As you know, we are not a community of teetotalers. If you go to dinner at one another’s houses, it is not rare to be offered beer or wine with dinner. And of course at the center of our celebratory culture is the Lord’s Supper, a feast of bread and wine. This is a wonderful blessing, but like all blessings, it can become a curse. The Bible clearly teaches that wine is a blessing from God. He gave it to us to make our hearts glad. Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana, after everyone had already had some. And it was really good wine, the kind of wine that Jesus knew would encourage everyone to have another glass.
At the same time, the Bible is equally clear that drunkenness is not what God has in mind when He gives us this gift. The proverbs say that wine is a mocker and a brawler. It starts fights and quarrels. Wine is a serpent, a viper that stings and bites. Drunkenness is a temporary insanity that causes you to do and say perverse things. Where there is drunkenness, sexual sin is not far away, not to mention the physical danger you can become to yourself and others.
So how do we hold all of this together? Well, here are a few rules of thumb. First, if you drink, pay attention to how much you consume. One or two drinks in a sitting is usually plenty for anyone. But if you ever find yourself saying you don’t know how many you had, it was too much by definition. Second, drink for the blessing of others and the glory of God. Any time you drink, offer an explicitly Christian toast, a blessing to your wife or mother, talk about the gospel, read some scripture, or sing a psalm or hymn together. Make a point to distinguish what you are doing from what the world does. And finally, be bold enough to call people out who are being fools. Be willing to be thought the crank, the fundamentalist, the prune. Be willing to be misunderstood, be willing to speak the truth in love. We are here to proclaim a different way of being human in Jesus. We are not here to mimic frat boys or liberal winos and slap a Jesus fish on it.
Do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Joffre says
Better a prune than a prude? 🙂
James Wooten says
Dear Sir,
You make the following three statements here in your blog:
1.) The Bible clearly teaches that wine is a blessing from God. He gave it to us to make our hearts glad.
2.) Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana, after everyone had already had some. And it was really good wine, the kind of wine that Jesus knew would encourage everyone to have another glass.
3). At the same time, the Bible is equally clear that drunkenness is not what God has in mind when He gives us this gift.
As it relates to statement #2, at the wedding in Cana of Galilee Jesus turned between 120-180 gallons of water into wine. If the wine that the guests had been imbibing to the point of exhausting the supply was alcoholic, and the wine that Jesus created was alcoholic and of such a nature to encourage everyone to “have another glass”, wouldn’t that have encouraged drunkenness in at least one person at that feast?
How do you reconcile this with Rom. 13:13-14 “Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.” Please note that “drunkenness” is set in direct contrast to the character of Christ, and the we are to make no provision to the flesh to fulfill that lust. Surely 120-180 gallons of “have another glass” alcoholic wine would make provision to the flesh for at least one person at that feast, and therefore imply that Christ was acting contrary to His own character, providing means and temptation (by virtue of its superior quality and taste) for those of weaker constitution or already marginally impaired to sin, and disobeying the will of God contained in Romans – making Himself a sinner. Or – perhaps the wine was not alcoholic?
I would like to suggest that the Bible words for “wine” refer both to alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage, and context becomes an informing factor. There is much scholarship to commend this view. Otherwise, how do you reconcile your first and third statements? If by “God giving us wine to make our hearts glad (Psalms)” you mean a little buzz to cheer the heart, how do you distinguish this Biblically from the beginnings of drunkenness, and doesn’t that become a fuzzy line very quickly. Also, what does this say about God? He gave us a substance to consume and enjoy to the point that is dulls our senses or perception of reality to the point of forgetting cares or providing a temporary euphoria (the happy drunk), but not to be consumed in quantities that leads to greater loss of self control in the areas of motor skill (sloppy drunk) or anger (angry drunk)? Is this consistent of a holy, well ordered God?
May I suggest some more research may be in order before concluding that all wine in the Bible is alcoholic.
In Christ,
Pastor James Wooten
Luke Nieuwsma says
Pastor James,
No disrespect, my older brother, but you made a bland assertion, asked some questions, and gave absolutely no scholarship or evidence of non-alcoholic “wine” in Scripture. You clearly dislike the idea of God producing alcohol because it doesn’t make sense to you with His other characteristics. That’s not proof of any sort that anyone would/could/did make non-alcoholic wine back in 30 AD.
