SHOULD WE DRINK?
1 Timothy 3:8-13 says that the deacons are not to
be given to much wine, does this mean that they
can drink little wine without getting drunk, or are
they not permitted to drink alcohol at all?
1. It was simply fruit of the grape.
2. It was intoxicating.
Matthew 9:17 "Nor do they put new wine into old
wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine
is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they
put new wine into new wineskins, and both are
preserved."
Genesis 9:21 Then he drank of the wine and was
drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.
1 Timothy 5:23 No longer drink only water, but
use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your
frequent infirmities.
Atheneaus, the Grammarian (200AD) in his book
the Banquet recommends for the dyspeptic
(someone with digestive problems) “let him take
sweet wine, either mixed with water or warmed..
As being good for the stomach, for sweet wine
does not make the head heavy”.
Pliny said:
“Wines are most beneficial when all their potency
has been overcome by the strainer.”
Pliny said:
“As soon as the must is taken from the vat and
put into casks, they plunge the cask in water till
midwinter passes and regular cold whether sets
in.”
R.L. Harris wrote:
“All the wine was light wine, i.e. not fortified with
extra alcohol. Concentrated alcohol was only
known in the Middle Ages when the Arabs
invented distillation (‘alcohol’ is an Arabic word)
so what is not called liquor or strong drink (i.e.,
whiskey, gin, etc.) and the twenty percent
fortified wines were unknown in Bible times.”
“The strength of the natural wines is limited by
two factors. The percentage of alcohol will be half
of the percentage of the sugar is the juice. And if
alcoholic content is much above 10 or 11 percent,
the yeast cells are killed and the fermentation
ceases. Probably ancient wines were 7 to 10
percent … To avoid the sin of drunkenness,
mingling of wine with water was practiced. The
dilution was specified by the Rabbis in the N.T.
times for the wine then customary at Passover.”
“Wine was always drunk diluted, and to drink it
unmixed was looked on as barbarism”
“Few things have wreaked as much havoc on
personal lives, families, and society as has the
beverage alcohol. 39 % of all traffic fatalities
involve drinking drivers (over 25,000 annually).
Over 50 % of criminal activity involves the use of
alcohol. Most domestic violence involves alcohol.
25 % of all divorces can be blamed on alcohol.
Add to the above the ravaged lives of those who
become addicted to alcohol and you begin to see
the destructive nature of this product. ‘Alcohol
constitutes the country’s greatest mental health
problems. It accounts for about 25 % of the
patients in mental hospitals’ (Dr. Karl
Menninger).”
Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a
brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not
wise.
Proverbs 23:20 Do not mix with winebibbers,
Proverbs 23:29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who
has wounds without cause? Who has redness of
eyes? 30 Those who linger long at the wine,
Those who go in search of mixed wine. 31 Do not
look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles
in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; 32 At
the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a
viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, And
your heart will utter perverse things. 34 Yes, you
will be like one who lies down in the midst of the
sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast,
saying: 35 "They have struck me, but I was not
hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake, that I may seek another
drink?"
Isaiah 5:11 Woe to those who rise early in the
morning, That they may follow intoxicating drink;
Who continue until night, till wine inflames them!
Isaiah 5:22 Woe to men mighty at drinking wine,
Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink,
Habakkuk 2:15 " Woe to him who gives drink to
his neighbor, Pressing him to your bottle, Even to
make him drunk, That you may look on his
nakedness!
Ephesians 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in
which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
1 Thessalonians 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as
others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For
those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who
get drunk are drunk at night.
Sober can mean: “to drink no wine” (LSJ) and it
can mean: “Being free from every form of mental
and spiritual excess and confusion be selfcontrolled, be clear-headed, be self-possessed.”
1 Peter 4:3 For we have spent enough of our past
lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles -- when
we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness,
revelries, drinking parties, and abominable
idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it
strange that you do not run with them in the
same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.
Romans 14:21 It is good neither to eat meat nor
drink wine nor do anything by which your brother
stumbles or is offended or is made weak.
"Proponents of the acceptability of so-called social or
moderate imbibing of alcoholic beverages (in reality
nothing is more anti-social and moderation may only be
used properly to refer to what is right in and of itself and
drinking to ANY degree, is wrong per se) like to
OVERPARK at this verse. They smugly and sneeringly
contend that social drinking is simply an indifferent
matter and is neither right nor wrong as long as other
people are not harmed by their practices. However,
alcoholic beverages do not fit matters of indifference.
