Last update 17 February, 2022.
Is drinking wine a sin?
When I write wine, please understand it as any type of alcohol, so it includes for example rum, beer and whiskey.
The topic isn't really about the drink, but the alcohol in it.
Quite often it's claimed that when Jesus was drinking wine, turning water into wine, etc, it should be understand as non-
HEAVY, LIGHT, DRUNK
Prov 23:20 Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
Eph 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, in which there is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
Gal 5:21 envy, drunkenness, ... those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
No matter if you read those verses in context, totally out of context, or read other stories about it, it's 100% clear that being drunk is bad. Fact. End of story. On those points I fully agree with those who are against drinking wine.
But when studying a quite heavily debated topic like this, details often matter. Details can be the key. So let's look at the red words in the above three verses.
Prov 23:20 -
Eph 5:18 -
Gal 5:21 -
Prov 23:20 mentions a gluton; which means a person that overeats often. The heavy drinker seems to be about being frequently drunk.
Eph 5:18 is about a single instance of being drunk, but is also/more? concerned at what it can lead to.
Gal 5:21 condemns it.
The above considerations can be of great impact on how Jesus making wine at the Wedding of Cana should be understood. Those people already were (close to) drunk. Would Christ make more wine because being drunk once isn't a big deal?
Let's look at the full context.
Gal 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
Gal 5:19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior,
Gal 5:20 idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions,
Gal 5:21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Gal 5:23 gentleness, self-
Does v22-
That makes the verses about the contrasting evil things harder to understand. Occasional witchcraft allowed? Only habitual drunkenness is wrong?
MEAT
Let's take another look at Prov 23:20.
The second sin mentioned in that verse is 'gluttonous eaters of meat'.
Does that mean eating meat is a sin too? Does that verse should be understood as a command to be vegetarians?
Such a view would cause a lot of problems.
Luke 22:8-
Matthew 14:17-
Luke 24:42-
Leviticus 11 gives a very detailed description about which meat the Jews were (not) allowed to eat.
The key to understanding that verse is 'gluttonous', which means eating very much. Overeating.
Prov 23:20 states: 'heavy drinkers' and 'heavy meat eaters' should stop doing that.
So the key to understanding those three verses is 'in excess', 'too much'.
So those verses should be understood as "it's fine to drink wine, but forbidden to get drunk"
WEDDING AT CANA
John 2:3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus *said to Him, “They have no wine.”
...
John 2:9 Now when the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the groom,
John 2:10 and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the guests are drunk, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
About v10, when drunk the sense of taste gets less. But when not drunk, people would taste the quality of the non-
Those who think alcohol is sinful claim that Jesus turned water in non-
GREEK
In the above verses wine was translated from 'oinos'', which was the common Greek word for alcoholic wine.
Eph 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine/oinos...
So when you went to a shop, bar or whatever and ordered oinos you got alcoholic wine and not grape juice.
There is no solid contextual, exegetical or historic reason to assume oinos must mean non-
JESUS WOULD NEVER TEMPT SOMEONE TO SIN
While above it was proven that drinking amounts that don't make one drunk is not considered sinful, some people reason Jesus wouldn't create/provide alcohol, because He didn't want them to get drunk and get tricked into debauchery/indecent behavior -
Needless to say, Jesus would never promote such things. But you can't use that opinion to create a new law. That was exactly what the Pharisees did. They took a command and kept extending it's scope until it became a burden.
But as I wrote, Jesus created fish/meat which is a sin when eaten in excess. Sex is always sinful, except within marriage. I have absolutely no problem if someone is a vegetarian and/or doesn't drink a drop of alcohol. What I do oppose is the claim God forbids it.
Very often there is lawful and unlawful use of things.
Exod 20:13 You shall not murder.
The majority of translations I've seen have the word 'murder', some incorrectly use 'kill'.
Murder is illegal killing. But there is legal killing of animals. Also of humans; during wars for example.
Exod 12:15 ‘For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove dough with yeast from your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
Clearly eating leavened bread is a severe sin. But only during those seven days.
Likewise alcohol is a sin when it makes you drunk, and especially when it makes you do illegal things like sex outside marriage.
Point being, when something is declared a sin, read a little further than that 'something' itself.
1Cor 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,
1Cor 6:10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
1Cor 6:11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
1Cor 6:12 All things are permitted for me, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
Mastered/authority/ruled is the key. At all times you should have self control. Alcohol is no problem until the quantity reaches the point it overtakes you. The point you no longer behaves like yourself. How much is to much is a whole different thing. Some may drink 3 glasses without getting drunk, some best stick to 1 glass of wine.
