“Wine in the Bible”

Ben Bailey

Introduction:
I. What makes this an important topic?
A. It is a biblical topic? (I Thes. 5:21).
B. It is a moral/ethical topic.
C. There is so much confusion over this topic.

II. This topic is very relevant to us today because of the danger of alcohol.
A. 3 out of every 10 homes are affected some way by alcohol.
B. Over 100 million American have an alcohol-related problem.
C. Out of a survey done by Gallup, 64% of the populace said they have drunk or
do still drink.

I. The Background and Meaning of the word Wine. (To try and understand the
etymology and change in meaning the word wine has gone through we must look at three
different languages and their use of wine)

A. English
1. Modern English Dictionaries define wine as solely relating to fermented wine:
a. Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines wine as “fermented grape juice
containing a varying percentage of alcohol.”
b. Webster’s Dictionary also defines wine as “a drink containing 10-15% alcohol
by volume, made by fermenting grapes.

2. Classical English use of the word wine is more akin to the biblical usage.
a. Funk and Wagnall’s Dictionary (1955) defines wine as “1. The fermented
juice of the grape. 2. In loose language the juice of a grape.”
b. Benjamin Morin’s Lingua Britannica Reformator A New English Dictionary
(1748) defines wine as “1. The juice of a grape. 2. A liquor extracted from
other fruits beside the grape.”
c. If, in 1748 wine meant grape juice or intoxicating drink, then it must have
meant that in 1611 when the KJV was translated. From the Classical English
language, we can see that wine could have a dual meaning.

B. The Greek word for wine is oinos [ο ι ν ο ς ] .

1. Examples of the dual meaning of the word oinos can be seen in secular Greek
writings.
a. Aristotle (384-322) in his book Meterologica refers to a sweet grape drink
which “though called wine (oinos) it has not the affect of wine, for it does not
taste like wine and does not intoxicate like ordinary wine.” * Notice that
Aristotle, who spoke the Greek language, recognized that wine could mean
alcoholic or non-alcoholic.

b. Atheneaus, the Grammarian (200 A. D.), in his book the Banquet recommends
for the dyspeptic “let him take sweet wine, either mixed with water or
warmed…As being good for the stomach, for sweet wine (oinos) does not
make the head heavy.” * Notice there was a kind of wine that did not make
 one heavy-headed and was good for stomach illnesses during this time. Could
this not have been what Paul was telling Timothy?

c. Papias, a bishop at Hieropolis, wrote “vines will grow each with… ten
thousand clusters on a twig, and ten thousand grapes in each cluster, and each
grape, when crushed, will yield 25 jars of wine (oinos).” It is interesting to
note here that Papias clearly tells us that wine can and does in some cases
mean squeezed grape juice.

C. The Hebrew word that is equivalent to the Greek word oinos is yayin. All
Greek and Hebrew scholars agree that these two words had the same generic
meaning. What is interesting to note from certain Old Testament passages is that
in the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) the word
oinos is used in places where it clearly has dual meaning. Notice just a few of
these:

1. Jeremiah 40:10,12 Gathering wine (oinos). Were they picking bottles of

wine off of trees?
2. Nehemiah 13:15 The loading of wine and wine presses were designated by
the Greek word oinos.
3. Lamentations 2:12 Were children asking for an intoxicating drink in this
passage?
4. Gen. 49:11 Hebrew Parallelism proves that wine and the blood of grapes is
the same thing.
5. Isaiah 65:8 A cluster of grapes was referred to as new wine (oinos).

D. The New Testament usage of the word wine also shows that it can not always
mean an intoxicant.
1. Matt 9:17 It is here that wine is referred to as new or fresh wine that has
just been squeezed from the grape.
2. In John 2 many people will try to prove that Jesus made alcoholic wine.
However, this can not be true for a few reasons:
a. To say that Jesus made alcoholic wine in John 2 is to say that Jesus
made 120-140 gallons of wine. That would equal about 4,300 cups of
intoxicating wine for everyone to get drunk off of. This would be a
direct violation of Habakkuk 2:15.
b. Secondly, many try and use the statement “best for last” to show that
this had to be fermented wine. The only problem with that is that we
judge alcoholic wine by its date and taste, the Jews probably judged
good wine by its fresh, new taste.

II. Reasons why a Christian should not drink.

A. It distorts one’s perception of reality (Isa 28:7; Prov 23:33).

B. It weakens moral awareness (Gen. 9:21; 19:32, Isa 5:11-12).
C. It impairs the decision-making ability (Lev 10:9-11).
D. It causes physical sickness (Prov 23:20-21; Hos. 7:5; Isa 19:14; Ps. 60:3). *Who can
enjoy standing behind a tree or over a commode vomiting or dry heaving anyway?
 E. It disqualifies one for civil and religious service (Prov 31:4-5; I Tim 3:2-3, Titus 1:7-
8).
F. It ruins one’s example in the world (I Tim 4:12; Matt 5:16).
G. It could be a stumbling block to a new/weaker Christian brother (Rom 14:13).

III. Bible Prohibitions against drunkenness.

A. Ephesians 5:18 Explicit command against drunkenness.

B. I Tim. 5:23 Timothy abstained from alcohol to the point of sickness.
C. I Thes 5:6-8, I Pet 5:8, I Pet 1:13 The word for sober (nepho) in the Greek language
meant total abstinence from any alcoholic drink. How can a Christian drink and
follow these passages?
D. I Cor. 6:9-10 Drunkenness condemned.

IV. Can I drink in moderation?

A. The question here is not whether one can drink in moderation, the question is can I be
moderately drunk?
B. If it takes a person 6 beers to get drunk, and they only drink one beer, does that mean
they are 1/6 of the way drunk. Where do you draw the line? How do you know when
you are drunk? Is a buzz drunk?
C. Also, how could you ever purchase alcohol without there being the chance that you
might offend or discourage someone from coming to the church?

V. The Approved use of Alcohol in the Bible.

A. There are two possible reasons why one could drink alcohol in the Bible and both of
these are for medicinal purposes.
1. Possibly for stomach problems (I Timothy 5:23). Could have also been grape
juice. Welch’s has a pamphlet out that tells how grape juice is good for ailments.
And, one of those is the ailment of stomach problems.
2. As an anaesthetic (Prov 31:6-7).