helps us to recognise the responsibility of the addict whilst also acknowledging the power that addiction holds over a person. Slavery binds a person and prevents them from going free. In the same way, addiction binds a person to the object of their addiction. As pastor Andy Constable writes: “[A] slave is not free. Their master dictates what they do and when they do it. The master is in charge and the slave must submit to him. The same is true of the addict. The addiction chains the addict and compels the individual to act against their better judgement. They know that their addiction is killing them and yet they keep doing it. The addiction dictates what they do and when they do it…Their cravings, withdrawal symptoms and inability to function normally without 39

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

(Galatians 5:1)

their addictive substance feels like a slavery. They are slaves who have sold themselves to their chosen master.”42

Offering ourselves as slaves We see this idea of selling ourselves as slaves to our chosen master most clearly in Paul’s letter to the Romans: “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?”

(Romans 6:16) Just as Jesus does in John 8, Paul uses the picture of slavery to illustrate sin in general. But what he says applies powerfully to the slavery of addiction as well.

We become slaves when we offer ourselves in obedience to someone or something. For Gollum it was the One Ring, and for an addict it will be drugs, alcohol, sex, or a variety of other addictive substances and activities.

When we take that first step toward addiction, we begin the process of offering ourselves in obedience. As addiction works on our brains and bodies, so we become slaves to the object of our addiction. We obey the desire for that addiction rather than choose for ourselves. We lose ourselves and become slaves.

Paul continues the metaphor: “Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-

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increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!” (Romans 6:1921) Addiction, as we have seen, involves a ‘continual lust for more’, or, as Paul describes it here, ever-increasing wickedness. To be a slave to impurity means we walk ever deeper into the territory of our addictions, becoming more and more enslaved in the process.

“As addiction works on our brains and bodies, so we become slaves to the object of our addiction.”

What does the addict gain from being enslaved by their addiction? Paul accurately identifies the end result: “Those things result in death!” As he explains a few verses later, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The reward which is reaped from addiction is pain, not pleasure, and the result is death.

Freedom for the captive We have seen how the Bible speaks about addiction as disease, temptation, idolatry, and now as slavery. The Bible’s view of addiction goes deeper than popular culture,

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and so offers a deeper solution to the problem of addiction. If an addict feels responsible for their actions yet unable to control their compulsion, the situation seems hopeless. But there is hope because God brings freedom for the captive.

Babylonians, God promises freedom from captivity through prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

Freedom is what God desires for every person who turns to Jesus Christ. Paul tells the Galatians: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1). He then goes on to warn them against slipping back into a “yoke of slavery” to religious customs and laws.

The very opening chapters of the Bible in Genesis show the freedom of living under God’s rule and the slavery to sin that comes from rejecting God. The wide sweep of the Bible story poses the question of how we might be set free from the slavery of sin and death, which finds its answer in Jesus Christ: “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom” (Ephesians 3:12).

The Bible’s narrative is a move from slavery to freedom. God appoints Moses to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and into the freedom of the Promised Land. When God’s people are taken into exile by the

Paul continues to urge the Galatians: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh” (Galatians 5:13). Freedom is not only freedom from slavery, but freedom to

serve God. As Paul tells the Romans: “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” (Romans 6:17-18) The answer to the slavery of addiction is slavery to something better: to become slaves to righteousness. This ‘slavery’ is not opposed to freedom; it is the proper result of it. As Peter tells us: “Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves” (1 Peter 2:16).

to Christ, to be dedicated and devoted to him, and to know the freedom that comes from serving God. This true and lasting freedom only comes through the power and action of God himself. Paul completes his analysis of the wages of sin in Romans chapter six by saying, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Freedom from addiction, and life in its fullness, comes as a gift from God. The good news for those who trust in Christ is that there is an end to addiction.

True freedom is not freedom to do whatever we want, for that is simply slavery to sin. It is freedom to be slaves

“The answer to the slavery of addiction is slavery to something better: to become slaves to righteousness.”

