What Does the Bible Say about Alcohol?

Warnings in opposition to Drunkenness

A number of New Testomony passages specify the ethical evil of turning into drunk:

I’m writing to you to not affiliate with anybody who bears the title of brother if he’s . . . [a] drunkard. (1 Cor. 5:11)

And don’t get drunk with wine, for that’s debauchery. (Eph. 5:18)

As well as, Paul contains “drunkards” amongst those that won’t “inherit the dominion of God” (1 Cor. 6:10). Elsewhere he says that “drunkenness” is amongst these actions of which “those that do such issues won’t inherit the dominion of God” (Gal. 5:21; see additionally Luke 21:34; Rom. 13:13; 1 Pet. 4:3). In itemizing the {qualifications} for an elder within the church, Paul says that he should not be “a drunkard” (1 Tim. 3:3; additionally Titus 1:7), and a deacon should not be “hooked on a lot wine” (1 Tim. 3:8).

Some Previous Testomony passages additionally warn in opposition to drunkenness. Two outstanding tales present that individuals who get drunk lose logic and ethical restraint, as occurred with Noah, who shamefully “turned drunk and lay uncovered in his tent” (Gen. 9:21), and with Lot, who twice turned drunk and, with out realizing what he was doing, dedicated incest along with his daughters (Gen. 19:30–36).

The writer of Proverbs counsels:

Be not amongst drunkards
      or amongst gluttonous eaters of meat,
for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
      and slumber will dress them with rags. (Prov. 23:20–21)

An extended passage describes with vivid poetic imagery the implications of drunkenness:

Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
      Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds with out trigger?
      Who has redness of eyes?
Those that tarry lengthy over wine;
      those that go to attempt combined wine.
Don’t have a look at wine when it’s pink,
      when it sparkles within the cup
and goes down easily.
      In the long run it bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.
      Your eyes will see unusual issues,
and your coronary heart utter perverse issues.
      You’ll be like one who lies down within the midst of the ocean,
like one who lies on the highest of a mast.
      “They struck me,” you’ll say, “however I used to be not harm;
they beat me, however I didn’t really feel it.
      When shall I awake? I should have one other drink.” (Prov. 23:29–35)

However how ought to we outline being drunk? Particular person folks range extensively within the quantity of alcohol they can drink with out turning into drunk, however some passages in Scripture emphasize the lack of logic and ethical restraint (see Gen. 9:21; 19:30–36; Prov. 31:4–5) or being “led astray” by alcohol (Prov. 20:1). Paul says that being drunk “is debauchery” (Eph. 5:18; the Greek phrase, asōtia, refers to “reckless abandon, debauchery, dissipation, profligacy,” and the associated adjective is utilized in Luke 15:13 of the prodigal son who “squandered his property in reckless residing”).

Subsequently, a definition of drunkenness would specify that an individual is drunk when she or he:

• has misplaced logic;
• shouldn’t be considering clearly;
• has misplaced some ethical restraint;
• acts in a method that brings reproach on the particular person’s personal popularity or the popularity of the gospel; or
• has misplaced good bodily coordination (as within the incapacity to drive a automotive safely).

Warnings in regards to the Risks of Alcohol

1. Scripture warns in opposition to being deceived by alcoholic drinks.

The ebook of Proverbs often cautions in regards to the misleading nature of alcohol:

Wine is a mocker, robust drink a brawler,
      and whoever is led astray by it’s not clever. (Prov. 20:1)

Whoever loves pleasure might be a poor man;
      he who loves wine and oil won’t be wealthy. (Prov. 21:17)

Governmental leaders have a particular accountability on this regard. They should be notably cautious of clouding their judgment by the usage of alcohol, and thereby making incorrect choices:

It’s not for kings, O Lemuel,
      it’s not for kings to drink wine,
      or for rulers to take robust drink,
lest they drink and overlook what has been decreed
      and pervert the rights of all of the . (Prov. 31:4–5; see additionally Eccl. 10:17; Jer. 13:13)

Beneath the Mosaic covenant, sure teams of individuals had been really prohibited from all use of wine or “robust drink,” comparable to Aaron and his sons, who had been monks (Lev. 10:8–9), and individuals who took a Nazirite vow (Num. 6:1–4; see additionally Luke 1:15 relating to John the Baptist).

