Introduction
Whilst The Bible in both the New and Old Testament clearly forbids drunkenness, it is a matter of debate and contention in some Christian circles, on whether it also forbids the consumption of alcohol altogether.
Clearly, this is an important subject to investigate, for it involves are obedience to our God and Father, Yah, and his Son, Yeshua. Not only that, but it also directly influences other Christian doctrines and practices, such as the Lord’s Supper, which traditionally in most Christian circles, involves the consumption of red wine, and this contention over whether we should drink alcohol at all, in fact is often directly connected to, if not one of ‘the’ major roots over the many debates on whether we should be using wine or non-alcoholic grape juice during the Supper, though not an exclusive one.
In this article, I will be focusing on investigating whether alcohol is forbidden in general to Christians and Jews according to scripture, whereas I will be addressing the topic of whether wine or grape juice during the Supper should be used in another article.
Why Do Some Christians Claim The Bible Prohibits Alcohol?
Though all Christians agree that drunkenness is a sin, where do some get the idea that alcohol is completely forbidden?
This belief stems from a combination of a selection of a few scriptures in isolation, and very heavy interpretation of others.
In the Bible, there are several Greek and Hebrew words for both “wine” and “alcohol”.
“Yayin” (יַיִן) and “Oinos (οἶνος)”, Hebrew and Greek words respectively, simply render the meaning “wine”, which may refer to unfermented wine (grape juice), and fermented wine (such as red wine).
“Tirosh (תִּירוֹשׁ)” and “Gleukos (γλεῦκος)”, Hebrew and Greek meaning “new wine”, and can either mean “freshly squeezed grape juice” that has yet to ferment, but it also can refer to wine that is either recently fermented, or wine that is only a year old (which is very “new” when speaking of wine culture and vintages).
“Shekar (שֵׁכָר)” and “Sikera (σίκερα)”, are Hebrew and Greek words meaning “strong drink” or “alcoholic drink”.
As we can see, many of these terms are quite ambiguous and gain more definitive meaning when applied to context. Therefore, it is proposed by some Christians, that whenever righteous and holy people in scripture are drinking “wine”, that it must be “non-alcoholic” wine, in other words, fruit juice. Likewise, they also make the statement that whenever is speaks of “wine” in a negative sense, it must always be talking about alcoholic wine.
This view rests on the foundation of several scriptures, these being not only the passages condemning drunkenness, but verses which appear to have bad things to say about alcohol in general, and other passages which are claimed to even appear to ban it outright:
- “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks. Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast: ‘They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?‘ – Proverbs 23:29-35
- “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise”. – Proverbs 20:1
- “Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing strong drink…”. – Isaiah 5:22
- “You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink when you enter the Tent of Meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute for the generations to come“. – Leviticus 10:9
- “For forty years I led you in the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out. You ate no bread and drank no wine or strong drink, so that you might know that I am YHWH your God”. – Deuteronomy 29:5-6
- “But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or wine. So he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself“. – Daniel 1:8
By means of these few verses, some claim there is explicit prohibition of alcohol. However, this only takes into account these verses outside of their context, and not in combination with other verses through the Bible as a whole.
First, however, we should look to these specific verses quoted:
Proverbs 20 & 23
In Proverbs 23, we are told that, a person with sorrow, contention, complaints or wounds, should not “linger over wine whilst it is red”. What does this mean? Alcohol prohibitionists would claim this refers to “not drinking wine when it is fermented”, because when fermented it turns a deep red, which is caused by the red tannin (or colour) of the grape skins when left to age, which whereas natural grape juice freshly squeezed from a grape is a lighter transparent colour, almost akin to water. Therefore, the argument made from this verse by some Christians, is that if a “wine” is “red”, it can only refer to fermented wine, which this verses tells us “not to gaze at”.
The irony of the contradiction of this argument, is that prohibitionists claim Yeshua used “red grape juice” at the Lord’s Supper. If the Bible, therefore, only spoke of freshly squeezed grape juice that hadn’t had a chance to go red was the only kind of acceptable “fruit of the vine” to drink, and “red grape juice” is bad, then Yeshua would not have used it to symbolise his blood, which has obvious connotations due to its colour.
This is not to prove alone, however, that the drink Yeshua used was alcoholic, for natural grape juice from crushed red grapes, also can turn to a natural red colour if crushed or mashed into a pulp for an extended period of time. But it does showcase its redness not being something that can be used as part of the argument of the “negativity” attributed to the drink. Therefore, Proverbs 23 cannot be said to be saying something bad about wine just because it “sparkles red”.
