What the Bible Says About Alcohol (Wine)

The Bible clearly teaches that the abuse of alcoholic beverages is NOT an illness (alcoholism), but is a willful, deliberate violation of God’s commands and teachings found in His Word, the Bible. Drunkenness is SIN and in Galatians 5:21, this warning is given: “envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice those things SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD!”

Galatians 5:16 gives us God’s solution to the sin of drunkenness: “walk by the Spirit, and you WILL NOT carry out the desire of the flesh.”

Abstinence is never taught as a way of life for the Christian, although it may be chosen as a personal preference. Abstinence is condemned as false teaching in 1 Timothy 4:1-4;
“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude;”

and is said to have “no value” in Colossians 2:20-23;
“If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’ (Which all refer to things destined to perish with using) – in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

Abstinence is a religious tradition of men condemned by the Lord Jesus in Mark 7:7-9;
“‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’” Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men. He was also saying to them, ‘You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.’”

Nowhere is abstinence supported in the Bible. Study the over 230 verses, of which only a few are listed here, that mention wine to learn the truth.

Genesis 14:18 - And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.

Genesis 27:25 - “Bring (it) to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought (it) to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.

Exodus 29:40 - and there (shall be) one-tenth (of an ephah) of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a libation with one lamb.

Leviticus 10:9 - “Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you may not die – it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations –“

Leviticus 23:13 - “It’s grain offering shall then be two-tenths (or an ephah) of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the \Lord\ (for) a soothing aroma, with its libation, a fourth of a hin of wine.”

Numbers 6:20 - “Then the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the \Lord.\ It is holy for the priest, together with the breast offered by waving and the thigh offered by lifting up; and afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.”

Numbers 15:5 - and you shall prepare wine for the libation, one-fourth of a hin, with the burnt offering or for the sacrifice, for each lamb.

Deuteronomy 14:26 - “And you may spend the money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the \Lord\ your God and rejoice, you and your household”

Deuteronomy 15:14 - “You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the \Lord\ your God has blessed you.”

1 Samuel 16:20 - And Jesse took a donkey (loaded with) bread and a jug of wine and a young goat, and sent (them) to Saul by David his son.

1 Samuel 25:18 - Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred (loaves) of bread and two jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and five measures of roasted grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded (them) on donkeys.

Proverbs 20:1 - Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.

Proverbs 21:17 - He who loves pleasure (will become) a poor man; He who loves wine and oil will not become rich.

Proverbs 32:20 - Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, (Or) with gluttonous eaters of meat;

Proverbs 23:30 - Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine.

Proverbs 23:31 - Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly;

Luke 1:15 - “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, while yet in his mother’s womb.”

Luke 5:37 - “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.”

Luke 5:38 - “But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.”

Luke 5:39 - “And no one, after drinking old (wine) wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good (enough).’”

Luke 7:33 - “For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, ‘He has a demon!’”

Luke 7:34 - “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking; and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!’”

John 2:3 - And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus *said to Him, “They have no wine.”

John 2:9 - “And when the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter *called the bridegroom,”

John 2:10 - and *said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when (men) have drunk freely, (then) that which is poorer; you have kept the good wine until now.”

Acts 2:13 - But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.”

Acts 2:15 - “For these men are not drunk as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day;

God says, “If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he as a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.” (1 Timothy 6:3-5)

Therefore, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)
Study to see what God’s Word says for yourself.   
 

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