How Many Gospels



Social Drinking

 

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.” What tree bears more bad fruit than social and recreational drinking? Multitudes of lives are sacrificed on the altar of alcohol. The worship of Dionysus, the god of wine, if not as overt, is as prevalent today as it was in ancient Greece. And what is the fruit of this devotion to strong drink? Jobs are lost. Marriages are shattered. Parents and children are alienated. Bodies are broken down and diseased. Souls weigh in the balance. We’re talking this morning about social drinking. Is there anything wrong with drinking socially or recreationally? Whenever drinking is defended, the most common argument raised is, “Well, didn’t Jesus turn water into wine?” On the surface, this seems like a reasonable argument, but a closer look at this passage and related scriptures demonstrate that alcohol and discipleship do not mix. Since so much is made of Jesus’ first miracle at the Wedding Feast at Cana, let’s begin with John 2:1-11:

 

“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Whatever He says to you, do it.’ Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the waterpots with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, ‘Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.’ And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, ‘Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!’ This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.” Social Drinking: is it right or wrong? But first, enjoy our song…

 

Those who approve of social drinking suggest that those who disapprove must have forgotten about Jesus turning water into wine. This is not the case; the issue is whether or not this wine was fermented. We cannot assume it was. Hear Isaiah 65:8,“Thus says the LORD: ‘As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, For a blessing is in it…'” (See also Isaiah16:10; Jeremiah 48:33). What is the prophet saying? Isaiah is saying that new wine is found IN the grapes. Other translations confirm this. The Amplified renders Isaiah 65:8, “As the juice [of the grape] is found in the cluster…” Another translation, “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes…” So when we read the word “wine,” it can refer to fermented OR unfermented wine - alcoholic wine or simple grape juice. There is abundant testimony from non-Jews and non-Christians that unfermented wine or the modern equivalent of grape juice was cherished in Jesus’ day.

 

Pliny lived from AD 24-79. He said, "For all sick, wine is most useful when its forces have been broken by strainer.” Leverett’s latin lexicon says lixivium is "must which flows spontaneously from grapes.” Horace died ten years before Jesus was born. He speaks of wine of which: “you can drink one hundred glasses without fear of intoxication.” Aristotle (384-322 BC) refers to a sweet grape beverage that “though called wine, it has not the effect of wine, for it does not taste like wine and does not intoxicate like ordinary wine.” Athenaeus the Grammarian (200 AD) recommended non-alcoholic wine for stomach trouble: “Let him take sweet wine, mixed with water or warmed, especially that kind called protropos... effeminatum …as being good for the stomach; for sweet wine does not make the head heavy.”

 

More recent sources point in the same direction. The Jewish Encyclopedia says “Fresh wine before fermenting is called …wine of the vat. The 1971 edition of Encyclopedia Judaica and the American Jewish Yearbook express the same truth. The earliest Jewish collection of the Talmud reads: "One may press out a cluster of grapes and pronounce the Kiddush over the juice, since the juice of the grape is considered wine in connection with the laws of the Nazirite." Encyclopedia Biblica distinguishes between fermented and unfermented wine observing "it is impossible that the must could ever have been put into skins to undergo the whole process of fermentation, as is usually stated, the action of the gas given off in the earlier stages of the process being much too violent for any skins to withstand."

Consider English sources that distinguish between fermented and unfermented wine. The 1955Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary, gives for wine: “The fermented juice of the grape; in loose language the juice of the grape whether fermented or not.” The 1971 Webster’s Dictionary defines “must”: “wine or juice pressed from grapes, but NOT fermented.” The 1896 Webster’s International Dictionary says of “wine” – the expressed juice of grapes, especially when fermented…a beverage… prepared from grapes by squeezing out their juice, and (usually) allowing it to ferment.” 1748 Benjamin Marin’s A New English Dictionary gives for “Wine” – 1) the juice of the grape; 2) a liquor extracted from other fruits besides the grape…”

 

William Whiston translated Josephus’ Antiquity of the Jews in 1737. Referring to Joseph’s interpretation of the cupbearer’s dream, Josephus writes: “He therefore said that in his sleep he saw three clusters of grapes hanging upon three branches of a vine, large already, and ripe for gathering; and that he squeezed them into a cup which the king held in his hand and when he had strained the wine, he gave it to the king to drink… Thou sayest that thou didst squeeze this wine from three clusters of grapes with thine hands…” Obviously, when Josephus spoke of wine, he meant what we commonly call grape juice.

