Wine or Why Not?

The question has been asked, how can drinking be a sin when Jesus turned water into wine?

Yes, Jesus turned water into wine. What do you suppose the alcohol content was of that wine? Wine can have a very low proof, you know. The governor of the feast remarked that it was good wine, and, if he was anything like most of the people I know that consume alcohol, that means it had a high alcoholic content. He may have honestly simply meant that it tasted good, though. Of course, this is God manifest in the flesh we are talking about. He could very easily have made wine that tasted strong, but really wasn’t. Keep in mind also, a couple of cultural things: One, most of their water was just plain dirty. Granted, most of the population of Israel had probably developed immunity to whatever bacteria were prevalent in the river Jordan, but, still. Some have suggested that wine really meant grape juice. I don’t think so, because grape juice needs to be refrigerated. Even modern day grape juice, with all the preservatives they add to it, still needs to be kept cold to keep from spoiling. Of course, the citizens of Ancient Israel would not have understood the idea of lukewarm grape juice attracting insects, which would then leave bacteria in the juice, which, in turn, would make people sick. They also would not have understood that allowing the grape juice to ferment would create an alcohol content that would kill the germs. They would have understood, though, that drinking grape juice often made people sick, while drinking wine almost never did.

The Bible also says that wine is a mocker (Proverbs 20:1): Let’s face it, whether you subscribe to the theory that alcohol causes you to do strange things, or whether it just lowers one’s inhibitions so that people can do what they really wanted to do all along anyway, or maybe just causes enough cranial impairment that things that would normally be obvious bad ideas suddenly seem like flashes of brilliance; let’s face it, people act different when they are drunk. I don’t know anybody that acts better when they are drunk, either. Part of the problem is that almost anybody can take a drink, and the most serious effect that it has is that drink will convince him or her that a second drink will not seriously impair them, either. Of course, two drinks can easily convince one that a third drink is a good idea…

On the other hand, Paul told Timothy to take a little wine, for his stomach's sake (1 Timothy 5:23). In the days before Tums, Rolaids, and Pepto-Bismol, wine was one of a very few things known to settle a stomach. I personally don’t recommend the “medicinal use” of alcohol, because I know that it is more often misused or abused than actually used for medicinal purposes. Besides, in modern days, there really isn’t much excuse. There are a number of things that are considerably more effective.

I think that the best response really comes from Romans 14:21: “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.” For me to tip back a little wine might not (probably would not) send me to Hell, but if you see me imbibing and you are not a Christian, or you are young in the faith--and you have no way of knowing how much I have consumed--my few sips of wine could result in you (or someone like you) to sin grievously. Even if you understand and appreciate that I have had very little, there are many people that believe that if a little is good, then more is better. I will not be a party to that. I am a long-time teetotaler.