29 who has woe? who has sorrow? who has contentions? who has complaining? who has wounds without...

Alcohol and the

Bible

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds

without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed

wine. Proverbs 23:29–30 (NAS)

Alcohol and the Bible

31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it

sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; 32 At

the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper.

Proverbs 23:31–32 (NAS)


15 For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this cup

of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to

whom I send you to drink it. Jeremiah 25:15 (NAS)


18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is

dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

Ephesians 5:18 (NAS)


Alcohol and the Bible Wine – the original

terms translated “wine” in our English Bibles can mean either fermented or non-fermented

The only way to determine the meaning is by examining the context

21 He drank of the wine and became drunk, and

uncovered himself inside his tent.

Genesis 9:21 (NAS)


32 “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let

us lie with him that we may preserve our family

through our father.” Genesis 19:32 (NAS)


39 “You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the

grapes, for the worm will devour them.

Deuteronomy 28:39 (NAS)


33 “So gladness and joy are taken away From the fruitful field, even

from the land of Moab. And I have made the wine to cease from the wine presses; No one will tread

them with shouting, The shouting will not be shouts of joy.

Jeremiah 48:33 (NAS)


17 “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the

wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are

ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are

preserved.” Matthew 9:17 (NAS)


18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is

dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,



Could the ancients preserve juice?

“For here was laid up corn in large quantities, and such as would subsist men for a long time. There was also wine

and oil in abundance with all kinds of dates and pulse

heaped up together. These fruits were also fresh and full and ripe, and no way inferior to such fruits newly laid in.” (Josephus, Wars of the Jews)


Juice cannot ferment inside the grape itself


“Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I

put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.”

Genesis 40:11 (NAS)


Juice cannot ferment inside the grape itself

Boiling the juice down to a thick syrup prevents fermentation indefinitely

Lowering the temperature of the juice below 45 degrees allows the juice to keep for as long as one year

23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

1 Timothy 5:23 (KJV 1900)

Specific positive authority

Quantity specified “a little”

Purpose specified “frequent ailments”

23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

1 Timothy 5:23 (KJV 1900)

Specific positive authority

This phrase is seen as elliptical by most scholars

9 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 bridegroom, 10 and said to him, “Every man serves the good

wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the

poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”

John 2:9–10 (NAS)

Does scripture authorize drinking?

The wedding feast was seen as a religious festival

For Jesus to aid in a drunken festival contradicts the very tenor of Scripture

The headwaiter was sober enough to judge the quality of the wine

13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in

carousing and drunkenness, not in

sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife

and jealousy. Romans 13:13 (NAS)


This passage, and those similar leave room for lawful use

To prohibit much does not authorize little

A little promiscuity, a little sensuality, a little strife?

20 Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his

own supper first; and one is hungry and another is

drunk. 1 Corinthians 11:20–21

(NAS)

This passage is a rebuke and condemnation

The terms contrasted are “hungry” and “drunk”


20 Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his

own supper first; and one is hungry and another is

drunk. 1 Corinthians 11:20–21

(NAS)

“hungry” – to suffer want to be needy (Strong’s)

“The word methuei does not necessarily denote drunkenness. The word may denote abundance without excess” Archbishop Newcome, on John 2:10 and 1Cor 11:21 (Patton, pg. 101)


3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have

carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing,

drinking parties and abominable idolatries.

1 Peter 4:3 (NAS)





1 Peter 4:3 (NAS)

oinophlugia - It is the excessive, insatiate

desire for drink, from which comes the use of

the word for the indulgence of the desire

— debauch (Vincent’s Word Studies)





1 Peter 4:3 (NAS)

komos - The word originally signifies

merely a merry-making; most

probably a village festival

(Vincent)





1 Peter 4:3 (NAS)

potos – drinking carousal from pino, to drink

(Robertson)

“the drinking bout…not of necessity excessive”

(Trench)

“a drinking, a drinking together…” (Green)


18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation,

but be filled with the Spirit,



The passage contrast being full with wine and being filled with the Holy Spirit

How can one be filled with the perfecting influence of the Holy Spirit when influenced in any way by the corrupting influence of intoxicating beverages?

29 who has woe? who has sorrow? who has contentions? who has complaining? who has wounds without...

Documents

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wine of wrath

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