A couple thoughts as well:
1) God’s very permitting of the existence of grapes, oats, barley, corn, rye, and potatoes all show that He is ultimately responsible in some way for the presence of wine, beer, whiskey, and gin. If God is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, then how is He not guilty for allowing these naturally fermenting substances to exist? Fruit juices will ferment all on their own; it takes intervention to keep them from fermenting. Jesus would be just as much to blame for alcohol at every single bountiful harvest as He would be at the feast.
2) Where in contemporary Greek/Christian literature is there any evidence that non-alcoholic wine not could, but *should* be the meaning of the word “oinos,” the New Testament Greek word for wine? Where do the Scriptures themselves ever clearly refer to wine which would *not* have an effect on us?
3) If Jesus were not making alcoholic wine, surely the Master of Ceremonies could not recognize it as the sort of excellent wine served at the beginning of a feast as opposed to the cheap stuff people saved for later. Instead He would have said, “This isn’t wine!”
4) God specifically gives us foods and drinks to bless us.
Psalm 104:14-15: “He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man,
That he may bring forth food from the earth, 15 And wine that makes glad the heart of man,
Oil to make his face shine, And bread which strengthens man’s heart.” Grape juice doesn’t gladden man’s heart any more than a glass of water.
5) It’s easy to distinguish being merry with wine from drunkenness: you can still think, you can still make judgment, you can still pray and mean it when you are merry. When you are drunk, you are no longer in control. You are under the power of the alcohol instead of the other way around. This is the same rule that Paul used when judging what was fitting action and what was not. “All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” (I cor. 6).
I have been merry/buzzed many times but have never been drunk. I have always maintained my faith and conscience.
6) Perhaps God is not the holy, well-ordered God in the exact way we like to think He is. The God of the Bible is the God who made tornadoes, earthquakes, and lightning. He is the God who has a great belly laugh when He sees humanity trying to dethrone His Son, before He smashes them to pieces (Psalm 2). He is the God who abandoned His parents in Jerusalem, who healed on the Sabbath, who broke the traditions of the elders, who told God’s chosen people that they weren’t any more special than the rest of the world (John 10). He whips people in Temple. He is a consuming fire. His Spirit is a Dove and yet a mighty Wind that blows where it wishes. He is the God who gives the strong wine of judgment to the wicked (Psalm 75:8), but also to the young women to make them thrive (Zech. 9:17), and fills His people with the same joy they would get if they were drinking wine (Zech. 10:7). God even shouts like a man a little too loud because of wine (Psalm 78:65). Certainly God is a God of order, but He is just as much a God of the song and the dance and the storm and the feast, and the merriness of wine. He looks like He is 1, but then 3. He doesn’t make *sense* to us the way we want. His ways are higher than our ways, and His grins far bigger. Your distrust of Jesus the winemaker is maybe a result of your misunderstanding of merriness and of God’s own character.
7) One of the reasons that drunkenness is condemned in the New Testament is because it is dissipation (Ephesians 5:17). Dissipation means wastefulness. And what gets devalued, completely wasted when someone is drunk? Their wine! Instead of being enjoyed and savored, it becomes simply a gateway to foolishness and evil. That is truly a waste of a good wine.
8) If alcoholic wine was so evil, Jesus also would not have made a comparison of the old and new covenants to old and new wineskins. The reason old wineskins would burst with new wine was connected to the chemical reactions happening in the new wine; the old wineskins had already been stretched as far as they could go with the old wine. New wine fermenting would continue expanding and burst right out. If it were non-alcoholic grape juice of some sort that the Jews and Greeks made and which Jesus were discussing, there would be no bursting because there would be no fermentation.