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ways: as disease, as temptation, as idolatry, and as slavery. Jesus’ explanation of his mission from Isaiah speaks directly into these four ways of understanding addiction.

He shows how the coming kingdom of God brings an end to addiction through healing from disease, help for temptation, sight for the spiritually blind in idolatry, and freedom from slavery.

Jesus and addiction

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As Jesus began his teaching ministry, he traveled around Galilee proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Coming to his home town of Nazareth, he went into the synagogue and read from the prophet Isaiah:

“He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

(Luke 4:18-19)

Healing

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

(Luke 4:18-19)

As Jesus declares his mission to proclaim “recovery of sight for the blind” he speaks of the healing that God’s kingdom brings. Again and again in the Gospels we read of Jesus demonstrating that healing in practice, as the sick come to him for restoration. When John the Baptist sent messengers to ask if Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus replies:

When he had finished, Jesus sat down and said: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

Jesus uses Isaiah’s words to explain his ministry. He brings freedom and recovery. He proclaims the good news of God’s favour.

“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” (Matthew 11:4-5)

As we have seen, the Bible sheds light on the problem of addiction. It helps us to see addiction in four critical

Jesus healed the sick as an act of compassion on broken people, and

as a sign that God’s kingdom brings wholeness to those who suffer. That healing extends to those who struggle with addiction. As we have seen, addiction is partly a disease of the body, with profound physical effects.

While addiction is more than just a disease, to bring an end to addiction there needs to be healing. Jesus came to deliver that healing through his death and resurrection.

Jesus is able to heal all who come to him: some might experience that healing in this present age, while others will only experience it fully in the age to come. Healing from disease now is a sign of what is to come in the New Creation. There, everything wrong will be put right, including addiction.

The full and complete healing from addiction is guaranteed in the new heavens and the new earth. Then we will know the reality of the words from the one seated on the throne in heaven, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5). The healing of the kingdom promises the renewal of the addict.

Help Addiction acts as a temptation: a desire to choose the path of pleasure, or to numb the problem of pain.

Addiction drags the addict deeper and deeper into a cycle of temptation.

Although we are responsible for our choices in the face of temptation, the addict can feel as if they have no choice or control over their actions.

Those who have not experienced

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“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”

(Hebrews 4:15)

addiction will find it difficult, if not impossible, to understand this temptation. But the book of Hebrews reminds us of something deeply profound: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) Jesus knew temptation. In fact, he was tempted in every way, just as we are.

It is transformational for an addict to realise that Jesus sees you and knows what you are going through.

Even more, Jesus knew temptation but was able to face it without sinning.

He was strong when we are weak. He was able to perfectly resist temptation and not sin. That means he can help.

He is the perfect friend who has been where we are and is able to walk with us on the road to recovery.

While Jesus was not an addict, he experienced every type of temptation that we may face. He succeeded where we so often fail, and made a way out by his death and resurrection. He is our friend who can lead us home.

Sight When Jesus says that he came to give recovery of sight to the blind, he doesn’t restrict himself to physical sight alone. Time and again in the Gospels we see Jesus offering sight to those who are spiritually blind.

Idolatry is spiritual blindness: devotion to things that actually lead to destruction. Addicts are trapped in idolatry and need sight for their blind eyes. They need to see the object of their affections as it truly is in order to overcome it. They also need something better to replace it with in order to redirect their desires elsewhere.

In the nineteenth century, Scottish theologian Thomas Chalmers preached a sermon entitled ‘The expulsive power of a new affection.’44 He argues that the only way to remove an object of affection in our life is by the power of a new affection to expel it: “The best way of casting out an impure affection is to admit a pure one; and by the love of what is good, to expel the love of what is evil.” Chalmers concludes: “We know of no other way by which to keep the love of the world out of our heart, than to keep in our hearts the love of God.” If there is to be an end to addiction, then our sight needs to be captured by a better vision.45 If we see Jesus and the gospel as so much more beautiful and glorious than the temptations of addiction, it is possible for our affections to be changed and our desires altered.

