The Greek word methuo in John means to be drunken or intoxicated and is also used in Acts , where Peter is defending the Apostles against accusations of drunkenness.
The master of the wedding feast at Cana says that the wine Christ produced was available to the intoxicated people there. Now, people do abuse alcohol as they do other substances. These acts of drunkenness and gluttony are sinful Proverbs ; Ephesians Jesus goes on to respond to the religious leaders who falsely accuse Him of being a drunkard.
Yet, Jesus was neither a glutton nor a drunkard because He was sinless 1 Peter The Passover celebration would have included fermented wine. Christ participated in drinking from the Passover cup, which would have had fermented wine Proverbs The Bible has much to say regarding alcohol and wine.
For more verses about drinking alcohol, click here. So, does the Bible teach that alcohol is a bad thing? Or does it ever speak about it positively? Scripture does not forbid Christians from drinking wine or any other drink containing alcohol. Scripture speaks of alcohol in positive terms in Ecclesiastes You can find other great passage on how Scripture shows wine in a positive light at this Got Questions article. Scripture commands Christians to avoid drunkenness Ephesians and its effects Proverbs Christians are not to have their bodies mastered by anything 1 Corinthians ; 2 Peter In New Testament times, water was not very clear or maintained in the same way as it is today.
The same is true today in many developing countries. In 1 Timothy , Paul instructed Timothy to stop drinking water only and instead drink wine, for his health. Scripture does not forbid the people of God from drinking beer, wine, or any other drink containing alcohol.
Alcohol is not itself tainted by sin. Drunkenness and enslavement to alcohol are sinful, which is why Christians must refrain from drinking alcohol in excess 1 Corinthians ; Ephesians We have liberty, we've been given freedom in Christ, but the New Testament clearly teaches that love for other people is always meant to trump liberty. So there will be times where there may be something that God will allow a Christian to do, abstractly considered, but there can be a situation where it would be unloving to do so, because it could lead another believer into sin, and so alcohol would be one of those cases.
You may have freedom to drink a beer. Nothing wrong with drinking a beer or drinking a glass of wine. But to do that in the presence of another Christian who comes from a background that entailed alcohol abuse, this person was addicted to alcohol before becoming a Christian, to drink alcohol in that person's presence could be presenting them with a temptation to sin that could be very destructive to that person's faith.
And so, in a case like that, your love for that person will trump the liberty or the freedom that you have when you think about just alcohol in and of itself.
So love trumps liberty. We always put the other person ahead of ourselves when we think about our freedoms, the things that God has given us.
Share this. Did Jesus Drink Alcohol? Should Christians Drink Alcohol? The Bible versus Prohibition. Butler, PA: T. Phillips, Raymond, I. NY: Columbia U Press, Reynolds, S. Little Rock, AR: Challenge, Princeton: Princeton U Press, Westerfield, B. Bothell: Del West, Winters, H. The Bible and Strong Drink. A little wine for the soul? Christianity Today , , 44 4 , Royce, J. Sin or Solace?
Religious Views on Alcohol and Alcoholism. In: Watts, T. Social Thought on Alcoholism. Malabar, FL: Krieger, Wallace, D. The Bible and Alcohol. References For more documentation on the views of Jesus and the early church see these.
Teachings of the Early Church on the Use of Wine. Austin, G. Sometimes these wine presses had a trellis built over them with ropes hanging down to hold onto while stomping around. This is where it gets interesting. They would keep the trodden grapes skins and use them later. Wine to the ancients was in most cases more of a survival product then a luxury, although the wealthy were said to make good wine that could last a few years.
For this reason, it was common practice to add the must, which contained some extra natural sugar, to the new wine so that it would overwhelm the yeast, stopping the fermentation before the wine entered the vinegar zone. The must was also mixed with water for fruit juice for women and children who were not allowed to drink wine. Pretty awesome winemaking system for antiquity, right? The thing is, though, there was no such thing as filtration or racking wine from one vessel to the next after the organic material settled until the wine was clear.
So with all this in mind, we can kind of see how wine tasted back in the day.
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