 

One more reference and we’ll move on. Jesus said in Mark 2:22, “And no one puts new wine into old “wineskins”; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins.” A. B. Bruce writes of this passage in The Expositor’s Greek Testament, “Jesus was not thinking at all of fermented, intoxicating wine, but of must, a non-intoxicating beverage, which could be kept safely in new leather bottles, but not in old skins which had previously contained ordinary wine, because particles of albuminoid matter adhering to the skin would set up fermentation and develop gas with an enormous pressure.” 

 

There are too many sources to ignore that the Bible words translated wine can refer to grape juice. So, the fact that Jesus turned water to wine proves nothing. When we bring more biblical information together it becomes clear that Jesus MUST have turned water to unfermented wine or grape juice.

 

It is critical to our study to understand that God commands Christians to be sober; this means leave alcohol alone. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8, “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober…” The Holy Spirit here sets up a series of contrasts. One is between being drunk and being sober. You CANNOT remove alcohol from the context. Watch this: Paul contrasts those of the day with those of the night. He contrasts those who watch (the vigilant) with those who sleep. Then, he contrasts those who are sober with those who are drunk.

 

Paul is saying that day is opposite of the night; watching is the opposite of sleeping and being sober is the opposite of being drunk. The Jewish philosopher, Philo died in about 40 AD. He says that “soberness and drunkenness are opposites.” Baurnfeind says in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament that "The concept which underlies the verb nepho ‘to be sober’ and the whole word group is formally negative. It is the OPPPOSITE of intoxication, both 1) in the literal sense of intoxication with wine, and 2) in the figurative sense of states of intoxication attributable to other causes."

 

A host of Greek-English lexicons concur: Liddell & Scott say sober means “1) to drink no wine; 2) metaphorically, to be sober, dispassionate.” Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words defines “Sober” - “free from the influence of intoxicants.” Lampe’s Lexicon says, “to be temperate, drink no wine.” Donnegan - “to live abstemiously, to abstain from wine.” Robinson - “to be sober, temperate, abstinent, especially in respect to wine.” Abbott-Smith - “to be sober, abstain from wine.” An open mind cannot miss the strength and clarity of this.

 

The reason God wants his people to be sober is obvious – living the Christian life sober is challenging enough; add alcohol and we give invite devil to the party. I like an illustration by George Battey. He says, "Imagine being placed in a jungle where you know…a lion is lurking behind the forest growth. You know…the lion is hungry and his intentions are to eat you. Suppose also you have a gun in your hand…. (W)ill you want a drink to “calm your nerves” or will you want… your reflexes…as sharp as possible? As for me, I want to stay as alert as possible. I want my finger on the trigger and I want lightning-fast reflexes so I’ll be ready to shoot the lion…. Sobriety is opposed to all recreational (casual) drinking.”  

 

The Holy Spirit tells us in Ephesians 5:17-18, “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit…” God commands us to "be wise" and tells us drinking wine is unwise in Proverbs 20:1. Green’s literal version renders this Scripture, “Wine is a mocker, fermented drink is stirring, and each one straying by it is not wise.”

 

Christians agree drunkenness is sinful. After a list of sins including drunkenness, the Bible says in Galatians 5:21, “that those who practice such things WILL NOT inherit the kingdom of God.” The issue becomes, “How do I know when I have violated the command against drunkenness?” Does one have to be legally drunk according to State law? Does wobble-walking “cross the line or is it just being unable to think clearly? Does one have to pass out to be sinfully drunk?

 

Consider these facts: Alcohol affects each person differently depending on the number of drinks per hour, the strength of the alcohol, body composition, weight, gender, age, use of medication, mood changes, metabolism rate, the amount of food in your stomach, what you mix drinks with and your family history of alcoholism. When you think about all the possibilities it seems like nearly everyone could develop their own definition of drunkenness. Do you think that’s what God had in mind?