In the TV show ‘The West Wing’, Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, whose character was an alcoholic, told a story to his colleague John Lyman, about getting help when you need it: “This guy’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out… a friend walks by, ‘Hey, Joe, it’s me, can you help me out?’ And the friend jumps in the hole.

Our guy says, ‘Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.’ The friend says, ‘Yeah, but I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.’”43 Jesus has been there before us.

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Freedom As Jesus quotes from Isaiah, he says that his mission is to “proclaim freedom for the prisoners” and “to set the oppressed free”. Jesus came to set the captives free from slavery, freedom which those in the slavery of addiction need.

Jesus’ death and resurrection brings freedom from slavery to sin. Paul tells the the church in Rome:

fight against sinful desires, as any honest Christian will attest. But our identity has changed. We are no longer under the master of addiction. As Jesus tells the crowds: “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

(John 8:34-36)

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” (Romans 6:6-7)

The freedom that Jesus gives sets us free indeed. He removes our identity as a slave to sin. He gives us the identity of a child in God’s family. We are no longer slaves but sons, heirs to the kingdom and loved by God.

As human beings we are slaves to sin, in thrall to our desire to rule ourselves.

But Jesus died so that we might die with him, setting us free from sin, and slavery to our sinful desires.

Whether we are an addict or not, the gospel of Jesus Christ fundamentally shifts our identity. When we come to Jesus, we are no longer the people we once were. We are new creations: “the old has gone, and the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

“If there is to be an end to addiction, then our sight needs to be captured by a better vision.”

Jesus came to win us for a different master: God. As addiction makes us slaves to our addictive behaviour, Jesus’ death and resurrection brings freedom from addiction. This does not mean we no longer battle with cravings and addictive desires. Those who have been set free from sin still

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Hope

This means that there is hope for every person, no matter what their past or present struggles. The power of God is sufficient to save and sanctify every sinner. Addicts are just as in need of the grace of God as everyone else, and are just as able to find that grace through Jesus Christ.

Someone who knew that well was John Newton. Once a slave trader, and a harsh one at that, he encountered Jesus and was changed, even becoming a church minister. He

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

(John 8:36)

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summarised the hope of the gospel with this saying: “I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was; a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’”46 An addict is not what they want to be, or what they will be when Christ returns. But through Jesus, they are not what they were, and what they are is by the grace of God. Addicts are no worse off or more sinful than any other person. As Paul tells the Corinthians: “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?… And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

Among the descriptions of ‘wrongdoers’ he lists are drunkards, the greedy, the sexually immoral, and idolators. Addictive behaviours can be covered by many of these, especially, as we have seen, by idolatry. People who do these things, says Paul, will not inherit the kingdom of God. But there is hope. This is what some of you were, says Paul. Without God’s action, they would be excluded from the kingdom. But because of Jesus they have been washed, made right and made holy. They are no longer the same. They are new creations.

So too with addiction. Through the gospel of Jesus, we can say: that is what we were. But we have been saved and made new by the power of the Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Addicts are just as in need of the grace of God as everyone else, and are just as able to find that grace through Jesus Christ.”

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Battling addiction In his book ‘The Great Divorce’, C. S. Lewis imagines an excursion from Hell to Heaven. In the heavenly realm, the souls from Hell appear as insubstantial as ghosts as they encounter the inhabitants of Heaven.

In one scene, the writer comes across a ghostly soul who is tormented by a red lizard which perches on his shoulder and whispers temptations in his ear.

An angel arrives and offers to remove the lizard: “‘Would you like me to make him quiet?’ said the flaming Spirit—an angel, as I now understood. ‘Of course I would,’ said the Ghost. ‘Then I will kill him,’ said the Angel, taking a step forward…‘You didn’t say anything about killing him at first. I hardly meant to bother you with anything so drastic as that!’ ‘It’s the only way,’ said the Angel.”47 The ghostly soul continues to argue with the angel about the need to kill his enemy. “Honestly, I don’t think there’s the slightest necessity for that,” he says, “I’m sure I shall be able to keep it in order now”. He thinks the angel will kill him if he kills the lizard, exclaiming, “Why, you’re hurting me now”. “I never said it wouldn’t hurt you,” replies the angel, “I said it wouldn’t kill you”.