Gambling is a good example I think. When you buy a lottery ticket once, say, every month that's no big deal. But when you think about gambling the whole day, and see the temperature in a weather forecast as hint of the winning number; then you are mastered by gambling.
Philosopher Francis Bacon said, “Money is a great servant but a bad master.”
I think that summarizes things perfectly.
GRAPE JUICE IS IMPOSSIBLE
Grape harvest starts in August. The Passover is April. It's impossible to keep grape juice fresh for 8 months without refrigeration. And even with refrigeration it's not possible. Just squeeze grapes and keep it the juice in your fridge for 8 months. That's why there are so many food additives. Refrigeration and food additives didn't exist in Jesus' time so the only way to drink grape juice at Passover would be fermented grape juice, more commonly known as wine.
YEAST REPRESENTS SIN
Mark 8:1 In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus summoned His disciples and said to them,
So the reasoning is like this. Yeast represents sin. Wine basically is grape juice with yeast. So wine is sinful. For that reason it's not allowed.
This argument is weak if we consider the 'Feast of Unleavened Bread' was only 7 days. If sinful why not forbid leavened bread all year around. Just make it dietary law that forbids eating pork?
Lev 23:17 ‘You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread as a wave offering, made of two-
Would God command always sinful leaven to be offered on His altar as part of bread? Obviously leaven isn't always sinful/bad.
MY CONCLUSION
In my opinion OT, NT and common use of the word wine/oinos clearly shows two things. Firstly that the word refers to alcohol. Secondly there isn't a law/command against drinking in non-
I can't find any support for the claim Jesus taught otherwise.
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MORE TO READ
Below simple cut and paste from scholarly sources. Ignore or study as you please.
CBL Greek-
CBL Greek-
Oinos is a common word from antiquity that is found in Homer and other ancient Greek writings, as well as in the Septuagint and papyri. Oinos and the Latin word vinum may derive from a common Semitic root (wyn or yyn; cf. Bandstra, “Wine,” International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 4:1068). Further Indo-
Various drinks were known and produced in antiquity. The juice of grapes, apples, dates, other fruit, honey, and grains were used for beverages. Modern distilled liquors like whiskey, vodka, and bourbon were unknown in ancient times. Modern distillation did not appear in Europe until the 12th Century A.D.
Beer, made from barley, was common and was the main drink in Mesopotamia until about the time of Nebuchadnezzar (about 600 B.C.) when date wine replaced it in popularity. Due to its high sugar content date wine produced the most highly fermented beverage in antiquity. In Hebrew the term shēkhār means “beer” (equivalent to Akkadian shikāru). Both shēkhār and shikāru could also refer to date wine. In the Septuagint shēkhār can be translated by methē (3149), “wine, alcoholic drink,” methusma (same as methē), oinos, and sikera (4463), a direct borrowing and transliteration of shēkhār. Ancient beer differed from its modern counterpart primarily in the use of hops for flavoring (Limet, “The Cuisine of Ancient Sumer,” pp. 135). Hops were not used until the Middle Ages.
In ancient Palestine wine was a leading product of the land (note the cluster of grapes described by the spies in Numbers 13:23). The Story of Sinuhe also notes the abundance of wine available in Palestine: “It had more wine than water” (see Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 1:226). Wine production “was second only to the cultivation of the olive and fig” (Forbes, Studies in Ancient Technology, 3:78), and consequently beer was not as popular, although its dangers are noted (Proverbs 20:1, NIV). Beer was the common drink of the Philistines, however.
The process of producing wine required several steps. First, the gathered grapes were pressed, either by a mechanical press or by treading (from which the highest quality wine was produced). Next, the juice was collected and placed in vats to ferment. Naturally occurring molds in the skins caused the sugar in the grapes to change into alcohol. The maximum percentage of alcohol in natural wine is limited by the amount of sugar present (half of the percentage of the sugar) and by the alcohol level itself: if it rises much above 10 or 11 percent the fermenting agents are killed and the process stops (Harris, “yayin,” Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament; 1:375f.). The fermentation process took only 3 to 4 days, resulting in a beverage with an alcoholic content from 4 to 12 percent (8 to 24 proof). Then the wine was filtered through a linen cloth, stored in jars, and sold. Part of the product was stored in a cool place after being sealed with a stopper and resin or pitch to prevent further fermentation. If the fermentation process were to continue, vinegar, “sour wine,” would result. Even so, fermentation could not be completely prevented and consequently 3 years (roughly) was the maximum storage time for wine. Much was boiled down to a syrup in order to preserve it.
