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iQuestions Faculty, Dr. David Eckman 
 
 
Question: 
 
Does the Bible address addiction? 
 
Answer: 
 
We all know that the Bible has to be translated into English. The Old 
Testament was originally written in Hebrew. The New Testament was 
written in the Greek. For us to understand it, it has to be translated 
into English. 
 
Well, our present English Bible sometimes has to be translated into 
understandable English.  
 
If you looked in the Bible for the word “addiction” or “compulsion,” you 
wouldn’t find it there. What you would find there, written across many, 
many pages, are “the works of the flesh” or “wrong behavior” or 
“sinful habits.” Those are really addictive behaviors, and the Bible 
addresses those behaviors with a tremendous message of hope. 
 
Words like “addiction,” words like “compulsion” are not psycho-babble. 
They deal with true human conditions. The Bible describes those 
conditions using a different vocabulary, but the answers are the same: 
a healthy relationship with people and a healthy relationship with God. 
 
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