2. Scripture additionally warns in opposition to making one other particular person “stumble.”

An vital passage on this matter is 1 Corinthians 8:1–13. Although it doesn’t particularly talk about alcoholic drinks, however moderately meals provided to idols, there are nonetheless some useful ideas within the passage that we are able to apply to the query of alcoholic drinks.

Town of Corinth was stuffed with temples to numerous Greek and Roman gods, which Paul recognized as “idols” (1 Cor. 8:1). Lots of the Corinthian Christians had beforehand participated within the worship of those idols of their numerous temples (see 1 Cor. 12:2). However then the query arose whether or not it was proper to eat meals that had beforehand been provided to idols after which was bought within the meat market at Corinth.

Paul responded to this query with these directions:

Eat no matter is bought within the meat market with out elevating any query on the bottom of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” (1 Cor. 10:25–26)

In different phrases, the Corinthians had been free to eat such meat with out worrying that it had been tainted by its earlier dedication to an idol in a temple. (Nonetheless, Paul specified that they need to chorus if an unbeliever explicitly said that it had been provided to an idol, for then it could seem as if the Christians had been agreeing with the providing of such meals to idols and the religious efficacy related with it; see 1 Cor. 10:28–29.)

But there was one other complicating issue: although the Corinthians had been ordinarily free to eat such meals, realizing there was no religious hurt related with it, not all of the Christians in Corinth shared this conviction or understood this precept. For them, it was morally incorrect to eat meals provided to idols, and thus it violated the conviction of their consciences.

Subsequently, Paul warned the Corinthian Christians to watch out in how they used their freedom to eat such meals that had been provided to idols. In itself, the observe was innocent, however if it set an instance that led different Christians to behave opposite to the convictions of their consciences, then it was incorrect. Subsequently, Paul mentioned, “Take care that this proper of yours doesn’t one way or the other grow to be a stumbling block to the weak” (1 Cor. 8:9). Then he defined:

For if anybody sees you who’ve information consuming in an idol’s temple, will he not be inspired, if his conscience is weak, to eat meals provided to idols? And so by your information this weak particular person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. (1 Cor. 8:10–11)

The sin concerned right here is encouraging a Christian to sin in opposition to his conscience by consuming meals provided to idols, though he believes it’s incorrect to take action (see additionally 1 Cor. 8:7).¹

Not all the things that’s morally proper in itself is smart or useful in each scenario.

Paul’s conclusion was that he could be very cautious to not publicly eat meals provided to idols in a spot or a time that will encourage Christians to take action though they themselves believed it was incorrect:

Subsequently, if meals makes my brother stumble, I’ll by no means eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. (1 Cor. 8:13)²

We will apply this educating to the query of alcoholic drinks. Christian believers who haven’t any ethical objection to consuming alcoholic drinks ought to nonetheless watch out that they not drink them in a method which may encourage youthful Christians (or others who assume consuming alcoholic drinks is incorrect) to drink additionally and thereby to violate their consciences. This could be to trigger them to “stumble” in the best way Paul means in 1 Corinthians 8:13.

However it is usually vital to needless to say the verse doesn’t say, “If meals makes one other particular person grow to be upset with me or irritated with me . . .” It’s speaking solely in regards to the query of encouraging individuals who assume that consuming meat provided to idols is incorrect to eat it anyway and thereby to violate their consciences. The verse doesn’t imply that an individual has to chorus from all use of alcohol when within the firm of others who disagree about this query.

Romans 14 accommodates an identical educating about observing particular days or refraining from consuming sure meals, comparable to meat. However right here Paul provides that Christians shouldn’t decide each other on questions of meals:

As for the one who’s weak in religion, welcome him, however to not quarrel over opinions. One particular person believes he could eat something, whereas the weak particular person eats solely greens. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains cross judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who’re you to cross judgment on the servant of one other? It’s earlier than his personal grasp that he stands or falls. And he might be upheld, for the Lord is ready to make him stand. . . . Subsequently allow us to not cross judgment on each other any longer, however moderately resolve by no means to place a stumbling block or hindrance in the best way of a brother. (1 Cor. 8:1–4, 13)

Taken collectively, the passages in 1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14 encourage Christians to permit freedom for particular person convictions on this matter and to be content material to let every particular person individually be accountable earlier than God for a way she or he solutions this query.