Addiction acts like that lizard, plaguing the addict’s life. Even though the gospel brings an end to addiction, there is still an everyday struggle to contend with. Like the lizard in Lewis’ story, the only way to deal with the effects of addiction is to fight it and kill it.

Fight The puritan pastor John Owen famously wrote about the ‘mortification’ of sin, saying: “make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin, or it will be killing you.”48 The addict also needs to make it their daily work to fight their addiction: to do battle against the temptation to go back to their old patterns of behaviour.

The Bible calls this fight ‘repentance’.

We often think of repentance as a one-time event, a change of heart and mind when someone first becomes a Christian. But repentance is something we need to keep on doing as a follower of Jesus. The image at the heart of repentance is ‘turning around’. Every day we face temptations to wander away from Jesus and walk in destructive paths instead. Every day, therefore, we need to repent and correct our course back towards God.

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In the very first of his 95 theses, which kicked off the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther wrote: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent’, He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Repentance is daily and ongoing, not quick or simple.

It is most often a path with highs and lows, setbacks and victories, barriers and breakthroughs. It is a fight.

Addiction builds ingrained habits that are extremely hard to break. Like water running continually over a rock, over time it establishes grooves that we fall back into easily. The fight against these habits is real and difficult. But change is possible and our brains can develop new patterns. “It’s not easy, especially at first, but with time,

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discipline, and support, it is entirely possible to create new tracks in the road that lead us forward while avoiding the deep ruts of addiction.”49 An addict can be set free by Jesus Christ, but that doesn’t mean they no longer struggle with cravings and addictive behaviours. It is important not to be naive about the battles that we face, or to get complacent about our fight against sin. The comedian Robin Williams, who struggled with addiction, once described his addiction in an interview like this: “It waits. It lays in wait for the time when you think, ‘It’s fine now, I’m O.K’.

Then, the next thing you know, it’s not O.K.”50

Addiction waits. Fighting addiction is something that we continue to do in this present age. It may mean facing intense symptoms of withdrawal, especially during the early stages of fighting addiction. But if we fail to fight to kill addiction, it will be working to kill us.

But it is possible to fight against the habits and temptations of addiction.

It is not a futile fight. God is with us in the battle and He gives us his armour to wear (Ephesians 6:10–18). It is in his strength that we fight, knowing that He has already won the victory by the cross.

Gouge it out Someone who is an addict will know that there are things that act as triggers for their addiction. It might be a place, a person, or a particular emotion or behaviour that sets off an intense temptation to relapse. It might be trauma, depression, or grief that triggers our response. It could be the friend who always offers a drink, the website that leads us into pornography, or the street where you know drugs will be available.

for your whole body to go into hell.”

(Matthew 5:29-30) It is better to cut out what causes you to stumble, than to keep it and end up being ruined. If your smartphone leads you to relapse in porn addiction, then ‘gouge out’ your phone, replacing it with a ‘dumb’ phone for calls and texts only, or even no phone at all. It might seem drastic in a connected age, but it is better to avoid danger than to be led into destruction. You may need to reassess friendships to be able to say no to drink or drugs. You might need to avoid certain places, block certain websites, remove certain things from your home, or change certain habits in your life.

The act of ‘gouging out’ is about building self-control. As Proverbs 25:28 says: “Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.” Building self-control re-builds the walls around your life that will defend against attacks from addiction.

Jesus has some clear, and drastic, words about avoiding triggers:

“It is better to cut out what causes you to stumble, than to keep it and end up being ruined.”

