“Alcoholic Beverage and the Bible”

Michael Glaesemann
08/01/10

There are many things the Bible has to say about the evils of alcoholic consumption.  Below are a few quotes from the Old Testament.  In the left column are some quotations that show either the evil of alcohol or God’s express disapproval of its consumption due to its corrupt nature.  In the right column are quotations where non-alcoholic beverage is asserted and intended because of the original word meaning.  The Hebrew word “tiyrowsh” or “Yayin” is translated “wine”.  “Tiyrowsh” (tee-roshe) means “must” or “fresh grape juice”and this word is used 40 times in the Old Testament.  “Yayin” is a word that can mean grape juice or intoxicating wine, depending on the context.  In the Old Testament “Yayin” is used 30 times as a permitted or approved substance, meaning grape juice.  However, “Yayin is used 71 times in connection with disapproval or warning and its usage mostly involves intoxication.  Observe these:

              Bad  or Shameful                                              Good or Proper

Many desire to justify drinking alcoholic beverage from the Old Testament because they do not study the context of the passage, word meanings, or they just simply ignore plain passages that condemn its use (see above Isaiah 5:22, 28:7; Habakkuk 2:15).  Since we know that the Creator of the universe is not the author of confusion                  (1 Corinthians 14:33), and that no two Scriptures are in contradiction (2Peter:1:20), we can have strong comfort in the fact that God disapproves the use of that which corrupts one’s judgment and impairs one’s spiritual vision, namely, alcoholic beverages.

However, does the New Testament really teach that one may drink moderately?  We are under the New Testament order now, not the Old Testament.  The Old Testament was abolished when Jesus was nailed to the cross (Eph 2:15).  What does the New Testament approve or disapprove concerning alcoholic beverage?  Actually, I do not see how anyone can want to be associated with alcohol at all if he loves Jesus with all his heart mind and soul.  But there are many skeptics who love their wine, beer, Jack Daniels, and so forth.  I hardly believe they can picture Jesus and His apostles slipping into the local bar for a few beers with the boys.  It seems many like to picture Jesus as a smooth talking social fellow that shrugged His shoulder to a little activity in the back room as long as they didn’t make it public.  But, that is my thought about the matter.  What does the Bible say about wine?

The Greek word “oinos” is translated “wine” 35 times in the New Testament.  Of those, 23 times it is neither approved nor disapproved, 7 times it is approved, and 5 times its use is condemned.  John 2:1-11 is where most people like to go to justify their occasional beer, or social drinking habit.  This is where Jesus turned water into wine.  But, this was not wine that intoxicates.  Wine is wine in the world and the way we handle it is not the same as it is in Scripture.  The Bible is a different thing altogether.  If Jesus turned water into alcoholic beverage, then Jesus turned 120 gallons of water into intoxicating wine to restock the bar at a wedding reception.  Then Solomon and Habakkuk must have been confused when they pronounced their woes.  “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him…(Hab:2:15).  Also, did the mother of our Lord regularly attend drinking parties which are condemned in the New Testament?  “For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings (drinking parties), and abominable idolatries: (1Peter:4:3).  And, the apostle Peter wrote these words.  Could he possibly remember the drinking party where the Lord Jesus Christ supplied an excess of intoxicating wine at a drinking party?  120 gallons of intoxicating wine is an excess don’t you think?  Such an argument for the social drinking habit makes the Bible a joke.  Actually, the Lord turned water into that which is grape juice, a non-intoxicating beverage that even the ruler of the feast said was the “best wine” (John 2:10).  The best wine was that which was freshly made juice.

Many believe that the ancients could not preserve their juice without our modern conveniences.  But, they must argue with those who did preserve their grape juice.  In the book, The Bible, Saint, and the Liquor Industry, in pages 43-45, it shows how they preserved their juice by capping off the new skin with  a cap in wax and thereby putting it into the bottom of a lake where it was refrigerated in the summer.  Also, fresh grape juice does not burst wine skins.  However, any fermentation in wine skins of their day would burst them. (Matthew 9:16-17) 

Some say Paul had told Timothy to drink intoxicating wine.  “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.” (1 Tim 5:23)  However, the burden of proof that this wine was intoxicating lies with them.  There is no proof that this wine was intoxicating.  The Greek word “oinos is used here and it can mean either intoxicating or non-intoxicating.  So, we must be correct with the Scriptures when we stand in the Day of Judgment (Hebrews 9:27) and give an account of how we use the Scripture.  If the wine of this verse is of an intoxicating nature, then Paul told Timothy to quit drinking water and drink only alcoholic beverage.  Read it again.  That is what a man must conclude if he wants to use this passage to support his theory that God allows the drinking of alcoholic beverage.  How would that jive with the passage where Paul told Timothy to be an example of the believers (1 Tim 4:12 – “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” ).  Such an argument for the social drinking habit is simply a joke.

Finally, some say that since Paul said that “all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient” (1 Cor 6:12, 10:23) then it is lawful for the Christian to drink alcoholic beverage moderately.  This is not the kind of reasoning God expects of His people with a passage such as this.  All things are lawful only if that activity falls into the category of lawful things to participate in.  If “all things” are everything outside the context of the passage, then the one who is using this passage to support his drinking privilege must conclude that it was lawful in Paul’s eyes to lie moderately, steal moderately, or even fornicate moderately.  He must also conclude that it is okay to drink if one can hold down three cocktails, but a sin if he vomits or commits a violent crime after consuming three cocktails.  Such is human reasoning. 

God expects us to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:15)   Efforts to justify ones own, or others, desires are only in vain come judgment day.  Alcohol is a work of human hands and not the gospel of Jesus Christ.  “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:17).  Let us not provoke the Lord to wrath with this unclean work of human hands.