Moderate Drinking and the Christian
Joshua Hetrick
I. What are some Reasons why a Christians should not be a social drinker.
A. Wine.
1. Oinos (Greek)
a. 134 (Septuagint)
b. 33 (N.T.)
2. Yahyin (Hebrew)
a. 141 (O.T.)
3. Generic term.
4. Wine is the word used to describe the fruit to the grape that is being pressed (Isaiah 16: 10) and while it is still in the cluster (Isaiah 65:8).
5. It is also used to show that it is alcoholic (Proverbs 20: 1).
6. Context must be determined whether it is intoxicating or not.
B. Alcohol is an addictive drug.
1. The main agent of alcoholic beverages is ethyl alcohol.
a. Anesthetic.
C. What does it mean to be drunk?
1. "Dog drunk," "gassed," and "stoned’
2. Intoxication does not have reference to an exact stage but to a process.
a. A very small amount of alcohol affects our reasoning and reaction time.
b. It only takes 2-3 min. to be detected in the blood.
c. If you are a moderate drinker, you are moderately intoxicated or drunk.
d. If it take takes 10 drinks to get drunk, I drink would make you one tenth intoxicated.
3. You cannot be a moderate drinker without violating the Bible prohibition against drunkenness (I Cor. 6: 10; Gal. 5:2 1).
D. Drinking is a big problem.
1. 25,000 people die each year on our highways due to one or both drivers using alcohol.
2. Over 60% of crimes such as rape, murder, aggravated assault, etc. are committed as a result of alcohol.
3. Consumption of alcohol is a major cause of divorce and child abuse.
4. Above 200,000 young people each year become alcoholics!
5. The financial harm done to our country in lost work time is staggering.
6. America has an excess of 15,000,000 confirmed alcoholics.
7. The bible says in I Thessalonians 5:22, "Abstain from all appearance of Evil."
a. By any stretch of the imagination could we say the consumption of alcohol has no appearance of evil?
E. (Prov 20:1 KJP) Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.- and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
1. Nothing is said here about excess but the thing itself is a mocker.
a. This is simply a condemnation of intoxicating wine.
b. What if we said, "Marijuana is a mocker." Could we say that we could use it in moderation?
(Prov. 23:29) Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
(30) 7hey that tarry long at the "wine; they that go to seek mixed "wine.
(31) Look not thou upon the "wine when it is red when it giveth his colour in the cup, whenit moveth itself aright.
(32) At the last it bitten like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
2. We do not fool around with poisonous snakes and we should stay away from alcohol.
F. Can a Christian support the liquor industry?
1. Around one and a half million young people become problem drinkers each year. If a toy is introduced that harms young people, there is an outcry to remove it from the market.
G. Sober (I Thes. 5:6; 1 Pet. 1: 13; 1 Pet. 4:7, 5:8).
1. Sound mind... self controlled ... sober minded ... it is associated with watchfulness ... to think soberly... to be of sound mind ... involves the cultivation of sound judgment and prudence.
a. Doesn’t it follow that a Christian cannot take anything into his body that would cause him to lose control of his faculties?
H. Our personal example.
1. 11 Cor. 3:2, "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men.
2. Mt. 5. "Light of world," "City on a hill."
a. Many non-Christians believe it is wrong to drink.
3. 1 Cor. 8:11-13
11 And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. 13 Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I "will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
a. The eating of meat was a matter of Judgment.
b. The problem was causing a brother to stumble.
c. Drinking of Alcohol is not a matter of judgment, it is wrong.
4. Our example on our children.
II. THE SCRIPTURES USED BY THOSE WHO JUSTIFY SOCIAL DRINKING.
A. John 2: 1 -II
1. This was the beginning of miracles by Jesus.
a. The purpose of this miracle was to make known his glory (v. 11)
2. Did Jesus turn water into alcoholic wine? If so he supplied 150 g. to people who were already intoxicated.
a. It is a sin to be drunk (I Cor. 6: 10).
b. It would be sinful to contribute to drunkenness (Habakkuk 2:15).
c. But we know Jesus was sinless (Heb. 4:15).
d. The wine he made could not have been intoxicating.