“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than

Of course, committing yourself to gouging out whatever causes you to stumble is one thing; actually following through is another. This is why being accountable to others about the changes you want to make is so important. Choose those you trust and 53

tell them what you need to do, and ask them to keep you to account. As Ed Welch notes:

God has given us a community in which to fight sin: the church. It is the place where we can battle together as fellow-soldiers in the fight against sin and addiction. The church is a hospital for sinners, whatever their battle with sin, and any effective church is likely to have addicts in it.53 The writer of Hebrews warns against neglecting the community that God has given us:

“A good indicator of whether or not you want to grow in self-control is this: Do you have a clear, public strategy?

If anyone says, “I am really going to change this time—I don’t think I need any help,” that person has yet to understand the biblical teaching on self-control. It is one thing to make a resolution; it is something completely different to repent, seek counsel, and develop a plan with the help of others that is concrete and Christ-centered.”51 James advises the readers of his letter to keep one another accountable, saying “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). If we want to see healing from addiction, we need to fight, and we need to fight together.

Fight together There is an oft-quoted adage that says: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” In our fight against addiction, speed is not as important as perseverance. We want to go far, so we need to go together.

Alcoholics Anonymous have a saying: “I can’t, but we can”. Fighting our struggles with addiction can never be done solo. As one addict has said, “no one can do it for you, but you can’t do it alone”.52 We need to understand that we are not alone in the fight against addiction, and we are not alone in the battle with sin.

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“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

(Hebrews 10:24-25) “In our fight against addiction, speed is not as important as perseverance.”

For the addict, shame can keep us from meeting with others and being honest about our struggles. But as Hebrews reminds us, we need each other to spur us on to godliness, and to encourage each other to remain in the battle. We need those alongside us in church, and they need us. Pastor Mez McConnell notes: “The Christian, regardless of sinful addiction, needs the church as a fish needs its bowl. Neither the Christian nor the fish will survive long outside their home. The addict needs to know that the well-groomed family sat next to him in the Sunday service is as guilty of sin and secret shame as he is. And they need to know that they are as guilty of sin and secret shame as he is!”54 An addict fighting their addiction needs friends who will stand with

them in the battle, and ask them about their fight: ‘How is your level of temptation today?’ ‘Have you used, or do you think you might?’ A friend in the fight won’t just ask once or twice, but often.

Helping someone who is struggling with addiction is not a quick fix.

It requires commitment and perseverance, being willing to be in it for the long haul. It means speaking honestly about your own struggles as you encourage your addicted friend to be honest about theirs. Above all, it means being an example of Christlike faithfulness as much as you are able. Doing this speaks just as much as the words you say. It tells them you won’t abandon them in their battle against addiction, and that God won’t abandon them either.

“Helping someone who is struggling with addiction is not a quick fix.”

An addict who is part of a community risks meeting people they have hurt because of their addiction. Painful and difficult though this will be, it allows for reconciliation. It gives you opportunities to make amends for the way you have treated others. It has been estimated that for every addict, there are at least ten people who have been seriously sinned against by them.55 Proverbs 14:9 says: “Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill 55

is found among the upright.” Making amends will mean being honest about who we have hurt, and how we have hurt them. It will mean not making excuses but owning our wrongdoing.

It may mean counting the cost for our actions and doing what is necessary to put things right, such as paying back money that was stolen. It will also mean knowing the forgiveness that flows to us from the cross of Jesus Christ, and then seeking forgiveness from others.

Look to Jesus There is a comedy sketch by American comedian Bob Newhart56 which is both funny and insightful. Newhart plays a therapist who charges very little and only has one piece of advice. To everything that the client struggles with, he simply says “Stop it!”

While that sketch is just a joke, it reveals an important truth. We cannot

resist temptation or addiction simply by saying ‘stop it’. If you have tried to stop in your own strength, you will know that it fails more often than not. We grit our teeth and try our best, but our willpower does not seem sufficient.

Andy Partington, in his book ‘Hope in addiction’, describes fighting addiction as being more like SpiderMan than Batman.57 If you know comic books, you’ll be aware that Batman has no superpowers. His abilities come from dedication, training, and financial resources. Spider-Man, on the other hand, is a normal nerdy teenager. All his abilities come from powers that were given to him by a radioactive spider.