We should of course pay attention to the fact that this passage does mention the negativity of “lingering over wine and mixed drinks”. What does this mean? Well, clearly to linger means to “do something for a long time”, and therefore can easily be attributed to the ‘abuse’ of alcohol. It goes on to mention that it causes a man to “see strange things, speak perversions” and to be off-balance as if “on the mast of a ship”, which we all know intoxication has a tendency to do.
However, nothing here seems to explicitly say that drinking in ‘moderation’ is bad, but it appears to me only to be a reference to intoxication and using alcohol as a long-term or “lingering” coping method for one’s “troubles” being bad, leading to dependency and alcoholism, as is implied by the use of the concluding phrase; “when can I wake up to find another drink?”.
If we look earlier into chapter 23, and verses 20-21, it reads:
- “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat. For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags”.
We see here a connection between drinking “too much”, and likewise, gluttony of food eating, which leads to alcoholism and poverty. As opposed to a complete ban of alcohol, it states only that “drinking too much” is bad, just as it is with the overeating of food. If alcohol was banned altogether in these proverbs, it would not at all use the phrase “too much”, and if by that phrase it meant “do not drink at all”, then likewise we would have to claim it prohibits eating meat.
Likewise, the same observation could be argued of Proverbs 20, that we should be “lead astray” by wine, for it has the ability to “mock us”, and therefore, akin to someone starting a “mocking”, “fight” or “brawl” with us, we can poetically apply the proverb to “take our leave” from it, when things begin to go down that path (Proverbs 17:14).
However, some Christians who would argue against this point, would claim the word used for “drunkard” (caba’) can also simply mean to be “filled up”, or “drink much”, and therefore claim it refers to a person who merely drinks “a lot of grape juice” and is akin to a glutton who eats too much, and therefore is not implying we can drink “some” wine, but is a warning of being greedy with our “non-alcoholic drinks”.
Personally, I feel this to be too far fetched of a common sense interpretation in my opinion, for merely getting bloated on grape juice cannot be said to cause “drowsiness and poverty”, and to me, it would appear to better describe the life of an alcoholic who has lost all of his inhibitions, resulting in his gluttony to the extent of poverty.
Nevertheless, for the sake of argument, we can allow this interpretation, and claim that such verses on drinking “too much” wine, speak of being gluttonous by means of drinking too much grape juice, and only the verses speaking of wine causing perverted thoughts and loss of balance is speaking of drinking alcohol, for we will have other verses to examine our overall case.
Isaiah 5:22
Akin to the Proverbs, we see here a reference to those who are “heroes” of strong drink. This connotation implies people who are “mighty”, or “strong”, or otherwise “skilled” at drinking. To attain heroism or championship in something, one has to do that thing quite a lot, just as a champion runner does nothing but run all day every day. This then tells us, not that alcohol itself is evil, but that being a “hero” of alcohol is, in other words, being known for being a heavy drinker.
We don’t see any direct statement that it’s merely the moderate consumption of alcohol being the evil, but the focus of the language is on the “mightiness” of those drinking it, in relation to ‘how much’ they drink.
Leviticus 10:9
When it comes to this scripture, prohibitionists will focus on the words of “not drinking wine” and an “eternal statute for generations to come”. However, the context is ignored where it refers to being “in the tent of meeting”, clearly this referred to a ban on alcohol in the holy place of worship, and not in general. Secondly, it was a limitation placed upon the “sons of Aaron”, the tribe of Levi (Leviticus 10:8).
One could, I suppose, come up with an interpretation that “being in the tent” has a future reference to those “in the Anointed”, as we are all “God’s temple” (1 Corinthians 3:16), but we should note that in Yeshua, we are not of the tribe of Levi, not spiritually, or physically, for Yeshua is a priest in the “manner of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 7), and was not of the tribe of Levi.
Even though we as Christians are God’s temple, we are not bound to Old Covenant rules of ceremonial cleanness in our every day lives, quite the opposite, in fact (Acts 11:9). But even if holding to Old Covenant symbolism, as aforementioned, Christians are under Melchizedek lineage, and not Levite lineage, and therefore, as we are not spiritual “sons of Levi”, the prohibitions against drinking alcohol would not at all apply to us.