9) Also, if alcoholic wine were so evil, doubtless we would see clear directives in the whole bible insisting that believers only drink non-alcoholic wine, since the Greeks and Romans all around them clearly had no such practice. Where does the Old or New Testament say that it is wrong to even take a single mouthful of an alcoholic drink? And where is evidence of this careful teaching in early church history? Where do you see the first Christian writers after the Apostles, the Apostolic Fathers, insisting on only the non-spiked wine? If alcoholic drinks, the natural result of fermentation, were such an abomination to Christ and His followers and Old Testament Israelites, we would surely see that theme coming through consistently throughout church history. God has always preserved His truth throughout each generation, so there would be not just traces of this practice but a strong tradition of teetotallers. But where is the proof?
10) And last, and most importantly, if the wine in communion were not alcoholic, how in the world could the Corinthian church have gotten drunk on it in their services (I Corinthians 11:21)? (Methuo, used here, btw, is the same verb Paul is using in Ephesians 5 when he says *not* to be drunk with wine – “Greek-English Lexicon,” Liddel and Scott), as well as the same verb that the crowd uses to call the Christians drunken in Acts 2.
Perhaps what is really happening here is not that you have careful, biblical scholarship to show how it is wrong to drink true, alcoholic wine. Perhaps you have never seen a Christian truly enjoy good wine without getting drunk. Perhaps what you might consider is that you are approaching the Scriptures with a pre-decided slant against wine, instead of seeing what God actually has to say about alcohol and merriment.
I wrote this bluntly, but I mean it sincerely.
In Christ,
Luke
James Wooten says
Brother Luke,
You have spoken passionately about this topic, and I prayerfully hope that my answer will help but not hurt the cause of Christ. I rarely, almost never blog because of other choices of how to spend my time, and only commented on this blog because it had an indirect connection with a teen in our youth group. So this will be my last post on this blog regardless of additional response
Obviously I provided no scholarship, because that is a lengthy process on a subject as complex and debated as this one, and my point was to simply ask the question and encourage further investigation.
By the way, you never addressed or answered the core question – how do you reconcile the paradox of Jesus expressly/miraculously creating 120-180 gallons of alcoholic “have another glass” wine expressly for the purpose of being served as such and not make provision for the flesh? The best answer would seem to be that people are responsible to guard themselves as it relates to their own flesh, but when I look at all the passages in Romans and Corinthians about the weaker brother and stumbling block, I am hesitant to push that argument to far.
In answer to your comments:
1). Fermentation does not occur naturally on its own. It requires the introduction of yeast or another leavening/fermentation agent. The alcohol in fermented wine, beer, gin, etc… is the waste excrement of the organism digesting the sugars. If you leave potatoes or barley or rye in the field or grapes on the vine they will rot they will not ferment. Pure grape juice left alone long enough will not ferment – it will spoil. It is quite a leap to assume that all the grains you mentioned were created by God at least partially with intent that man would use them to consume alcohol. Clearly they were given for food. We live in a fallen, sin afflicted creation, and we have no proof that the fermentation process even existed before the fall, and if it did that it operated as it does now. In fact – it may not have begun in its current form until after the flood due to the climatic changes on the earth. I don’t know, and neither do you.
2). The very demarcations of old and new wine evidence different types, and before you use Acts 2 to defend that both types were alcoholic – that is not the word oinos. More on this topic in a moment.
3). You are assuming that all wine is alcoholic and that he is congratulating Jesus for the punch that it packed rather than the taste that it had, or that the quality of its taste was dependent upon the content of its alcohol. These are assumptions.
4). The entire context of the Psalms 104 passage is the abundance of God’s provision and goodness, and enjoyment of provision just as the bread can provide strength and comfort, the juice can bring rejoicing and cheer through enjoyment and gratitude. I have enjoyed many a good meal including beverage without the aid of alcohol. It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word for “maketh glad” in Psalm 104 is not the same Hebrew word for “merry” in Gen. 43:44 that is attached to alcoholic wine and implies the idea of becoming tipsy.
5). I had requested “how do you distinguish this Biblically from the beginnings of drunkenness” Can you cite a biblical example where people were commended/condoned for being buzzed but not drunk?
