By Reese Currie, Compass Distributors
Some Christians find a need to preach a strong message against alcohol itself, saying it is wrong to ever drink any amount of alcohol. Some of these types even claim that what is called "wine" in the Bible is really "grape juice", and prohibit the drinking of wine as a part of the Lord's Supper.
Before we pour the foundation of a teaching, we must check what the Bible really says on the topic, otherwise our teachings will collapse.
We know that this is true because Numbers 6:3 refers to wine and grape juice separately. Numbers 6:2,3 reads, "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When either a man or woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins.'"
In the gospels, when Jesus had the Last Supper with His apostles (which He instituted as the Lord's Supper, which is done in rememberance of Him), He referred to their drink as the fruit of the vine, for example, in Matthew 26:29, He says, "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom."
The term "fruit of the vine" could be taken as grape juice; however, we know with certainty it was wine from the way the Lord's Supper was celebrated in Paul's day. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, blasting them about abusing the bread and wine used in the Lord's Supper. "Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk." (1 Corinthians 11:20,21) Paul went on to say, "Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup." (1 Corinthians 11:27,28)
So, we know for a certainty that real wine, not grape juice, was used in the Lord's Supper; to use grape juice would not constitute a serious error in your church, if that is its practice. However, the insistence that wine may not be used is obviously in error.
Just because the Bible does not condemn wine does not mean that the Bible does not condemn drunkenness. Quite the contrary! Proverbs 20:1 says, "Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise." Ephesians 5:18 warns, "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,"
Many drunkards, if they could remember what they did the night before, would see themselves in Proverbs 23:29-33: "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things."
But the Bible even supports drinking wine in moderation! Paul told Timothy, "No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities." (1 Timothy 5:23) (It is interesting to note that medical science has recently determined that this statement is true, that a glass of wine a day is beneficial to your health, a mere 2000 years behind the Bible's statement of the same fact.)
It is the lack of moderation that the Bible condemns. Look at these admonitions from Titus 2:1-3: "But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—" Not abstinate, necessarily, but temperate; not completely avoiding wine but not given to "much" wine.
(For those of you who still aren't convinced that the "wine" in the Bible is not merely grape juice, may I ask why Paul would warn about being given to much grape juice?)
No, it is not; the Bible even recommends it in one case, at Proverbs 31:6,7: "Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to those who are bitter of heart. Let him drink and forget his poverty, And remember his misery no more."
A lot of preachers who are against alcohol try to use Genesis 40:10 to prove that the wine in the Bible is merely grape juice. In Genesis 40:9-11, a butler tells Joseph about a dream he had. "Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, 'Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. Then Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.'"
Note the word "wine" does not appear anywhere in the butler's description of the dream. Take your Bible and read Genesis 40; the word "wine" does not appear in this chapter at all. Is it impossible that Pharoah drank both wine and grape juice? This argument for the wine in the Bible being actually grape juice is intellectually dishonest when examined objectively.
Now, I want you to understand something: I personally hate drunkenness, and I can't stand being around drunk people. If I wanted to be intellectually dishonest, I would gladly insist upon the use of grape juice instead of wine in the Lord's Supper. But I cannot and will not insist on grape juice instead of wine because it is unscriptural to do so. When the Bible disagrees with your preconceived notions, don't ignore what the Bible really says and pig-headedly cling to your traditions. This was the error of the Pharisees. Mark 7:9 records Jesus' preaching: "He said to them, 'All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.'"
Jesus Himself drank wine, and was accused of being a drunkard by the Pharisees. "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her children." (Matthew 11:18,19)
The whole idea of being a conservative, or an evangelical, or a fundamentalist, is to adhere to what the Bible really says. The admonition against drunkenness is in line with what the Bible really says, but the admonition against wine itself, and the twisting of scripture to represent wine as grape juice, is as dishonest as any other false tradition. Do not be numbered with the Pharisees on the judgment day; if you claim to derive your beliefs from the Bible, derive your beliefs from the Bible alone.
Remember what I said at the start of this article? "Before we pour the foundation of a teaching, we must check what the Bible really says on the topic, otherwise our teachings will collapse." How much better Jesus said it: "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." (Matthew 7:24-27)
What Does The Bible Say About Alcohol? Copyright © 1996 by Compass Distributors
All Scripture quotations taken from the The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.) 1982.