Additionally, this scripture does not tell us alcohol is evil in any way, but merely ‘ceremonially’ unclean within the temple arrangement, just as many other things were, such as leavened foods, certain meats, and even women on their menstrual cycles! (Leviticus 15:19). All things which were set aside when the New Covenant replaced the Old (Hebrews 8:13, Jeremiah 31:32).
Another point to focus on here, is that the Israelite Levi priests were told not drink alcohol “in the tent of meeting”. This very specific focus would then imply that it could be drunk ‘outside’ of the tent of meeting, making it not an immoral or sinful thing to do.
After all, if it was inherently sinful, it would be a given that they should not drink alcohol in the tent, for it would be akin to saying; “when in the tent of meeting, do not steal, fornicate or murder”, but everyone knew the commandments of God, those things were obvious, and thus are not mentioned. Therefore, in this circumstance, the prohibition against drinking alcohol in the tent of meeting, was not a moral issue, but a ceremonial one, which was not law binding in an everyday sense, as made clear by the ‘distinction’ of what could be done “inside and outside” of the tent.
Deuteronomy 29:5-6
On the basis of this passage, Christians against alcohol will claim that the reason Yah forbade the Hebrews from drinking wine during the 40 years, was because it was inherently evil, and that wine “prevents one from knowing God”, and therefore, by abstaining from it, they came to know God.
However, this is taking one small phrase in the entire passage way out of context. We note that God caused Israel to walk about for 40 years to discipline them due to their sins. In this same passage, we are also told they did not “eat bread”. Therefore, by the logic prohibitionists use via this passage, they would have to claim that bread was evil too!
Clearly, the greater context was God taking away their luxuries and means, in order to teach them a lesson of humility, and not to make a statement about wine or bread.
Daniel 1:8
In this verse, Israel was under the captivity of Babylon, with Daniel and others taken into the service of the king. We see in this passage he refused the food and wine of the king, in order that he not defile himself.
A prohibitionist might point to the fact that he refused wine here, in order that it would not defile him. But we should also take note of the fact that he also refused the food offered to him, and asked only for water and vegetables (Daniel 1:12). It is interesting that he asked for these things, and even refused plain grape juice and any other kind of drink, it appears.
It has been reasoned by various Bible scholars and historians, that the reason for this was because the foods of Babylon were “unclean” by the standards of the Mosaic law, in that they may have been offered to idols or made with ingredients that were not “kosher”.
Therefore, we can’t say for any certainty that Daniel refused wine simply because it was alcohol, and for all we know, he may have been refusing plain grape juice that merely had some kind of impurity about it.
Scriptures That Support Drinking Alcohol
As we’ve covered the collection of passages prohibitionists claim forbid alcohol, it’s now time to look at scriptures which can support the moderate consumption of alcohol.
- “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to YHWH, he is to abstain from wine (yayin) and strong drink (shekar). He must not drink vinegar made from wine or strong drink, and he must not drink any grape juice (enab mishrah) or eat fresh grapes or raisins. All the days of his separation, he is not to eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.… Now this is the law of the Nazirite when his time of separation is complete: He must be brought to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting… After that, the Nazirite may drink wine (yayin)“. – Numbers 6:2-4, 13, 20
- “Give strong drink (shekar) to one who is perishing, and wine (yayin) to the bitter in soul. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more”. – Proverbs 31:6-7
- “Yeshua and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, Yeshua’s mother said to Him, ‘They have no more wine.’… Now six stone water jars had been set there for the Jewish rites of purification. Each could hold from twenty to thirty gallons. Yeshua told the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ So they filled them to the brim. ‘Now draw some out,’ He said, ‘and take it to the master of the banquet.’ They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not know where it was from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, ‘Everyone serves the fine wine first, and then the cheap wine after the guests are drunk (methuó). But you have saved the fine wine until now!’ Yeshua performed this, the first of His signs, at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him”. – John 2:6-11
As we see here, there are enough verses which help us see that alcohol isn’t completely prohibited in scripture. These verses confirm the approval of moderate use of alcohol, and in a way that is written in which cannot be misinterpreted to mean anything else, which we will examine in more detail below.
Numbers 6
This passage describes the vow of a Nazarite. The vow was a special form of service and sacrifice to God, where certain luxuries had to be sacrificed in life beyond the typical things forbade by the Mosaic law. This involved the abstaining of certain food, drink, as well as a command to never cut one’s hair. The vow did not need to be kept forever, but could be ended by means of a temple ritual, which signified the end of the vow.