6). Dear brother, God is truly beyond my comprehension, and I hope that I grow to know and love Him more each day. And I pray that I know Him as He reveals himself in the Bible and not as I would imagine Him to be – may God preserve us both from such subtle but prevalent idolatry. God does truly use alcoholic wine as a metaphor of His wrath and judgment particularly of those who are deceived by and intoxicated with the things of this world, but that hardly encourages me to join them in such foolishness. The Hebrew word for “new wine” in Zech. 9:17 is not yayhin – the common word for “wine” and the one used in Ps. 75. It is a word used exclusively or almost exclusively of “must” or fresh juice and when set in conjunction with the first half of the verse about corn (grain) cheering the young men it deals with bounty and blessing and supports my interpretation of Ps. 104. The point in Zech. 10:7 is that God not wine is to be our source of joy – this does not commend alcohol, but enjoyment of God and reliance upon Him. God’s anger can indeed be overwhelming and consuming. If you are saying this illustration in Ps. 78:65 proves that because God’s anger is consuming like a man angry and out of control with alcohol and therefore we can be angry, loud, and obnoxious through alcohol, you can hardly argue for moderation any more than abstinence with that logic.
7). The word “aso?tia” in Eph. 5:18 deals with riot, excess, and lack of self control or ability to possess, save, protect oneself. It has nothing to do with the value of wine and savoring it. The whole point of the passage is to walk circumspectly and to be controlled by the Holy Spirit not by wine. Paul isn’t arguing for savoring wine but for replacing it.
8). Jesus used illustrations that referenced Herod and his administration, but that doesn’t mean he was sanctioning his kingdom. The very fact that the new wine needs room to ferment and react chemically indicates that is was not yet fermented – non alcoholic! A secondary implication of that very teaching may perhaps have been that the Jews were so intoxicated with the old errant thinking that even though they were holding to the old forms (the law) they had no room for clean, fresh bracing truth that would set them free. Perhaps not, but definitely a possibility.
9). The very passage quoted in the blog is a clear biblical command against alcoholic wine “Pro 23:29-35 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? (30) They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. (31) Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. (32) At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. (33) Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. (34) Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. (35) They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.” By the way not only are you not supposed to not drink it, you are not even supposed to look at it. When God told Lot’s wife “don’t look”; He meant don’t look.
THIS IS THE WHOLE QUESTION: HOW CAN GOD CONDEMN WINE SO STRONGLY IN ONE PASSAGE AND CALL IT A BLESSING IN ANOTHER IF THERE IS ONLY ONE KIND OF WINE – ALCOHOLIC? Either the Bible is contradicting itself, or there are different kinds of wine, or ……? You tell me. This passage is not condemning drunkenness only (although is does include that towards end of the passage), but wine itself – and a very specific kind of wine with the descriptive characteristics attendant with alcohol. I have not found another satisfactory solution to this paradox than different kinds of wine, but I gladly welcome a BIBLICALLY based alternative.
I have not studied the church fathers on this subject.
10). Double check me on this – this is from memory – something I read. Oinos is never used in the Bible to refer to the Lord’s cup. But instead Jesus chose the phrase “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine”. I believe God has inspired every word of scripture. Jesus could have easily said “I will not drink of this wine” and chosen an ambiguous word where alcoholic drink is clearly and often in is range of meaning (my argument is that its range of meaning include “must” as well); but he chose instead to use and entire phrase where alcohol is not in its semantic range. Declaring the wine used at the Last Supper to be alcoholic is entirely assumptive and not even supported by semantic range of the text. In point of fact, if the choice of Christ’s words carries any weight in this debate it would lean towards the absence of alcohol. The Corinthian church was being rebuked and corrected by Paul, this doesn’t lend merit to the idea that we should adopt there practice. They may have been wrong not only in amount, but in substance.
One book on the subject is: Reynolds, Stephen M., The Biblical Approach to Alcohol, Princeton University Press, 1993. There are many other books, articles, blogs, etc… on the subject. There is much literature to support the idea that all wine in ancient culture was alcoholic; but there is also a fair body literature opposing that conclusion and purporting the view that the word wine has a broader semantic range that includes “must”. Have ever read or diligently searched for any of this material? Even a single book?