Wine was usually diluted with water before consumption; “only ‘boozers’ drank pure wine” (Forbes, ibid., 3:80; also 3:61–85 for further information). However, Isaiah 1:22 views wine mixed with water as spoiled, reflecting the attitude of the Old Testament period; in New Testament times and after, many did not wish to drink undiluted wine. Rabbi Eliezer in the Talmud (Berakoth 7.5), in fact, forbade the saying of the blessing over wine that was not diluted. Hence Revelation 14:10 says, “The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation” (emphasis supplied). For medicinal purposes wine was mixed with vinegar, myrrh (Mark 15:23, offered to the Lord on the cross to deaden the pain or to induce unconsciousness, which He refused), and gall (wormwood, hemlock, also offered to Christ, Matthew 27:34). (Note in Matthew 27:34 the King James Version gives “vinegar” for the word oinos, probably out of the opinion that when gall was added the wine became a bitter mixture and that “vinegar” better conveyed this idea.)
Septuagint Usage
In the Septuagint oinos appears over 200 times, predominantly translating the Hebrew term yayin. While the evils of inebriation are expressed (Proverbs 20:1; 23:29–35), wine is also praised (Psalm 104:15 [LXX 103:15). Kings are warned to avoid it (Proverbs 31:4, 5). An abundance of wine is seen as a sign of affluence (Genesis 49:11, 12). It is important to note that the Hebrew word tı̂rôsh, “grape juice, unfermented wine,” appearing 38 times in the Old Testament (Harris, “tı̂rôsh,” Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2:969), is also almost exclusively translated by oinos (36 times). In other words, oinos can and does refer to either unfermented or fermented wine in the Septuagint. It is also significant that even grape juice, as a symbol of harmless pleasures, can lead to overindulgence (Hosea 4:11). The Septuagint translates it with methusma, not oinos.
Nazarites in the Old Testament were forbidden to drink any type of wine whatsoever in order to keep the man of God separate from that which could cloud the mind or spoil his testimony of holiness (Numbers 6:3). Thus John the Baptist was described by the angel as one who would “drink neither wine nor strong drink” (Luke 1:15; see above for a discussion on this verse).
New Testament Usage
In the New Testament oinos is used 33 times. Concerning the Parable of the Wineskins, the juice would be acted on by yeast from the old wineskins and would begin to foam. Such gases could split any wineskin, but especially an older one that was already stretched out (Matthew 9:17; Luke 5:37, 38). New wine would be grape juice (or a grapeade) made from grape syrup while old wine would be 2 to 3 years old. Old wine was considered better than new wine; hence Jesus’ point that those who had drunk the old did not want the new, an obvious allusion to the Pharisees and others who would not accept His new teachings (Luke 5:39).
The Scriptures are abundantly clear in warning firmly against the intoxicating power of alcoholic beverages, even though the world at that time was dealing with drinks of 4 to 12 percent alcoholic content. Modern chemistry commonly produces beverages of 40 to 50 percent alcohol. The fundamentalist, conservative churches in the United States early took a stand for total abstinence, this especially in light of the ruination alcohol brought to certain Indian tribes. However, consumption of alcoholic beverages was common even among evangelical Christians and Puritans until the first half of the 19th Century and the rise of the temperance movement (Tyler, Freedom’s Ferment, ppp. 308–12). This stance has been maintained by many groups today in keeping with the teaching of Romans 14:13, “that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.”
First Timothy 5:23 gives Paul’s advice to Timothy to no longer drink only water, but to drink “a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thy oft infirmities.” Some say this had to do with the effect of the water which grape juice counteracted. Others say this clears the way for Christians to use medicines with alcohol in them for the sake of curing illness. Paul did say “a little wine,” and the context is clearly one of dealing with a sick person. When Paul warned the Ephesians not to get drunk with wine (5:18), the “wine” refers to all fermented drinks. It does not justify becoming inebriated with beer or distilled liquor.