The focus here, is that we are told specifically, that abstaining from wine and “strong drink”, was part of this “special vow”. Akin to the earlier reasoning raised on Leviticus 10, this is obviously a very ‘specific’ command in relation to the context of a specific circumstance. One did not have to say “a Nazarite must not steal, covet, kill or eat unclean meats”, because those things were universal laws for all Israelites. No, this verse is talking about ‘unique rules’ for those under this special vow.
This unique prohibition against alcohol for a Nazarite is showcased in that it is listed amongst other innocent things which are prohibited in relation to the vow, such as grapes, and what we should pay very close attention to here; “grape juice”.
The fact that grape juice is mentioned specifically here, by this one time unique phrase in the Old Testament, “enab mishrah” (“grape”-“juice”, respectively) is informing us that the word “wine” (yayin) in this passage, does not refer to unfermented grape juice, for that would mean the passage was uncharacteristically repeating itself; “do not drink grape juice, and do not drink grape juice”, but clearly it was referring alcoholic wine, and this is made even more evident in that it is paired alongside the phrase “strong drink”.
Therefore, if “fermented wine” and other “strong alcoholic drinks” are ‘specifically’ mentioned to be prohibited as “part of the vow”, just as grapes and grape juice are, then this clearly informs us that this was not the everyday ‘norm’, and that Israelites could indeed drink fermented wine and other alcoholic drinks in moderation.
Furthermore, we are told in this passage, that once one has ended their vow, they may again “drink wine”. If we follow the linguistic pattern in these verses, we have already established that the term “wine”(yayin) in this specific text, is absolutely and unambiguously referring to alcohol, and not juice. Therefore, we are being told that an Israelite has permission to drink fermented wine if not under a Nazarite vow.
Proverbs 31
There is not much to say on this passage, other than the fact that it is very specific in that it speaks of cheering oneself up with moderate use of “strong drink” (shekar), which, as we know, means “alcoholic drink”. Therefore, we have a direct passage in God’s inspired word, telling us directly that we can drink alcohol.
“Shekar
Definition: intoxicating drink, strong drink”. – Strongs Concordance & NAS Exhaustive Concordance
John 2
In this famous passage, Yeshua turns water to “wine” (oinos). Prohibitionists will claim Yeshua turned the water to grape juice, not wine, merely based upon the supposition that “alcohol is evil”, and therefore “Yeshua would never have turned water to fermented wine”, which is what we’d call rather “eisegetical reasoning”, interpreting the language of the text based on one’s own ideas and biases, rather than interpreting the text itself for what it says.
The first thing to point out is that when Yeshua transforms the water, the host of the wedding was so amazed, he made a speech about the quality of the wine he tasted. He made a note that usually guests bring out the fine wine first, and the cheap wine later.
This would make little sense of only speaking about grape juice, as plain juice squeezed from a grape doesn’t alter that much in quality. Grape juice is grape juice. The longer you leave grape juice, the more fermented it becomes, and if it over ferments it turns into vinegar. We can’t say that the host meant “people usually serve grape juice first, then vinegar after”, that would be silly. If the grape juice is served more aged before it turns to vinegar, then you get fermented wine.
Whilst there were ancient preservation methods to preserve grape juice, such as boiling the grape juice into a syrup, to them be mixed with water, or placing caskets in low temperature locations, such as rivers to prevent fermentation, this was not said to be a common or reliable practice, hence the need for the invention of pasteurisation in the future.
However, alcoholic wine perfectly suits the description, as fermented wines certainly do greatly differ in quality, and taste.
The latter part of his speech further confirms that Yeshua did transform the water to alcoholic wine. He says: “after the guests are drunk (methuó). But you have saved the fine wine until now!’“.
The Greek word “methuo”, exclusively means “intoxicated”. Some prohibitionists will claim it means “to be filled up” or “sated”, and that to claim otherwise means Yeshua was trying to get people drunk, which would be sinful. But there are three points of contention against these claims.
Firstly, simply because the host made a speech in jest, that traditionally people brought out cheap wine after everyone was drunk because nobody would notice, does not mean the people at this party were getting tipsy and that Yeshua was then further contributing to their drunkenness, it was merely a humourous speech referencing to the practice of the day by many.