The Batman method of fighting addiction is through discipline and self-control. That is an important part of recovery. But self-improvement

alone will not win the battle over addiction. Instead, we need something from outside of us to come and give us the power we don’t have. We need to be more like Spider-Man than Batman.

The good news is that God has given us all we need to battle against addiction.

He has given us his presence with us by his Spirit. This is what leads Paul to write to the Ephesians: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18) An alcoholic will drink to forget their struggles and remove their inhibitions. An addict will try to fill the emptiness of trauma and pain with pills or porn. But the Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit, who enables them to live for Jesus. The drive to fill our lives with addiction can be replaced with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

The desire to be devoted to the idol of addiction is redirected towards a desire for more of God.

Paul says to the Colossians: “set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1-2).

When we see Jesus clearly, and we realise how great and glorious and good he is, then our desire for him will increase and our desire for addictive behaviours will diminish.

Fighting a battle is hard. There will be victories, but there will also be setbacks and stumbles. As we look to Jesus, we need to gaze on the cross and the resurrection. Jesus died to forgive our sin, our guilt, our shame, and our failures in the battle against addiction. When we feel weak, we need to see that He is strong. When we are unable to win the battle, we need to see that He has won the victory, once and for all. When addiction is a fight, we need to see the long-suffering, inexhaustible grace of Jesus Christ.

Battling addiction is more about worship than willpower. It is only possible when we desire something – or someone – better: Jesus Christ. We turn away from our sin, and also turn towards Jesus. We battle addiction by delighting in Jesus.

“Battling addiction is more about worship than willpower.”

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“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”

(Luke 15:20)

Hope for the addict As Jesus went about proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, he came under fire for the kinds of people he was associating with. The ‘tax collectors and sinners’ were the outcasts of society, looked down upon and rejected by the religious leaders.

In response, Jesus told the religious elite a story: “There was a man who had two sons.

The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’

So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.” (Luke 15:11-13) The younger son of the story represents the ‘sinners’ that Jesus spent time with. It’s not stated that he used the money he gained to fuel addiction, only that he spent it on ‘wild living’. Nevertheless, the younger son’s story mirrors the addict’s experience in many ways. As Andy Partington points

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out, “like addiction, this lifestyle was expensive, rapidly consuming the son’s inheritance, and absorbed him so thoroughly that he only stopped once the money ran out”.58

Hungry and friendless, he has so little to eat that he considers the pig swill to be a gourmet feast. Every addict who has woken up in a gutter, a police cell, or a hospital bed, knows what it is like to be at their lowest point.

It is there that the younger son “came to his senses” (Luke 15:17). Not every addict hits the bottom and realises their situation, but many do. Like them, the young man realises that he has nothing to lose by going back to his father. Even the worst reaction of being treated as a servant is better than the place he currently finds himself. So he heads back home.

We might think that this is the turning point of the story. But it is not in the actions of the son, but in the response

of the father, that the emphasis lies.

As he tells the story, “Jesus’ focus is on the radical actions of the father.”59 “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20) If we are familiar with this story, we might miss something of the shock of these words. Not only was the father looking out for his son while he was still far off, he then ran to meet him. No respectable man in that culture would run, but the father does so, meeting his son and embracing him with love.

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put

His excessive lifestyle continues until his bank account has run dry. Then he finds that the friends who flocked around him when he was flush with money have all disappeared. He is left with nothing and nobody. He gets to the point where many addicts find themselves: he hits rock bottom.

“After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.

So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.” (Luke 15:14-16) For a first-century Jew there was nothing more ignominious than feeding unclean animals such as pigs.

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it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” (Luke 15:22-24) These are not just demonstrations of generosity, but deliberate actions intended to restore his son and protect him from hostility from the wider community.60 The best robe almost certainly belonged to the father himself, so he commands for his own clothes to be placed on his son. The ring would have been a signet ring, showing that his son has been given the father’s own trust and authority. Shoes on his feet show that he is a free man, and not a servant.

Killing the fattened calf and hosting a feast would not have been a family affair alone. No doubt most, if not all, of the town would be invited as a public demonstration of the father’s welcome and restoration of his son who was lost.