On the nature of the wine used at the Last Supper it must be kept in mind that ancient man had few beverages to drink, and lack of modern refrigeration prevented them from retaining unfermented fruit and grain beverages. Apart from these juices, only milk and water were available for consumption. Grapes were generally harvested in mid to late summer (Hopkins, “The Subsistence Struggles of Early Israel,” pp. 186) and, to prevent spoilage in the intense heat, had to be processed immediately. Stored wine naturally fermented unless it was boiled down or kept cool, and it is to be expected that by the time of the Last Supper (late March–early April) only fermented juice (or grapeade) was available. Attempts to prevent fermentation by immediately sealing the fresh juice would likely have been considered. However, the discovery of a number of burst vessels shows that such attempts were generally unsuccessful. In spite of sealing, fermentation eventually began and the gases released shattered the vessels (Forbes, Studies in Ancient Technology, 3:80). However, today when many satisfying substitutes for alcoholic beverages are available, abstinence is a reasonable alternative to the overwhelming abuse of alcohol.
There have been endless tirades and debates on the nature of the wine made by our Lord at the wedding in Cana (John 2:9, 10). Sides are drawn not on the basis of the word oinos, but on the view of abstinence held. The issue seems to be whether or not Jesus would create fermented wine and contribute to the further inebriation of the wedding guests. (Had the wine been unfermented, it would not have had time to ferment since it was consumed immediately.) From the Septuagint usage noted above, the oinos could be fermented or unfermented. Suffice it to say, the “better” wine of course does not in any way imply or demand a more alcoholic, or even an alcoholic, wine at all (one would presume that any wine that God had made would be better than man-
ISBE (Greek Content)
Modern Jews quite generally use raisin-
The ancient Jews, we are told, used for this purpose a thick boiled wine, mixed with water (Mishna, תְּרוּמוֹת, xi). Whether οἶνος, the word used in the NT, stands literally, as the name indicates, for fermented wine, or figuratively for the mixed drinks, well known to ancient and modern Jews, is a debatable matter.
As late as the 16th century the Nestorian Christians celebrated communion with raisin-
On the other hand the third Council of Braga explicitly forbade this practice as heretical. It is evident that the whole subject is shrouded in much mystery. Some ancient sects substituted an entirely different element, water and milk, for instance, being used (Epiph., Haer., xlix; Aug., Haer., xxviii). Such customs were utterly condemned by the Council of Braga (675 AD). In general, however, the Christian church, almost from the beginning, seems to have used fermented red wine, either mixed or pure, in the administration of the Eucharist, in order to maintain the correspondence between the symbol and the thing symbolized.
Louw & Nida (Greek Entry)
6.197 οἶνος, ου m: a fermented beverage made from the juice of grapes — ‘wine.’23 μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ ‘do not get drunk with wine’ Eph 5:18.
Though some persons have argued that whenever mention is made of Jesus either making or drinking wine, one must assume that this was only unfermented grape juice, there is no real basis for such a conclusion. Only where οι νος νέος ‘new wine’ (6.198) is mentioned can one assume that this is unfermented grape juice or grape juice in the initial stages of fermentation.
Me: and even that’s debateble because in these verses people speaking in tongues are accuced of being drunk on new wine.
Acts 2:13 But others mocked them and said, “They are drunk on new wine!”
In a number of languages there is no indigenous term for wine, and some expression may simply be borrowed from a dominant language. On the other hand, it is sometimes possible to employ a descriptive phrase, for example, ‘fermented fruit juice.’ In some languages the equivalent for ‘wine’ is more specifically ‘palm wine,’ that is to say, a wine made from the sap of certain palm trees. Such a term may also have a more generic meaning and be applicable to any kind of wine.
There are a number of passages in the NT where one must be particularly careful in the selection of terms to translate wine. For example, in Eph 5:18 a literal translation of ‘do not get drunk with wine’ could be interpreted to mean that it is permissible for one to get drunk on other types of intoxicating liquors. It may, therefore, be necessary in some languages to render Eph 5:18 as simply ‘do not get drunk.’
NT Word Study Dictionary (Greek Entry)
3632. οἰνοφλυγία oinophlugı́a; gen. oinophlugı́as, fem. noun from oinophlugéō (n.f.), to be drunken, which is from oı́nos (3631), wine, and phlúō (n.f.), to [p. 1035] overflow. Drunkenness, indulging in wine to excess with its consequent results (1 Pet. 4:3). The verb oinophlugéō is used in the Sept. in Deut. 21:20. In strict definition oinophlugı́a is an insatiate desire for wine, alcoholism and was commonly used for debauchery. No single word renders it better than debauchery since it is an extravagant indulgence in long, drawn–out drinking bouts which may induce permanent damage to the body. The death of Alexander the Great was ascribed to oinophlugı́a.
The biblical languages have several words for alcoholic beverages, and though prohibitionists and some abstentionists dissent, there is a broad consensus that the words did ordinarily refer to intoxicating drinks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_views_on_alcohol
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