They are wrong per se -- in large amounts, in controlled
amounts, in minute amounts ... Passages in the New
Testament, other than Rom. 14:21, which prohibit
alcoholic consumption as a beverage, are 1 Thess. 5:22; 1
Peter 2:11; 4:3, 4. Some might be quick to say, "But Peter
said, `excess of wine' and social drinking is not
excess!" Peter also said, "excess of riot." Would
moderate rioting be all right? Would just a little
rioting be all right? Would moderate rioting be
acceptable to society? Brother J. D. Tant, colorful
preacher of the past, was once asked if he thought it
all right to drink a little. He answered that he
thought such was all right. But he was quick to say
that he thought a little adultery, a little lying, a little
murdering, a little stealing, etc., would be all right
also. He reduced the matter to total absurdity. He
knew a little drinking was wrong."
"Meats and wine are obviously in the same
category here. Meats are indifferent; wine is
indifferent. But the wine could not be a matter of
indifference if alcoholic in content. Therefore it
must be unfermented wine about which the
apostle made allusion here -- not the hard stuff
that turns men into monsters and women into
harlots."
"I do not accept the view (and I do reject the
view) that the word "wine" in this passage refers
to intoxicants, and that Paul therefore classes the
drinking of intoxicants within the realm of
indifference. The word "wine" here is used with
the word "meats" (flesh) and must refer to
something which stands before God as meat
stands. I cannot accept the notion that
inspiration would categorize intoxicants with
meats. Further, the word "wine" (oinos) does not
necessarily mean intoxicant. It may refer to the
juice freshly squeezed from the grapes.
It may refer to the juice of the grape while it is
still in the grape. This is the word used in John 2,
and I do not believe for a moment that the Lord
made something intoxicating… Millions of
broken homes, destitute children, murders on
highways, cases of loss of influence for good, and
countless other tragedies all declare that the
drinking of intoxicants is not a matter of
indifference. A Christian will have nothing to do
with drinking intoxicants. Cf. 1 Pet. 2:11."
1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners
and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war
against the soul,
“The higher qualities of the mind are the very
first to be rubbed out by alcohol. The delicate
capacities of intellectual decisions and choice and
discretion and willpower are those faculties
which are first dulled and then wiped out by
alcohol …” (The Problem: Alcohol-Narcotics, p.
14).
“While I have never known a Christian who made
better by drinking, I have known several who
have lost their good influence and interest in
heavenly things because of alcohol. Christian who
do not drink socially never have to apologize for
doing so. I have never met a person who
regretted not using the beverage alcohol but I
have met many who rued the day they took their
first drink. About 10 % of those who start
drinking become problem drinkers. Most
Christians live lives of total abstinence. There
example I heartily recommend to you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from every form of
evil.
The justification for "social drinking" that many
brethren (even elders and preachers) seek on the
basis of this qualification for deacons is nonexistent. Who is going to decide how "much" it
takes to equal "much wine'? The drinker himself
cannot do so, for by the second or third drink his
judgment is impaired by alcohol.
If "not given to much wine" means that it is all
right to drink moderately, consistency would
demand that "Be not over much wicked" (Eccl.
7:17) grants permission to be somewhat wicked.
Likewise, when Paul ordered, "Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal body" (Rom. 6:12),
one may as well argue he was actually giving
license to sin as long as one does not completely
yield to it. Would it be all right to steal or commit
fornication "moderately" as long as one did not
become addicted to those practices? Such is the
"reasoning" of those who would defend drinking
in any amount from I Timothy 3:8.
Further, if this passage authorizes "moderate"
drinking (I deny that there is such a thing), it
does not merely justify moderate consumption,
but moderate addiction! Notice: If "not given
(addicted) to much wine" means that one can
drink some, it also means that one can be
addicted to some wine. This obviously proves too
much and therefore proves nothing.
Any interpretation of this passage which makes it
contradict many Scriptures that elsewhere
condemn strong drink (Prov. 20:1), those who
drink it (I Pet. 4:3), and those who encourage
others to drink it (Hab. 2:15-16) is obviously a
false interpretation. There is no Scriptural
authorization here for consumption of any
amount of alcohol as a beverage for a deacon or
any other Christian.