Secondly, if the host meant “the good grape juice is served first, and when everyone is filled up, the host brings out the cheap grape juice”, it would make no sense to bring out more grape juice if everyone had “had their fill” and were “satisfied”, for nobody would wish to drink or eat any more. It would like saying; “everyone ate so much they could not eat any more, so the host brought out more food”.
Thirdly, the claim made that “methuo” can mean “filled” or “sated”, is not supported by any Greek language lexicon, but all definitions in all concordances say “intoxicated”, whereas the word for “filled” or “sated” is “chortazó”, and is seen many times throughout scripture:
- “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (chortazó).“ – Matthew 5:6
- “And they all ate and were satisfied/filled (chortazó). And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over”. – Matthew 14:20
“Chortazó
Definition: to feed, fatten, fill, satisfy”. – Strong’s Concordance & NAS Exhaustive Concordance
“Methuó
Definition: to be drunken
Usage: I am intoxicated with wine, am drunk”. – Strong’s Concordance & NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Therefore, we can confirm that Yeshua truly did turn water to wine, and not grape juice, for the guests of the wedding.
Because we have seen on several accounts without any ambiguity in meaning or language, that the Bible shows it is acceptable for Christians to drink alcohol with moderation, we can attest for a certainty that the former scriptures used by prohibitionists against alcohol, do not mean what they claim them to mean, but are in fact accurately represented in our modern day translations.
The Origins of Christian Prohibitionism
It should be noted, that for over 1800 years, alcohol has been considered an acceptable drink for Christians, if not abused for drunkenness. No early Christian writer outright suggests it to be sinful, but only to be cautious with it.
There is one scripture in the New Testament which mentions completely avoiding alcohol, and that being in the context of Paul’s letter of not “stumbling our brothers”, which means, “causing them to sin” by means of tripping them up, or putting temptation in their way if they have a tendency of weakness or lack of self control, but Paul also made note that the food and drink in themselves were innocent:
- …All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble. Keep your belief about such matters between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.…”. – Romans 14:20-22
Therefore, it would obviously be wrong for a Christian to drink alcohol or suggest drinking to his brother or sister if they have a personal problem with alcoholism, as we would not want to “stumble their faith”, and cause them to give into something which would lead them to sin. But as Paul said, the food and drink in itself is “clean”, and so we keep these matters “between ourselves and God”, and act accordingly to how we personally feel, whilst not judging others if they do choose to drink (Colossians 2:16, Romans 14:2-3).
However, the Christian alcohol prohibitionist movement, also known as the “Temperance movement” predominant in the United States, the origin of the belief that drinking any alcohol at all to be a Biblical sin, began in the 1800s.
They did not follow the guiding principle of Apostle Paul, but instead began to judge people for what they innocently and lawfully drank upon the basis of their own biased opinions and misinterpretations of scripture, which were motivated by political movements, ideologies and government laws of the time.
“In the midst of the social upheaval accompanying the American Revolution and urbanization induced by the Industrial Revolution, drunkenness was on the rise and was blamed as a major contributor to the increasing poverty, unemployment, and crime…
…eminent physician and patriot Benjamin Rush, who argued against the use of “ardent spirits” (i.e., distilled alcohol), introduced the notion of addiction, and prescribed abstinence as the only cure. Some prominent preachers like Lyman Beecher picked up on Rush’s theme and galvanized the temperance movement to action….
…The movement saw the passage of anti-drinking laws in several states and peaked in its political power in 1919 with the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which established prohibition as the law of the entire country…. Consequently, alcohol itself became an evil in the eyes of many (but not all) abstainers and so had to be expunged from Christian practice”. – Wikipedia, Christian views on alcohol, Temperance Movement
Conclusion
As we have seen sufficient evidence in scripture, history and language, we can say for a certainty, that the Bible does not prohibit moderate consumption of alcohol. Rather, it is seen to be a gift of God (Psalm 104:15, Proverbs 31:6).
Because this is a sensitive topic for some Christians, who feel very strongly about this matter, know that it is not wrong for a Christian to personally forgo drinking it if he personally chooses, but neither should that Christian judge his brother or sister if they do choose to drink.
Understandably, some are motivated by a personal negative experience with alcohol. It’s understandable if you or someone you know struggles with alcoholism, I pray for your or their recovery, and that you or they find the help they need to overcome such a burden. And if you have lost someone to alcoholism, I do pray for the salving of your heart, and for the hope of the coming Resurrection in the New Kingdom of God.
Proselyte of Yah 