Scripture on Alcohol
Once while out with a Bible study, after we finished our session, I was asked why I had ordered a beer with my meal. Now, it is seldom that I drink alcohol but on occasion I’ll have one drink. My response was, “Is it offensive? If it is, I can send it back”. What ensued was a sling of non-Biblical theories of how evil and sinful alcohol is. I have decided to write this essay to show the contrast of the fundamentalist view of alcohol and scriptural passages that speak of the matter.
We’ll begin in Genesis 27:25 where Isaac brought Jacob wine and he drank it. What does this passage alone convey? Nothing yet, not until we see the passages succeeding this and view the idea of alcoholic consumption as a whole. Deuteronomy 14:23-26 gives us an insight as to how to spend the money from tithing, “Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always. But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.” God allotted us the permission to purchase and consume “wine or other fermented drink”. But this is to be taken in moderation, not to be neglected in overabundance. Proverbs warns us of this when it calls wine a mocker and beer a brawler that can lead the unwise astray (20:1). But for those who have discretion and wisdom, we are to drink wine with a merry heart for our Father in heaven approves of it (Ecclesiastes 9:7).
We have just read a brief excerpt on what God delegated to men as feasible behavior in man’s work. But what about God Himself? Will He Himself give us wine, or is He just condoning men to make and partake of their own wine? We see in Isaiah 25:6 that God provided a feast for His people and gave unto them choice wines. I assure you, if God offers you a gift, it is perfectly moral to accept it and more so use it. But there are rules to its consumption. Isaiah goes further to tell us that we are to be woeful about still being inebriated in the morning after a night of drinking (5:11). We are also to be aware of flaunting alcohol tolerance by mass consumption (Isaiah 5:22). We aren’t made to be drunkards; we are made to enjoy gifts in their proper setting with moral.
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Some have brought to my attention that Christ was called drunk and gluttonous (Luke 7:33-34). They don’t understand that Christ was neither drunk or gluttonous. The people were erroneous and may have had demonic influence in insulting and slandering the Son of God. Christ was also called to contradiction (Luke 2:34-35). This doesn’t negate the validity of His teachings. For instance, Christ said not to give the appearance of sin (1 Thessalonian 5:22). If alcohol was seen as evil, especially in God’s eyes, why would Christ be seen transforming water into wine at the wedding of Cana (John 2:2-10)? The rule is not to abstain from wine, but not to be debauchees by being drunkards (Ephesians 5:18).
First Timothy 5:23 goes so far as to instruct us to partake of wine for the sake of our stomachs. Even more, not only is wine a gift to man, but it is used at the Last Supper and called the New Covenant in our four accounts of the gospels. Christ also informs us that God offers us wine in the kingdom of God (Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18). Remember, Christ will do on earth – like providing wine – what is done in heaven (Matthew 5:9-14).
So my response to Jacob and Isaac, from Genesis, is “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do” (Ecclesiastes 9:7).
Your’s,
Drew Castel.