The bottom line question – if all wine in the Bible is alcoholic how do you answer the paradox that in some places it is a blessing and other places a curse. The only coherent answer I have found is that the wine which is put forth as a blessing was either non-alcoholic or so negligible in alcohol content that it did not possess the qualities described in Pro 23:29-35 and could not make someone drunk unless they consumed mass quantities on purpose (on the order of gluttony – a gluttonous man and a winebibber; someone who tarries long at the drink). This is not the wine, beer, vodka, rum, Jack Daniels, etc… that is commercially available today – unless it is designated as non-alcoholic.
Luke, we are all busy and I must be going, but I do want to ask a final question. Why is being able to drink alcohol so important? Often it seems Christians want to drink because they crave the feeling it gives them (lust of the flesh) or they want to fit in (fear of man). Our hearts can easily deceive us. Countless lives and families have been ruined by alcohol. I am thankful that you have been buzzed many times, but never drunk; I hope you never are. But how do you know, after all you were buzzed, how do you know you never crossed line of appropriateness, and more importantly how do you know you never will? How do you know your testimony has never been compromised? How can you honestly guarantee that your drinking in moderation has never given anyone else an excuse to say – “He drinks how he likes, it must be o.k. for me to drink how I like”, and more importantly how do you know you never will? “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” I can fully enjoy and revel in the goodness of God in my life without alcohol, and never run the risk or ruining my life or testimony, or the lives of others in these ways. No one has ever been able to show me compelling reasons why drinking is the wise, Christ honoring thing to do. How is it more wise than abstinence? Surely God has not called us to folly.
For your reference, I am copying and pasting below some notes that I give to our teens that include more reasons and verses that I hold the position I do. Obviously they are a framework, and have accompanying explanation in person; therefore they are not a treatise and should not be taken as such.
In Christ,
James Wooten
Alcohol – Moderation or Prohibition: What is God’s design?
Observation
• The first mention of wine in the Bible is in Gen. 9:21-24 where Noah is shamefully treated by his son Ham or grandson Canaan.
Gen 9:21-24 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. (22) And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. (23) And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. (24) And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
• “Wine” is next mentioned along with bread as the refreshment brought by Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18) to Abraham after his battle to save Lot (and in Gen. 27:25 along with venison as part of the meal consumed when Isaac blessed his son).
• It next occurs when Lot’s daughters use it so they can intoxicate and commit incest with their father (Gen. 19:32-35).
• In Ex. 29:40; Num. 15:5, 7, 10 etc. it was a drink offering to the Lord; but in Lev. 10:9 priests were forbidden to drink wine and strong drink in their tabernacle service.
• In Deut. 14:22-27 wine is included as part of the tithe celebrating God’s goodness, but in Deut. 29:1-6 Israel was commended for not drinking wine or strong drink because it allowed them to maintain clear heads that did not confuse the miracles of God with dreams or hallucinations, and/or it reminded them of God’s consistent provision via manna and water.
Deu 14:22-27 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. (23) And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always. (24) And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God hath blessed thee: (25) Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: (26) And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household, (27) And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee. (Is this a description of moderation? – They were to buy what they wanted (apparently in large quantities since it replaced the offering they were going to bring), and have a great all out feast. They were even to invite God’s servant to join them – but the priest had been told not to drink – at least not before serving and the Levite was his aid?)
Deu 29:3-6 The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: (4) Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. (5) And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. (6) Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God.
• In Num. 6:3-4 the Nazarite refrains from wine and strong drink as part of his vow of dedication to God; but in vs. 20 of the same chapter he is given permission to drink wine once the vow is ended.
Num 6:3-4 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. (4) All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.
– Note the Hebrew word for “wine” in verse 3 is the same word translated “vine” in verse 4. The word has a broader range of meaning than just “alcoholic wine”; it even refers to the bush the grape comes from.
• In Ps. 104:14-15 wine is described as a blessing from God that makes man’s heart happy, but in Prov. 20:1 it is described as a mocker that deceives fools and in Prov. 23:29-35 it is described as a poison that destroys the life that we are not even to look at!
Pro 23:29-35 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? (30) They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. (31) Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. (32) At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. (33) Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. (34) Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. (35) They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
• In Rom. 13:13-14 we are told not to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof – and drunkness is included in the list, but in 1 Ti. 5:23 Timothy is told to take a little wine for his stomach’s sake.
