Rates of celiac disease and other forms of gluten intolerance have risen considerably in recent years, and it is my firm belief that there is something seriously wrong with this picture. Bread — baking bread, breaking bread, etc. — is a central idea in Scripture and in history.
I’m not attributing any blame or claiming gluten intolerance isn’t a “real” thing, or anything along those lines — I’m gluten-intolerant myself! But all the talk about how people just aren’t made (actually, it’s usually said that we aren’t “evolved”) to eat grains is baloney. Mankind has eaten grain for centuries. It’s only in the past hundred years or so that we’ve had a significant problem with intolerance to grains, which tells me it’s something we’re doing (as a society, not necessarily as individuals).
A serious negative consequence is that we have downplayed the importance of bread.
“Breaking” bread has significant implications, because “breaking bread” has significant implications.
We’re all well aware of what a staple bread has been in many cultures for many years, from a dietary standpoint. But the dietary impact isn’t what I’m talking about. Villainizing bread actually has significant biblical implications.
Bread is known throughout Scripture as a good thing. “What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?..If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children…”
It is a symbol of life – but for too many of us, it has become a symbol of disease and death. How can we present Jesus as the Bread of Life to a culture that has come to view bread as a disease-causing bringer of death?
“I am the Bread of Life.” – Jesus
Breaking Bread with the Body

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.”
Those of us who cannot eat bread cannot take part in this key sacrament of the Church. What is to be part of the unity of Church family life, as well as an essential reminder of what our Savior did for us, is now a source of division and exclusion.
Sacrifices & Sacraments
And it’s not just wheat. Wheat, barley, and rye are all historically common bread flours – and all are off-limits for those who cannot eat gluten.
It isn’t just New Testament, either. The Old Testament also uses bread as an integral part of its symbolism: in the showbread that was to remain constantly in the Temple, in many of the various offerings, in annual celebrations such as FirstFruits.
Not Blame, but a Spiritual Battle
I don’t say any of this to point fingers. I don’t know what is causing the prevalance of grain-related (and other food-allergy-related) disease. (Although I suspect it has a lot to do with our perverted modern methods of farming and *ahem* Monsanto.)
My point is that this is not an insignificant matter. Figuring out what in the world one is going to eat when dealing with some type of food intolerance is hard enough, but it’s more than just food that’s affected.
Our spirits are harmed when what was a central part of fellowship is now a source of stress and exclusion instead. Our spirits are harmed when God’s beautiful symbolism is contaminated. Our spirits are harmed when we take what God made good, and we make it “evil.”
What, Then?
The “take-home”? First of all, if you do not wrestle with food sensitivities, please keep this in mind when dealing with friends who do. It is hard, in more ways than one.
And second, we need to fight for answers, because we need to fight to take back what God has given. If society has caused these issues by playing games with our food supply, we need to figure out what we’ve done and fix it, because by causing these problems, we have helped Satan to steal what rightfully belongs to the people of God.
(Matthew 7:9; John 6:48; Matthew 26:26)
Originally published 19 Oct 2012. Updated 14 Jan 2021.
Yep! Thanks for such an articulate post.
Rachel, thank you for putting into words EXACTLY what I’ve been pondering for the past two years. I think about this all the time. I got my mill out for the first time in months and showed a friend how to make wheat bread this past summer…and was really sad when I realized how much I missed making real bread. I still want to try sour dough wheat bread once we have done a year of this, and see if Pete or Erich reacts. For example: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/can-celiacs-eat-true-sourdough-bread/
I have wondered, too, Holly! Now that I’ve been off wheat for a while, I’d try it…except I’m thinking that while I’m pregnant is a bad time to experiment with wheat. (Did you know we’re expecting again?) I just got a book about GF sourdough, though, so I might try that and see if I can’t at least get good at making sourdough bread in general, in the meantime.
OOOOOOH!!! AHHHH!!! WhaT??!??! What’s the name of the book?! I had no idea it existed!!
But on more important topics, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!
It’s this: http://artofgluten-freesourdoughbaking.com/
It just came last week and I haven’t had a chance to actually cook anything from it yet, so I can’t necessarily vouch for it. But I’m looking forward to trying it!
And thank you. 🙂
Thanks Rachel!
While I agree that part of the issue could be how much grains have changed over thousands of years of breeding I think that the growth in celiac disease is more than that. I wouldn’t be surprised if intolerance and more traditional allergies are heavily attributed to the changes in the grain but I think celiac disease is probably unrelated. Instead, I think that the further we get from the perfection of Eden the more mutations accumulate in our DNA. There’s no way of getting around that. We can trust our heavenly Father to sustain mankind until Jesus returns and makes all things new but we should not be surprised if the “groaning of creation” extends to mutations in our DNA, regardless of our food supply.
You’re probably right. Celiac disease is probably its own separate ball of wax.