This wonderful story is a picture of the lavish grace of our Father God on us, his wayward sons and daughters

(including the waywardness of the older son seen later in the story). It also gives profound hope for the addict. The younger son may or may not be trapped in addiction, but his predicament is much the same.

Addicts feel lost and alone, as hungry and hopeless as the son at his lowest point. Yet by the grace of God, every person has the hope of the father’s restorative embrace.

As we grasp the Bible’s honest description of addiction as disease, temptation, idolatry, and slavery, and the need for a battle against sin and temptation, so we also need to grasp the audacious nature of grace.

No matter what the son has done, it is overwhelmed by the love of the father.

There is no sin committed by addict or non-addict alike that is not dealt with by the death of Jesus on the cross.

For all the complexity of the nature and experience of addiction, the final truth to be understood is this: even the most prodigal of addicts will find a welcome when they return home.

“Addicts feel lost and alone, as hungry and hopeless as the son at his lowest point. Yet by the grace of God, every person has the hope of the father’s restorative embrace.”

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References 1 2

Nikki Sixx, The Heroin Diaries, New York, Pocket Books, 2007, p. 13.

Don Fedler, Don Henley and Glenn Frey, Hotel California, Eagles, Asylum Records, 1977.

3 ‘Addiction: What is it?’, NHS, 2024, https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/addiction-support/addiction-what-is-it/, (Accessed 24 March 2026).

4 ‘DSM-5 and Addiction’, Gateway Foundation, 2021, https://www.gatewayfoundation. org/blog/dsm-5-substance-use-disorder/, (Accessed 24 March 2026).

5 Anna Drescher, ‘Common signs and symptoms of addiction’, Priory Group, 2025, https://www.priorygroup.com/addiction-treatment/signs-and-symptoms-of-addiction, (Accessed 24 March 2026).

6 Ed Welch, Addictions: A banquet in the grave, Phillipsburg, P&R Publishing, 2001, p.

13.

7 D.W. Goodwin et al., ‘Alcohol Problems in Adoptees Raised Apart from Alcoholic Biological Parents’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 1973, p. 238-43, and D.J. Armor, J. M. Polich, and H. B. Stambul, Alcoholism and Treatment, New York, Wiley, 1978 quoted in Welch, 2001, p. 27.

8 Welch, 2001, p. 37-38.

9 C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, London, Fount, 1977, p. 49.

10 ‘Princess of Wales: ‘Fear and judgment’ of addiction must end’, The Telegraph, 24 Nov 2025.

11 Leshner AI., ‘Addiction is a brain disease, and it matters’, Science, 278, 1997, p. 45–7.

12 Heilig, M., MacKillop, J., Martinez, D. et al., ‘Addiction as a brain disease revised: why it still matters, and the need for consilience’, Neuropsychopharmacol, 46, 2021, p.

1715–1723.

13 Alcoholics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous 4th ed., New York, Alcoholics Anonymous, 2001, p. 7.

14 Alcoholics Anonymous, 2001, p. 30.

15 Alcoholics Anonymous, ‘Twelve steps and twelve traditions’, New York, Alcoholics Anonymous, 2021, p. 22.

16 ‘Addiction and the brain’, Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/ basics/addiction/addiction-and-the-brain, (Accessed 24 March 2026).

17 Heilig, M., MacKillop, J., Martinez, D. et al., 2021, p. 1715–1723.

18 ‘Addiction: What is it?’, NHS, 2024.

19 ‘Addiction and the brain’, Psychology Today.

20 Ibid.

21 ‘Is addiction a disease?, Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/ basics/addiction/is-addiction-a-disease, (Accessed 24 March 2026).

22 Theodore Dalrymple, ‘Opinion: The Princess of Wales could not be more wrong about addiction’, The Telegraph, 24 Nov 2025.