3. Verse 10 says, "Well drunk" (KJV) or "drunk freely" (ASV) stresses quantity without reference to the kind of liquid consumed.
a. They drank until satisfied.
c. The good wine in this verse has reference to taste.
B. I Timothy 3:3 and I Timothy 3:8
1. Some think because elders are to be "not given to wine," and deacons are to be "not given too much wine" that the deacons may drink intoxicating wine in moderation.
a. ASV translates "no brawler" and the footnote says "not quarrelsome over wine."
2. He is not to be one who parties or banquets so as to be near wine. He is not to be a drunkard. This comparison seems to make both verses mean neither elders nor deacons are to be drunks.
3. Does the phrase "not given too much wine" imply drinking in moderation is approved?
a. Can’t we urge a person to avoid drunkenness without approving moderate drinking?
- Do not be a heroin addict.
- Stop incessant lying.
- Despise not your mother when she is old.
- Ecclesiastes 7:17, "Do not be overly wicked."
4. Paul is simply saying don’t be addicted to wine; don’t be near wine.
5. The historian Ramsey says in the first century they had drinking contest where the person who drank the most won a prize. They used non-intoxicating wine where they could drink huge amounts without intoxication.
C. Romans 14:21
It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink i4ne, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
1. This chapter deals with matters of indifference, such as eating meats that had been used in worship to an idol, and to special days.
a. There is a strong brother and a weak brother.
b. The strong brother is to give up his rights to avoid causing the weak brother to stumble.
c. "Flesh" from verse 21 is the same as meat. There was nothing wrong with eating this meat, but Paul would give it up if it caused a brother to stumble. In other words "nor anything" would include other matters of indifference not specifically mentioned here in the text.
2. We have no reason to think there was anything wrong with drinking this wine.
a. Intoxicating wine could not be under consideration here.
b. Could not have Paul have said "Don’t drink non-intoxicating wine if it offends your brother"?
D. I Timothy 5:23
Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.
1. It is probable that Timothy drank no wine at all. Maybe he drank only water.
2. Must we assume this "little wine" was intoxicating?
a. Whatever kind of wines it was, it was medicinal.
b. This would not support social drinking of alcoholic drinks any more than using heroin as a medicine would support its use as a recreational drug.
E. I Corinthians 11:20-21
when ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.
21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
1. Hungry is set against Drunken.
2. MacKnight says, "One is hungry and another is filled." Here "Drunken’ is not set in opposition to "sober."
a. They were probably gluttonous.
b. They were abusing food and drink.
c. They were combining a common meal with the Lord’s supper.
3. They had drunk well.
a. They were satisfied.
b. "Methuno" John 2: 11 -drunk freely.
F. Luke 7:31-35
31 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? 32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.
33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking i4ne,- and ye say, He hath a devil 34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a wine bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners 35 But wisdom is justified of all her children.
1. These accusations are lies invented by the enemies of John and Christ.
a. While Jesus did not specifically deny this charge, neither did he deny that he was a glutton or that John had a demon.
b. No denial was called for because it was obvious these were lies.
G. Psalm 104:15
And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.
1. Prov. 20: 1.
2. These are two different wines.
3. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 8:15 about the pleasure of a good meal.
H. Ephesians 5:18
And be not drunk **h i4ne, wherein is ,excess,- but he filled with the Spirit,-
1. The phrase "wherein is excess" is translated "in which is dissipation" (NKJB).
a. Dissipation means "to indulge oneself excessively in pleasures."
2. "Wherein is riot" (ASV).
3. Do not be drunk with wine because it is riotous and dissipate.
a. The reference is to the result of a drunken life.
b. This scripture does not support wine but encourages the filling of a Christian with the word that is motivated by the Spirit.
III. Custom.
1. Polygamy.
2. Idolatry.
