Is It OK for Christians to Drink Alcohol?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Proverbs 21, Proverbs 23:31, Ephesians 5, Romans 8, Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Corinthians 10

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--is-it-ok-for-christians-to-drink-alcohol
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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whenever you're going to talk about a major lifestyle issue you should trace what the bible teaches all the way from genesis to revelation you shouldn't just cherry pick and you shouldn't focus primarily on the old testament without considering what the new testament might have to say the reason is we believe in progressive revelation god took people from a life of sin and gradually began teaching them and that he didn't necessarily bring them all the way in some cases in the old testament people didn't receive the holy ghost they didn't have inward power to overcome sin and fully do god's will so god led them step by step back to his plan and it's in the new testament that we see the full plan for christian living so we should keep that in mind the second thing is that it's important is the word wine so both in the hebrew of the old testament and the greek of the new testament the term wine could cover all the juice from the grape whether it's fermented or not fermented now we might consider that in the majority of cases it's referring to fermentation but actually in hebrew they're more and in greek there are several different words that have different connotations but without getting too technical in the old testament the term wine sometimes clearly meant fresh grape juice because isaiah talks about the wine in the cluster so it's still in the grape on the vine also the word which for the corn and wine or the grain and wine and where the people would pay tithes that particular word is typically the fresh unfermented juice likewise in the new testament here you can have an example jesus gave the parable you don't put new wine in old bottles because or the old skins because when the wine is fermented it will burst the skin so obviously when you first put the wine in it's unfermented because that's the problem during the process it ferments so even in the new testament the term wine can be used for unfermented and also if you study the culture of that day and you can even see this in homer's writings the iliad the odyssey that when they would drink wine as a table beverage they would have a big bowl and they would mix the wine with water so it might only be one part wine and three parts water so that you couldn't even get intoxicated in even if it was fermented uh in in normal quantities of drinking at a meal you couldn't get intoxicated because the purpose was especially in time where it was difficult to have sanitary water the juice or the wine was a way of keeping a beverage um wholesome and uh free of disease and contamination but you wouldn't drink it straight you wouldn't dilute it mix it with large quantities of water so it had the preservative qualities or wholesome qualities but yet it would not be intoxicating so obviously you could get intoxicated if you wanted to but for normal use you couldn't um and so that probably would explain paul's statement he's not saying uh go out and get drunk he's saying use a little sanitary juice maybe even unfermented instead of the local unsanitary water he's not he said because of your stomach's sake apparently timothy had stomach issues problems so he's not saying oh yeah drink alcoholic beverages to help your weak stomach that's the opposite of what he's saying and when you look at jesus turning water into wine he created he that was a creative miracle so you would think probably he created fresh juice fermented wine is a process of decay so do you think god created something that was decayed or do you think god created something fresh and and god doesn't tempt anyone so do you think god was deliberately creating a strong alcoholic beverage so people would get drunk you know so so trying to use those examples uh probably falls far short what we should actually do is say okay how was wine used and how is it supposed to be used yes in the old testament people did use fermented wine and in some cases they did get drunk but repeatedly it's shown as a negative thing in fact they're admonitions in the old testament kings are not to drink wine of course i'm sure they breached that but that was what they were instructed because it would alter their judgment priests were not to drink wine as they ministered uh and and so the the nazarites people who had a vow separation well the relevance of that is in the new testament all of god's people are supposed to be kings priests and separated ones so even taking the old testament which was not the fullest statement of the subject but if you follow that principle god's people today would abstain and we actually do see as you mentioned in proverbs for example proverbs 21 wine is a mocker strong drink is raging whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise uh proverbs 23 31 a very direct command look not thou upon the wine when it is red when it giveth his color in the cup would it move it itself a right let's talk about the fermentation process the alcoholic content so actually if you want to follow the best admonition not the the failed practices of people who didn't have the holy ghost but actually the admonition of what god wished then you wouldn't drink alcoholic beverages and the new testament of course is very clear that drunkenness is a sin so if you get drunk that's clearly a sin you say what if i drink in moderation and abstain well there are several problems with that or or you know make sure i don't get drugs several problems with that first of all even a small amount starts affecting you so you may not be fully intoxicated but you are affected and your inhibitions are lowered and for a christian that's a real problem because it's now opening you up and and people drink even socially for this very reason to lower their guard and that leads to the less of the flesh and and all kinds of immoral conduct or or even improper speech and so when you think about that uh ephesians 5 says don't be drunk with wine wherein is excess so even if you don't get drunk there's still excess and then contrary to that be filled with the spirit so if it under the new testament our bodies is the temple of the holy spirit so we should be good swords of our bodies we should be filled with the spirit which doesn't merely indicate an anointing or an influence but actually be controlled filled possessed according to our will not against our will but completely controlled by the spirit so then it would be problematic to say okay i'm supposed to be filled and led by the spirit but in this case i'm gonna drink alcohol and i'll try not to get drunk if i do get drunk then i'm a sinner for sure but even if i don't get drunk i am now letting alcohol start to tell me what to do and i'm dulling my conscience and i'm dulling the influence of the spirit so for social reasons i can be a little more uh lax in my expressions and a little more forward i can start flirting i can talk start saying things i wouldn't normally say i can start getting arguments that normally i would say is bad but i'm no longer letting the spirit lead me i'm letting alcohol take over which means i'm letting my flesh take over which i'm deliberately letting my sinful nature take precedence of the spirit i'm using alcohol as a tool to do that well romans chapter 8 says that we should mortify the deeds of the body we should kill the deeds of the body in other words don't give the flesh an inch or it'll take a mile so even thinking about when you fall short of intoxication you're you're allowing yourself to be under the control of something that's not conducive to your spiritual life we also have the principles of christian liberty that we see in romans 14 we also see in first corinthians chapter six and all and verse and chapter 10.

so you might say well i think i have christian liberty in this case because it says drunkenness is sin but does it take doesn't say taking one sip is a sin okay let's just take your premise and go forward if you read carefully in first corinthians it says well i have liberty in things but it goes on to say i will not come under the power of anything it says i have liberty thing in things but i will not use things that are detrimental or that not beneficial to me i have liberty but i will not cause a stumbling block to others i have liberty but in everything i will give glory to god if you take those four principles is it beneficial no it's detrimental could it get me under the power of something else other than god yes could it be a stumbling block to others if nothing else my example to children to youth to to people i'm trying to win to the lord to people who struggle with alcohol uh it yes it could be a stumbling block my example and then finally can i give glory to god when i eat or drink can i honor god and glorify god so even if you start with the principle of christian liberty the exercise of christian liberty according to the guidelines in first corinthians say in this case the best policy is not to try moderation the best policy is abstention because that's the only safeguard and and you also see here's an information from several years ago according to world health organization 1.8 million people die each year around the world due to alcohol consumption in the u.s alone 75 000 people so when you consider drunk driving and cirrhosis of the liver and other things you have about 75 000 people die every year because of alcohol just in the u.s even if you set aside all other biblical teachings and moral issues wouldn't that alone be enough to say if we can save people's lives and if we can save millions of people from going into alcoholism and destruction of marriages families incidents of crime and addiction all that wouldn't be worth it so i do think uh that today and i will also make a further comment in bible days distillation was unknown so they had naturally fermented juice and as i said often they diluted it for a table beverage but they didn't have the means of making these fortified alcoholic beverages so when you talk about alcohol consumption in bible days it's a far different scenario than the variety and type and strength of alcohol today so you're you're not comparing you know directly summarizing it all i would say for christians the right policy is certainly drunkenness is a sin but even considering that our body is Is