Is Drinking Alcohol A Sin?

I was asked to address the question, "Is Drinking Alcohol A Sin?" The only possible way I can honestly answer, putting my own feelings aside, is to use scriptures that point to the misuse of alcohol. Before I get too deep into the subject, however, keep in mind that anything in excess no matter what it is cannot be good for you. As an example, food is absolutely necessary to sustain life but obesity and severe health problems can occur if it is misused. Water is necessary for the body, doctors recommend sometimes up to a half a gallon per day. However, there have been instances where people have died from water intoxication by consuming too much of it. Aspirin is good for arresting bodily aches and pains but if you ingest too many aspirins leading to an overdose, you will be in grave danger and possibly even die. Does that make aspirin a bad thing? Or food or water? The reason I received the question, "Is drinking alcohol a sin," is because someone was confused that if the answer was yes, then why did Jesus turn water into wine. Unfortunately, most confusion or doubt regarding scripture comes about due to a lack of knowledge, and that because people listen to someone else' opinion, or the one having questions has failed to study God's Word. You can read God's Word but without studying it, you may become doubtful, confused, and mistrusting, etc.

Let's break down what was going on when Jesus turned water into wine at the marriage feast at Cana. You can find the story in John 2:1-11. I suggest you read those 11 verses as they are much too long to include here. One point I want to highlight is, the text reveals the wedding guests were drinking freely. Do you think Jesus would give an alcoholic beverage to those who were already drinking freely to induce a state of drunkenness if the 'water into wine' were alcoholic? I don't think so. That doesn't make any sense seeing how God's Word speaks against the overindulgence of alcohol: Proverbs 20:1, "The one who drinks alcohol is not wise." Paul warns repeatedly against it in 1 Timothy 3:8, 1 Corinthians 5:11, 1 Timothy 5:23. And look at this scripture from Habakkuk 2:15, "Woe to him that gives his neighbor drink, that puts his bottle to him and makes him drunk also..." I could list more scriptures, but I think you can see a pattern here. The condemnation is against DRUNKENNESS, an overindulgence of alcohol. The Bible addresses the Christian regarding drunkenness in Ephesians 5:18, "And don't be drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit." The message is, be filled with the more important things which concern the life of your soul, not the pleasures of the flesh. 1 Peter 4:3 reminds Christians how we once walked in past times before being saved and one of the things mentioned was excess of wine (or drunkenness). We are reminded throughout the Bible not to return to our former ways.

So, in reality, did Jesus turn water into alcohol? Years ago as an unlearned Christian, I did some research being curious myself. I had to refresh that knowledge for this blog and would like to share it today. There was a poet Horace, born in 65 B.C. who wrote, "There is no wine sweeter to drink than that of Lesbos; it was like nectar ... and would not produce intoxication." Too, the "Mishna," a collection of oral Jewish traditions, states that the Jews were in the habit of drinking boiled wine (Kitto's Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, vol. 2, p. 447). Naturally, this wine would be entirely free of alcohol as a result of the boiling, if not also from the manner of preservation." Wine with alcohol content is made from grapes, but not just any grapes, FERMENTED grapes. So, therefore, in reality, we can produce 2 types of "wine" from grapes; fermented (alcohol) and nonfermented (grape juice). Since the guests at the wedding party were drinking freely, Jesus would not have given them a fermented wine from grapes, but rather grape juice since drunkenness is considered a sin, Proverbs 20:1 "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." We also know, no drunkard will enter the Kingdom of God (Revelation 22:15, 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10, Galatians 5: 19-21). Jesus would not have contradicted His own Word! Of note, I would also like to point out what Albert Barnes wrote in his commentary on the Gospel of John: "The wine of Judea was the pure juice of the grapes, without any mixture of alcohol. It was the common drink of the people and did not produce intoxication." AND Adam Clarke, commenting on Genesis 40:11, wrote, "From this, we find that wine anciently was the merely expressed juice of the grape without fermentation. The saky, or cupbearer, took the bunch (of grapes), pressed the juice into the cup, and instantly delivered it into the hands of his master.

Anyone with just a little amount of intelligence can determine that drunkenness is not good. You lose control, you stagger, you can become aggressive and mean, you can black out, and sensibilities are definitely altered. Excessive drinking can set in motion a myriad of illness and disease, such as cirrhosis of the liver, but it actually negatively affects brain cells too. It damages the ends of neurons, called dendrites, which makes it difficult for neurons to relay messages to one another. Without going into a lengthy medical rant I think you follow what I'm saying. We really don't require a Bible to get us to understand that drunkenness is bad. The Bible tells us that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are to nurture it, not destroy it! We are made in God's image and we do not own our bodies: 1 Corinthians 6:19 "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own." WHY don't we own ourselves? We were bought with a price and therefore we are to GLORIFY GOD in our bodies and in our spirits WHICH ARE GOD'S (verse 20). As believers, we are instructed to constantly bring our minds into subjection to what the Word has taught us. It's called obedience. How can we do this if we are willfully under the influence of alcohol? And how can we bring every thought (1 Corinthians 10:5) into captivity when we are purposefully losing our inhibitions through excessive consumption of alcohol?

Not only can alcohol alter behavior, destroy the body and brain, but it also sets a poor example and has a destructive influence on both children and as a witness for Christ in a fallen world. The environment in which a child grows up can have a serious effect on their risk for alcohol issues in adulthood. Romans 14:21 tells us not to do anything that causes our fellow brother in Christ to be made weak, stumble or be offended and it specifically refers to, once again, drinking. If you are a Christian but have fallen away and are under the influence of alcohol, you need to bring yourself back into a right relationship with God. It's never too late to repent and turn around. A cold beer on a warm summer day is welcomed. If there is no excess, there is no sin.
Until next time,
-Pat-