23 C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, London, William Collins, 2009, p. 132.

24 C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, London, Diamond, 1996, p. 38.

25 See Step One of AA’s Twelve Steps.

26 Matthew Perry, BBC Newsnight, 2023.

27 Ed Welch, ‘Addictions and idolatry’, Ligonier Ministries, 2016, https://learn.ligonier. org/articles/addictions-and-idolatry (Accessed 24 March 2026).

28 Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 2009, p.xvii.

29 John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 11, Part 8, Louisville, London, Westminster John Knox Press, 1960, p. 108.

30 Ed Welch, 2001, p. 51.

31 Kent Dunnington, ‘The Addict as Modern Prophet’, The Gospel Coalition, 2014, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/addict-as-modern-prophet/ (Accessed 24 March 2026).

32 Martin Luther, ‘Large Catechism’.

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33 Andy Constable and Mez McConnell, Addiction and the local church, Fearn, Christian Focus, 2025, p. 50.

34 Bob Meehan, Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, quoted in Welch, 2001, p. 53.

35 J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, London, HarperCollins, 1991, p. 68.

36 ‘Gollum from The Lord of The Rings’, Musei Di Genova, https://www.museidigenova. it/en/gollum-lord-rings, (Accessed 24 March 2026).

37 Andy Serkis, BBC Interview, 21 March 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/ chat/hotseat/newsid_2853000/2853041.stm, (Accessed 24 March 2026).

38 Richard Rosenthal and Suzanne B. Faris, ‘The etymology and early history of ‘addiction’’ Addiction Research & Theory, 27:5, 2019, quoted in Andy Partington, Hope in addiction, Chicago, Moody, 2023, p. 87.

39 Partington, 2023, p. 87.

40 Welch, 2016.

41 Welch, 2001, p. 32.

42 Constable and McConnell, 2025, p40-41.

43 ‘The West Wing’, Season 2, Episode 10, ‘Noël’, written by Aaron Sorkin.

44 The text of the sermon can be read and downloaded at https://www.monergism. com/thethreshold/sdg/Chalmers,%20Thomas%20-%20The%20Exlpulsive%20 Power%20of%20a%20New%20Af.pdf (Accessed 24 March 2026).

45 This is helpfully explained in Tim Chester, Captured by a better vision, Nottingham, IVP, 2010.

46 John Newton, quoted in The Christian Pioneer (1856) edited by Joseph Foulkes Winks, p. 84.

47 C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, London, William Collins, 2010, p. 47.

48 John Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 1656 available at https://www.monergism. com/mortification-sin-believers-ebook (Accessed 24 March 2026).

49 Partington, 2023, p. 119.

50 Robin Williams, interview with Diane Sawyer, ABC News, 2006.

51 Welch, 2001, p. 221.

52 Partington, 2023, p. 139.

53 Welch, 2001, p. 120.

54 Constable and McConnell, 2025, p. 79.

55 Welch, 2001, p. 255.

56 Available to watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dNDk6znNU0 (Accessed 24 March 2026).

57 Partington, 2023, p. 146-147.

58 Ibid, p. 149.

59 Ibid.

60 Ibid, p. 150.

For further reading Tim Chester, Captured by a better vision, Nottingham, IVP, 1994 Andy Constable and Mez McConnell, Addiction and the local church, Fearn, Christian Focus, 2025 Kent Dunnington, Addiction and Virtue – Beyond the Models of Disease and Choice, Downers Grove, IVP, 2011 Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 2009 Andy Partington, Hope in addiction, Chicago, Moody, 2023 Ed Welch, Addictions: A banquet in the grave, Phillipsburg, P&R Publishing, 2001 Ed Welch, ‘Addictions and Idolatry’, Ligonier Ministries, 2016, learn.ligonier.org/ articles/addictions-and-idolatry 62

Other titles in this series: Poverty God and Government Old Age Transgender Ideology

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Dan Wells has been working as Content Writer for CARE since 2025. He studied mathematics and worked as a secondary school teacher, before becoming an ordained minister in the Church of England. He served in local church ministry for twenty years before joining CARE where he writes regularly about the way the Bible speaks into contemporary issues.

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