Should Evangelicals Abandon Their Convictions About Alcohol?

I grew up in fairly conservative churches all my life. When it came to the issues of alcohol the churches I attended took a very staunch position. Alcohol was a no-go. I have heard it called evil, sinful, vial, etc. but other than that, we didn’t talk much about it. My grandfather was a pastor in the Assemblies of God and he very much holds to this view, that alcohol was something that separated you from God (even if you would never say it like that). This is how my mother grew up and, similarly, this is how I grew up. We often mocked Catholics while at their community events where they very openly served alcohol. We lived near a family who owned a decent amount of land not far from their local Catholic church and would host such events on their property.

The field of their property could be seen from the highway full of cars emptying of their occupants with potluck style dishes on their way to the picnic tables and things of the like. Next to the picnic tables would be a small cart with large letters on the side of it, “Bud Light”. We just couldn’t understand it. How could people who claimed to be followers of Jesus consume such a terrible beverage? Baptists…we had a problem with you too! Maybe not all of you, but certainly those of you who would, not only condone the consumption of alcohol but would dare to partake in…public *gasp! The concern grew greater as the popularity of the “megachurch” grew and the culture they seemed to produce became more well known. It was becoming apparent that the congregations of many megachurches were not anti-alcohol and neither were the pastoral staff. This is one of the many reasons they would become known as “liberal churches”. As time goes on and the Millennials take the reins, so to speak, it seems as if consuming alcohol is becoming more and more normalized in the Church.

But, what does the Bible really say about these things?

The more I studied my Bible, the more I realized that many things had been misrepresented to me in my growing up. I am not trying to bash any on the churches I went to (or even worked at), in fact, I believe that they were trying to be as helpful as possible. Alcohol can be a very dangerous thing when abused, but they were trying to make black and white from a very grey issue.

Believe it or not, the Bible has both positives and negatives concerning alcohol...a lot, in fact. However, I will only be discussing two passages that I believe hold a lot of weight on this subject; one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament.

I will be adding a table at the bottom of this post demonstrating some of the passages that use the words that get translated as "wine" that mean either grape juice or alcoholic drink.

Let’s start in the Old Testament

We’ll make this pretty quick.

On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine[1],

of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

Isaiah 25:6 ESV

So the question is begged, "if consuming alcohol is a sin then why did the prophet Isaiah suggest that Yahweh would prepare a feast for his people and emphasis that wine would be present?" Would Yahweh offer a wicked thing to his people? No, obviously. Although the consumption of wine would not have been mandatory, it certainly was not considered wicked or sinful.

On to the New Testament

When looking into this issue for myself, this next passage was the proverbial nail in the coffin for me. To set the scene here, John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin and, according to Old Testament prophesies, he would be the one to make way for the Messiah, Jesus (Isaiah 40:3, Matt 3:3). At this point, John is now in prison and a series of events leads Jesus to address a crowd concerning his cousin, John. Jesus says,

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” Matthew 11:18-19.

There are some things going on here that need a little unpacking like, “what does it mean that John came neither eating nor drinking? The answer to that is in Luke chapter 1 during the conception and birth of John the Baptist.

“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine[2] or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” Luke 1:13-15

So, in Matthew when Jesus says that John came neither eating nor drinking, we can conclude that he is, in fact, speaking specifically of wine and strong drink. So, in contrast, Jesus says, “the Son of Man (Jesus’ favorite title for himself) has come eating and drinking”. It can only mean one thing. Jesus is saying that he did come eating and drinking wine and strong drink.

What is truly frustrating to me is that too many people (entire churches even) hold so strongly to the belief that the consumption of alcohol is a sin that they would have to reject even Jesus himself. Something needs to change about the way we look at this issue. There are plenty of scriptures that are strictly against the abuse of wine to the point of drunkenness or dependency (Ephesians 5:18, Proverbs 20:1 to name a few), but to suggest that those are the only scriptures on the issue is just wrong and misleading.

However, the question was, “should evangelicals abandon the convictions about alcohol?” and I would say, “by no means!” Some of us, like John the Baptist, may have a specific call to abstain from alcoholic drinks and, if that is the case, then you should hold on to that dearly and protect that calling. Some of us have had an unhealthy past with alcohol and abused it. In some cases, (most in my opinion) it is better for those who have had a problem with alcohol in the past to stay away from it completely. If it was an idol once it will be all too easy for it to become one again. Others may simply have a conviction against alcohol and choose not to partake…good for you! If you have a conviction then you should honor that conviction; however, it is wrong of you to push that conviction onto others, including Jesus (which is what you are doing when you suggest that Christians shouldn’t consume alcohol).

Now, I’ve heard it said that the alcohol content was not as it is now in our modern era. That wine would not have been as strong as it is now-a-days. A few things to say about that:

1. The problem has always been how much alcohol is consumed. If it is 5% or 20% consumption is consumption. The issue is when you get drunk (which is a sin, 1 Cor 5:11, 1 Cor 6:10) or when it controls you. Obviously, the wine in biblical times could get you drunk…which is why it says not to do that.

2. Scholars tend to agree that the alcohol content in ancient times was no different than that of our time (around 14%). Paul Haupt contends that the alcohol content was, in fact, stronger than that of our time.[3]

I would offer a few pieces of advice moving forward:

1. You should be able to drive home LEGALLY after consuming alcohol. If you cannot drive yourself then there is a problem.

2. Be mindful of the scriptures in their entirety. Don’t be stupid, you should have the mind of Christ as a Christian, so act like it.

3. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what is appropriate and what is not. Timing is everything.

"All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 1 Corinthians 10:23-24.

I know it may take some undoing, but detaching ourselves from a truly un-biblical tradition is not only necessary but vital to remaining scripturally consistent and lends integrity to biblical inerrancy.

Bonus

Mike Winger of biblethinker.org did a pretty in-depth talk on this very issue. It is defiantly worth the time. Check out his video here.

Sources

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[1] The word here is שֶׁ֫מֶר and refers to old wine. Easton, M. G. Easton’s Bible Dictionary. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893.

[2] The Greek word used here is οἶνος and is translated into wine 33 times in the NT. It means wine in the fermented sense. Swanson, James. Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997.

[3]Haupt, Paul. "Alcohol in the Bible." Journal of Biblical Literature 36, no. 1/2 (1917): 75-83. doi:10.2307/3259277.

[4] In the Torah, it was sinful to work on the Sabbath day. That meant you were not allowed to plow your fields at certain times. The Pharisees added a law that would not allow you to tilt your chair back because if it were to slip out from beneath you the legs would dig into the ground…that was technically “plowing”. Disclaimer: My college professor told me this but, I have been unable to find the proper citation as of now.