Christians and Alcohol
Hermano Cisco
Table of Contents
The question of alcohol consumption has been problematic for believers
from the beginning. The first recorded
use of alcohol in the Bible, by Noah in Genesis 9, led to his shameful
drunkenness. And of course Christians in
Corinth were reprimanded by Paul for getting drunk at love feasts associated
with the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:21).
Given the Bible’s clear stand against drunkenness (i.e., drunkards will
not inherit the
In this paper we examine the nature of alcohol; using biblical context,
we demonstrate that there are distinctions in wines; we also consider the high
calling God has placed on kings, priests, and Christians.
We conclude that the permissibility of drinking is not even the right question to
focus on; rather one should honestly address whether or not he personally
believes God capable of contradicting His Word.
Where Alcohol Comes From: The
Process of Fermentation
Alcohol’s Notorious Impact on
Health
Two Kinds of Wine in
Scripture
Generic words for wine
In modern times, when we hear the word
“wine” we automatically think alcohol; that’s because nowadays we speak
specifically of “juice” when referring to an unfermented fruit drink.
Hence, context plays a central role
determining which type of “wine” is under discussion in a given Bible
verse. This can be a very liberating truth
for modern Christians, who may be perplexed about seeming contradictions in the
Bible’s stance on alcohol.
The role of context in distinguishing which kind of wine
I. Fermented
wine
Regarding the importance of context,
consider these references to what is obviously fermented wine:
Proverbs 20:1a
Wine is a
mocker and beer a brawler.
Proverbs 23
31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles [effervesces?] in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly!
32 In the end it bites like a snake
and poisons like a viper.
II. Unfermented wine
Thus says the LORD,
"As the new wine is found in the cluster,
And one says, 'Do not destroy it, for there is benefit in it,'
So I will act on behalf of My servants
In order not to
destroy all of them.
Isaiah 27:2-3
In that day,
"A vineyard of wine, sing of it!
"I, the LORD, am its keeper; I water it every moment so that no one will damage it, I guard it night and day.
Isaiah 16:10
Joy and gladness are taken away
from the orchards; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards; no one treads
out wine at the presses, for I have put an end to the shouting.
Jeremiah 40:12
And they harvested an abundance
of wine and summer fruit.
Jeremiah 48:33
Joy and gladness are gone from the
orchards and fields of
Matthew 26:29, Mark
“I tell you, I will not drink
of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it
anew with you in my Father's kingdom."
Kings and Priests (kingdom of
priests)
God’s people are identified in the Old
Testament as “a kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6), and in the New Testament as
“kings and priests” (Revelation 1:6;
What implication does this have on
Christians regarding the use of alcohol?
Can any counsel or exhortation be inferred?
Consider:
Timothy and alcohol
That Timothy totally abstained from all
wine products can be concluded from Paul’s exhortation: ”No longer drink only
water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent
ailments" (1 Timothy
What cannot be concluded is that
Timothy subsequently began to use alcohol.
(He may have originally been using only water precisely to avert supposition
that a wine he drank might be of the fermented variety.)
Elders and alcohol
1 Timothy 3:2-3a (KJV)
“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife,
vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not
given to wine….”
“Not
given to wine. --The Greek is mee-paroinon: ...Literally, not at, by,
near, or with wine. This looks
considerably like total abstinence…’Not given to wine’ is certainly a
very liberal translation, and shows how the usages of the day unconsciously
influenced the translators.”6
The symbolism at the Wedding at Cana
What was Jesus saying through this event? We read in the account of Jesus’ first
miracle (
So was not “the blood of the grape” (Gen. 49:11, Deut. 32:14), offered to
the invited guests from those purification jars, symbolic of our need to be purified
in Jesus’ (soon to be shed) Blood? Was
it not symbolic of the Blood necessary to qualify for entrance to The
Wedding of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7)?
If this is so, then consider further: in Exodus 34:25 the
Lord commanded, "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with
anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the
Passover remain until the morning.”
Knowing this, would Jesus, our Passover Lamb, have created
alcoholic (leavened) wine for this important symbolic event?
(And what
if
a pregnant woman were in attendance at the wedding
that day; would the omniscient God create and offer her alcohol, which could be
harmful to her fetus?)
The symbolism at Passover and The
Lord’s Supper
The Old Testament does not mention a cup for Passover--only
the lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. Nevertheless the Israelites
received a clear injunction against having yeast (which causes fermentation in
both bread dough and fruit juice) anywhere in their houses during the celebration; the punishment for
disobedience was to be “cut off from
Recall that during the Last Supper (a Passover meal), Jesus describes the beverage as “the fruit of the vine,” instead
of referring to it with only a generic Greek word for “wine,” like oinos.
And when Paul examines the elements of the Lord’s Supper--the
bread representing Christ’s body, and the cup, His blood (1 Cor. 11), he says
“the cup,” instead of using a generic Greek word for “wine,” like oinos.
Remember that Acts
A final, but most important point for this section: At the Last Supper, “Christ, our Passover
Lamb” (provided by God himself) knew he was about to be crucified. But Exodus 34:25 says "You shall not
offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of
the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning.” If Christ had had leavened wine in
his body from that meal, he would have been disqualified as our Passover
sacrifice.
Now to the true crux of this matter, which is (as is often the case) not
related so much to the weight of the evidence, as to the attitude of the heart.
Let
us be honest: the taste for alcohol is an acquired taste.
Let
us be honest: one must allow that God can contradict His own Word if one accepts as divine, on
the one hand, the warning not to gaze at (alcoholic)
wine; that (alcoholic) wine “bites like a snake and poisons like a viper”; that
it is a “mocker”; and yet on the other hand maintains that
Christ—“the Word made flesh”—produced or consumed alcoholic wine.
To brethren caught in this position we lovingly say, “Let
God be found true, though every man be found a liar…”(Romans
3:4).
1”In fact, no level of alcohol
use during pregnancy has been proven safe. Drinking alcohol during
pregnancy can cause physical and mental birth defects.“ (http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1170.asp)
2“Alcohol itself is toxic to the liver, even when nutrition is adequate.” (http://www.medhelp.org/NIHlib/GF-173.html)
3"Alcohol and the Brain." British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 1997; 57: 543-51. ( See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotoxin)
4
1) World Cancer Research Fund: “A pint of beer a day increases liver and bowel cancer risk by a fifth.”
(http://www.wcrf-uk.org/audience/media/press_release.php?recid=9)
2) McGill University: “A beer a day may raise risk of several cancers.”
(http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE57M2AZ20090823)
5Professor Ira Goldberg,
American Heart Association. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/health/1130591.stm
6Bible Wines: Laws of Fermentation. Rev. William Patton,
D.D.
Kessinger Publishing Company Whitefish,
MT 2003.
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