Explanation
• There are various paradoxes in scripture such as faith and works in Romans and James; and “answer not a fool” and “answer a fool” in Proverbs 26:4&5. These paradoxes require careful study of the passages, their context, and the general teaching of Scripture so as to harmonize them.
• The Bible’s presentation of “wine” as an alcoholic beverage seems to be a similar paradox. In some places the “wine” seems to be permissible and even a blessing from God, but in other places condemned, forbidden, a curse, and the cause of sorrow and ruin. The answer lies in the broadness of the term “wine”. The Hebrew and Greek words refer to both alcoholic and non-alcoholic (must) wine. Consider the following passages for illustration.
Isa 16:10 And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.
Jer 40:10-12 As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, which will come unto us: but ye, gather ye wine, and summer fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken. (12) Even all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much.
Jer 48:33 And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.
• Note: The fermentation process takes time, therefore alcoholic beverage would not be that which is gathered in harvest or flows directly from the press.
• On the previous page in the Num. 6:3-4 passage the Hebrew word translated “wine” in verse 3 is the same word as “vine” in verse 4.
• In the New Testament the word “wine” [oinos] is sometimes accompanied by the qualifier “new” or “old” to distinguish it as unfermented (must) or fermented beverage (i.e. Mt. 9:17, Mk. 2:22, Lk. 5:37-39), and in other places it must be distinguished from the context (Note the “new wine” in Acts 2 is a different word that refers to a sweet wine that was derived the first or initial pressings).
• The English word “wine” comes from the Latin “vinum” which meant wine or vine and essentially the same word as vine. In modern times the word is used to refer almost exclusively to fermented beverage, but prior to the mid 1700’s included must (non-fermented wine) in its range of meaning (see The New Universal Dictionary of Words and of Arts and Sciences published in 1759). Therefore, when the King James translators used the word “wine” they were using a broad term that referred both to non-fermented and fermented grape juice derivatives (since the meaning of the word has changed, it is unfortunate that modern translators have not exercised more precise scholarship. The alcoholic or non-alcoholic nature of the wine described in the Bible cannot be determined by the use of the word “wine”, but only by the context or by attached modifiers.
o This is a point debated by many scholars – many claims on both sides
o It is possible that the vine, and wine from the winepress are ascribed by the term wine because wine is the most characteristic byproduct, but it is also possible that it is a broad term referring to the objects in view. The belief that wine in the Bible only refers to alcoholic beverage fails to answer the paradox of why the Bible condemns wine in some places and describes it as a blessing in others – this view must be rejected because in implies that the Bible contradicts itself.
• Consider the following Biblical injunctions against alcohol
Pro 23:29-35 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? (30) They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. (31) Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. (32) At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. (33) Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. (34) Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. (35) They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
Pro 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Rom 13:12-14 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. (13) Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. (14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
• Note: this verse can be translated adverbially (drunkenness = excess) or with the prepositional phrase as an adjective – and be not drunk by means of wine, in wine is riot/excess
1Ti 3:8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
1Ti 3:2-3 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; (3) Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
Isa 28:1-3 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! (2) Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. (3) The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
Isa 28:7-8 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. (8) For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
Pro 31:4-7 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: (5) Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. (6) Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. (7) Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
• Note – alcohol does seem to be recommended for medicinal purposes as a pain killer, and an antiseptic in the story of the good Samaritan. Whether or not the wine recommended for Timothy’s stomach was alcoholic is debated.
Isa 5:11-12 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! (12) And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
Isa 5:20-23 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (21) Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! (22) Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: (23) Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
Jer 23:9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
• Note – the drunken man is the one whom wine overcomes – affects thinking, impairs judgment, takes control (or inhibits self-control). The root for drunken has the idea to satiate with a stimulating drink or influence
Hos 4:11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart. (the word for “new wine” is a different Hebrew word that appears to refer to both fermented and non-fermented juice)
Joe 3:3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
1Sa 25:37 But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
2Sa 13:28 Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant.
Pro 4:14-17 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. (15) Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. (16) For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. (17) For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. (a metaphor and not referring to wine specifically)
Pro 23:19-21 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. (20) Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: (21) For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Hab 2:5 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
Hab 2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!