Different Passages in Scripture View Alcoholic Drinks Extra Positively

We must always acknowledge that the warnings in opposition to drunkenness in Scripture (see passages above) reveal a tacit assumption that there’s a proper use of alcohol that doesn’t result in drunkenness. If it had been God’s intention to ban all use of alcoholic drinks in all circumstances, the Bible would explicitly prohibit it moderately than prohibiting solely drunkenness.

In distinction to the Bible’s repeated and powerful prohibitions in opposition to drunkenness and the frequent warnings in regards to the risks of alcoholic drinks, a variety of different biblical passages see these drinks as a part of God’s good creation, for which individuals ought to give thanks:

You trigger the grass to develop for the livestock
      and crops for man to domesticate,
that he could carry forth meals from the earth
      and wine to gladden the center of man,
oil to make his face shine
      and bread to strengthen man’s coronary heart. (Ps. 104:14–15)

This psalm says that one of many causes God causes “crops for man to domesticate” on the earth is so that folks could carry forth “wine to gladden the center of man” as one of many good merchandise of the earth, much like oil and bread. A associated verse is present in Ecclesiastes: “Go, eat your bread with pleasure, and drink your wine with a merry coronary heart, for God has already permitted what you do” (Eccl. 9:7).

Proverbs says:

Honor the Lord along with your wealth
      and with the firstfruits of all of your produce;
then your barns might be stuffed with lots,
      and your vats might be bursting with wine. (Prov. 3:9–10)

These “vats” could have contained unfermented grape juice for the primary day or two, however within the local weather of the Center East, with out trendy refrigeration, it rapidly turned to wine.

Generally wine is seen as a part of a festivity within the presence of God, as when Melchizedek “introduced out bread and wine” and blessed Abraham after his victory over the kings who had captured Lot (Gen. 14:18–20), or when the folks of Israel had been to “eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock” within the presence of the Lord at a spot he had commanded (see Deut. 14:22–26). Within the New Testomony, Jesus celebrated the Passover with the usage of a cup of wine (see Matt. 26:27–29), and John’s Gospel information that Jesus’s first miracle was turning water to wine in six massive jars, every holding “twenty or thirty gallons” and stuffed with water “as much as the brim” (John 2:6–7). This wine was so good that the grasp of the feast thought the bridegroom had saved “the great wine” till the tip (John 2:10). The purpose is that Jesus “manifested his glory” by miraculously creating wonderful wine at a marriage feast (John 2:11).

When Paul names some issues about which Christians ought to “not cross judgment on each other” (Rom. 14:13), he explicitly names wine:

All the things is certainly clear, however it’s incorrect for anybody to make one other stumble by what he eats. It’s good to not eat meat or drink wine or do something that causes your brother to stumble. (Rom. 14:20–21)

Paul elsewhere says that one of many “teachings of demons” is to “forbid marriage” and likewise to “require abstinence from meals that God created to be obtained with thanksgiving” (1 Tim. 4:1–3). Although he doesn’t specify wine on this passage, the precept nonetheless applies, and Paul’s reasoning within the following passages is related to the query of wine in addition to meals:

For all the things created by God is nice, and nothing is to be rejected whether it is obtained with thanksgiving, for it’s made holy by the phrase of God and prayer. (1 Tim. 4:4–5; see additionally Col. 2:20–23)

In a single passage Paul explicitly tells Timothy to drink wine, and implies that there’s some well being profit from it:

Now not drink solely water, however use slightly wine for the sake of your abdomen and your frequent illnesses. (1 Tim. 5:23)

In line with the Mayo Clinic, pink wine appears to have heart-healthy advantages, as a result of it accommodates antioxidants, comparable to flavonoids or a substance known as resveratrol, that are good for the center. Resveratrol helps stop injury to blood vessels, reduces unhealthy ldl cholesterol (LDL), and prevents blood clots. Different antioxidants in pink wine known as polyphenols might also defend the liner of blood vessels within the coronary heart. Nonetheless, the Mayo Clinic says that further analysis must be achieved to confirm these advantages.³ John Hopkins College has discovered that pink wine additionally helps defend in opposition to strokes.⁴

However Paul’s phrases of warning about not inflicting others to stumble by what we do are a reminder that not all the things that’s morally proper in itself is smart or useful in each scenario. Paul additionally says, “‘All issues are lawful,’ however not all issues are useful” (1 Cor. 10:23).

This text is tailored from Christian Ethics: Living a Life That Is Pleasing to God by Wayne Grudem.

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