On the Use of Wine In Communion

Our motive

We present this teaching because over many months we have been convicted that we are unwittingly in error.

When the truth of God’s word is discovered and our error revealed, we must change.

Thesis:

Jesus used wine.

He chose the elements specifically.

The elements are symbolically sacred.

We are not at liberty to make substitutions.

Wine in the Bible is Wine

The Hebrew yayin (yay-in-a) means to effervesce.

Effervescence is derived from the Latin verb fervere (to boil), preceded by the adverb ex. It has the same linguistic root as the word fermentation.

What is New Wine?

Hebrew: freshly pressed; the vat of must from freshly pressed grapes.

Greek: newly pressed from most recent harvest.

New Wine is Alcoholic

“No one puts new wine into old wine skins.”

Judges 9.13:“But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my new wine, which cheers God and men, and go to wave over the trees?’

Psalm 4.7:Thou hast put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine abound.

Hosea 4.11:Harlotry, wine, and new wine take away the understanding.

Grain, New Wine, Oil

Essentials of life for the Hebrews.

Psalm 104.7:[God] causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor of man, so that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine which makes man’s heart glad, so that he may make his face glisten with oil, and food which sustains man’s heart.

To have them is a blessing; to lack them is a curse.

Sweet Wine?

Acts 2.13:But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.”

“For these men are not drunk as you suppose…”

Throughout the Bible Wine:

Is fermented

Is alcoholic

Is refreshing

Is a blessing

Is a curse (when withheld by God or abused by man)

Is intoxicating

Is medicinal

Gladdens the heart

Makes merry

May be enjoyed with self-control

May be abused to drunkenness

Jesus Used WineWine became a feature on Hebrews’ Passover tables.

Exodus 6.6-7:“Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and

I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God;

and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

Jesus Chose SpecificallyCommunion is not the observance of Passover.

Passover was an annual memorial.

Communion is the remembering of Christ until He comes. It is observed as often as we gather.

At Passover the lambs blood signaled deliverance.At Communion, Jesus’ blood signals deliverance.

A better blood for a better salvation.

Jesus Chose Specifically

He chose purposefully,He chose specifically,He chose wine.

Genesis 49.10-11:The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes.

“This [wine] is my blood.”

The Elements are Symbolically Sacred

Jesus’ blood marks us for salvation from God’s coming Judgment.

Is the symbol of that blood non-specific?

Is the wine chosen by Jesus symbolically sacred?

Church HistoryThe apostolic Church used wine.

Articles, Confessions, and Catechisms prescribed the use of wine in communion.

1925 Baptist Faith and Message:BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPERChristian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The act is a symbol of our faith in a crucified, buried and risen Saviour. It is prerequisite to the privileges of a church relation and to the Lord's Supper, in which the members of the church, by the use of bread and wine, commemorate the dying love of Christ.

Why Did We Change?The historic change from wine to grape juice came in the late 19th century.

The Church abandoned 1800 years of biblical, historic practice because of social pressure from the temperance movement and prohibitionists.

“Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”

Jesus

What are We Teaching?We are not to control behavior in hopes that it will nurture a

submissive heart. Rather, we are to nurture the heart to love

God in order that the Holy Spirit will govern behavior.

Jesus prayed that the Father would sanctify (set apart as holy)

His disciples in truth, stating that the Father’s word is truth.

What sets us free to observe Christ’s example of using wine in

communion is the truth of God’s word.

Do We Fear the Holy God?

An indifference to God’s law is preceded by a

lack of the fear of God.

An indifference in the heart leads to a

carelessness of actions.

Free to Substitute?

If we decide anything may be substituted, then

anything can be substituted.

We have decided that since the cup only symbolizes His

blood, the symbol can be replaced by anything as long as

we say it still represents His blood.

Are we permitted to do this?

Transformed by Renewed Minds

We are to sanctify Christ as LORD in our hearts.

Lest we be as in the times of Judges, “In those days there was

no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Jesus’ Prophecy-Fulfilling Words

Matthew 26.28:

“…for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out

for many for forgiveness of sins.”

Exodus 24.7-8

Isa. 53.12

Jer. 31.31-34

Ephesians 1.7

Blood of the Covenant

Exodus 24.7-8:

Then [Moses] took the book of the covenant and read it in the

hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the LORD has

spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!”

So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and

said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has

made with you in accordance with all these words.”

The CovenantJeremiah 31.31-34:

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new

covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the

covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand

to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke,

although I was a husband to them, “declares the LORD.

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after

those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them, and on

their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My

people.

And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his

brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least

of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their

iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Poured OutIsaiah 53.10-12:But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.

Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.

Forgiveness of Sins

Ephesians 1.7:

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness

of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace…

We Must Honor Him

Jesus used wine

He is God

He gave us an example for a reason

We must follow it