 

Some folks say small amounts of alcohol do not "influence" them, but consider the findings of scientists Neil Kessel and Henry Walton who are not opposed to drinking themselves. In their bookAlcoholism, they report "even in small amounts (alcohol) affects speech and balance and impairs judgment..."  They also say "the first thing to be depressed is the power of restraint." The sin of lasciviousness warned against in Ephesians 4:19 is just that: “an absence of restraint.”

 

According to the minutes of an annual meeting of the American Medical Association (1960), "Blood alcohol of 1/10 of 1% can be accepted as prima facie evidence of alcohol intoxication recognizing that many individuals are under the influence in the 5/100 of 1% to 1/100 of 1% range." Do you realize how much alcohol 1/100 of 1% is? That’s three ounces of beer for a small woman. TheJournal of the American Medical Association goes a step further saying… "There is NO minimum (blood-alcohol concentration) …at which there will be absolutely no effect." The National Safety Council, (1957), released this statement: "Drinking to any extent reduces the ability of any driver. Small amounts of alcohol reduce self-control and driving ability." In 1989 they issued this statement by the Committee on Tests for Intoxication: "The Committee concludes also that there is no minimum amount of alcohol in the body fluids which can be accepted as indicating absolutely no impairment by alcohol." 

 

A University of Idaho article says that inhibitions (essentially the numbing of conscience; the ability to say "no" to what one believes wrong when sober) are lowered at a blood alcohol level of .01. (; )

 

A University of Oklahoma Police Department Blood Alcohol calculator shows one beer for a 100 pound woman gives her a .04 BAC and says the only safe amount of alcohol for driving is 0.0 (). So, even from a medical and scientific perspective, it becomes difficult to determine how few ounces of alcohol one must limit himself to in order to avoid the effects of intoxication. Precious few who drink socially will limit themselves to 3-6 ounces of beer or one to three ounces of wine to be certain they experience no intoxication. 

 

But let’s go back to the Bible because God has more to say. In 1 Peter 4:3-4, the Scriptures say, “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles--when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.”  This passage lists sins Christians committed BEFORE conversion. Three involve alcohol consumption.

Drunkenness here is defined as “an overflow or surplus of wine.” This refers to the most extreme case of a man or woman who drinks all the time - the alcoholic. They are enslaved to alcohol. Just about everyone who would call themselves a Christian recognizes this is wrong. But there is more. According to Thayer, the word “revelry” refers to “…feasts and drinking parties that are protracted till late at night and indulge in revelry.” This points to the man who drinks until he gets rowdy and boisterous. My dictionary defines “revelry” – “lively enjoyment or celebration, usually involving eating, drinking, dancing, and noise.” This kind of drinking is wrong too.

 

Trench says the next phrase, “drinking parties” refers to “the drinking bout, the banquet, the symposium, not of necessity excessive, but giving opportunity for excess.” This includes the environment where one may not gorge themselves, but merely have a drink or two. So, the Bible here presents three different kinds of drinking in a bad light.

 

We noticed Ephesians 5:18 earlier. Let’s read it again from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, “And don't get drunk with wine, which [leads to] reckless actions, but be filled with the Spirit…” The phrase “get drunk” or “become drunk” (methusko) indicates not merely a final state, but a PROCESS to be completely avoided. The word translated “get drunk” or “become drunk” is "methusko", an inceptive verb. Now, Webster defines an inceptive verb as “expressing the beginning of the action indicated by the underlying verb…” Bullinger’s Lexicon says “methusko” means “to grow drunk (marking the BEGINNING of methuo)” – the PROCESS of becoming drunk. Simply put, this tells us that the Christian must do more than avoid passing out from consuming mass quantities of alcohol. The Christian must AVOID ENTIRELY the process of becoming drunk – including the beginning. Now it should be obvious: when Jesus turned water into wine, it must have been unfermented wine or grape juice.

 

We hope you will join us every Lord’s Day and then join us for worship at one of the congregations listed shortly. Call or write for a DVD copy of #930 “Social Drinking.” We welcome your questions or comments on this or any other Bible question. If you would like for someone in your area to study the Bible with you in person or if you would like to begin a free six lesson Bible study by mail, please let us know. You can also go to to watch videos, hear podcasts, or review transcripts of the program. We close with the words the apostle Paul issued in Romans16:16, “the churches of Christ salute you.” Until next week, goodbye and God bless!

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