Obviously, not all of the Scriptures’ uses of the word wine are necessarily in reference to grape juice. One must look at the context. Even then, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to prove that the Scriptures prohibit the use of alcoholic wine. Consider the following:
Ephesians 5:18 states, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.” Does this mean, “Be not drunk with” grape juice?
How were the Israelites to preserve the grape juice from fermentation?
Deuteronomy 14:25-26 is very interesting, where is commanded, “Then shalt thou … go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: 26And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household.”
John 2:9-10 relates, “When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, ‘Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.’” Was he speaking of the various grades of grape juice that were customarily served at wedding feasts?
In Matthew 11 and Luke 7, Christ says that John the Baptist “came neither eating nor drinking,” but then He “the Son of man came eating and drinking” (Matthew 11:18-19). Christ’s statement is likely in reference to John’s obedience to the angel’s command spoken to John’s father Zacharias in Luke 1:15, “For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.” What was John prohibited from drinking? Wine and strong drink. So when Christ says that “John came neither eating nor drinking” but that He “the Son of man came eating and drinking,” what was he then drinking?
Why did Peter, at Pentecost, not rather declare, “These are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is not the custom of the Jews to drink alcoholic wine”? (Acts 2:15)
When various warnings are given throughout the Scriptures from the Holy Spirit against the drunkenness and the abuse of strong drink, is it because He saw that the Israelites might easily become addicted to grape juice?
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2 comments:
You have a great blog Mark.
I have a question... You said "Obviously, not all of the Scriptures’ uses of the word wine are necessarily in reference to grape juice. One must look at the context."
My question is, how can we know any of the Bible's references to wine are really grape juice? Is there a single case in Scripture where the word 'wine' could absolutely not be referring to fermented wine? Or could they all be referring to fermented wine. There are certainly plenty of cases where the word 'wine' must be referring to fermented wine, but is the opposite ever true? If not, then wouldn’t it make sense to translate every singe passage with the word ‘wine’ as truly meaning fermented wine?
Your buddy in Ohio,
Matt
Matt, you raise good questions that deserve good answers. At this point, however, I will not even attempt an answer, really. But please let me state why ....
I wrote that particular post (and, for that matter, most of my posts in relation to Church Challenges) as a response to some claims made by certain of my Christian brethren. Thus, the comment "not all of the Scriptures’ uses of the word wine are necessarily in reference to grape juice." This is in a direct response to those who suggest, if not insist, that the Scriptures always (or usually) refer to grape juice. I'm saying, "not so."
Remember that I prefaced my initial discussion on this with the statement that I had not researched this yet. I am simply endeavoring to use, say, a KJV Bible along with a sense of reason given me by God (tho' admittedly, some may argue that) to show that there are already problems with the "grape juice only" idea, without even picking up a Greek dictionary or whatever else.
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