259 — Wine or Juice?
Perhaps I’m just feeling cocky after (so far) surviving the airing of my Hell series, but it has come time to address this question that appeared in the tentpegsquestion@yahoo.com pile.
Did Jesus turn water into alcoholic wine? If he did why do people have such a problem with the idea of this?
The story of Jesus turning water to wine has troubled a lot of church people over the years. I have seen people put Greek words through gymnastics in an attempt to make “wine” not mean “wine.” That sets alarm bells off in my head because I don’t like it when some people try to mess with the plain meaning of other passages… so why should we accept it here?
One of my heroes is Jim McGuiggan. He has left us a long, wonderful track record of selfless service and scholarship. While his commentaries are fun reading, my favorite books of his are The God of the Towel and If God Came. That said, I read his book on the Christian and alcohol — twice — and found it wildly complicated, far too casuistic, and full of scholasticism. If those last two words are unfamiliar to you, they mean that the logic is applied to get to a predetermined conclusion, even if it means forcing and bending the evidence to fit. Why did Jim feel the need to do that? Jim doesn’t think Christians should drink any alcohol at any time. Fair enough, drink is a major curse in Northern Ireland — his home — and through Scotland and England. In those lands it is easy to grow up either as a drunk or as someone with a strong aversion to alcohol.
A lot of other Christians have a view of this world and its pleasures that has a hard time dividing what is acceptable to God and what is not. This is not new. Paul was very upset at those in Colosse who equated self denial with Christian morality. “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules? They say “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” (Colossians 2:20-23)
Jesus climbed all over the Pharisees for the same thing: they made strict laws for themselves and then acted as if following those laws was God’s idea. So, when Jesus came along and only did what the Father wanted him to do (John 5:19; John 17), the Pharisees considered him not up to their standards! Those who try to make Jesus a teetotaler have a terrible task ahead of them. He is contrasted with John the Baptist who was a teetotaler due to his Nazarene vow. John didn’t eat and drink like others but Jesus did (Matthew 11:18,19). And Jesus made wine. Lots of wine.
I’ve written about that miracle before and what it meant to us who now live in the freedom Christ gave us, but I will go ahead and repeat here that the words of the master of the feast are ridiculous unless the substance Jesus made was true wine. He said that people start with the good stuff and then, when the people are full (the same word is used for gluttony and drunkenness), they bring out the cheap stuff. The master of the feast told the groom he had got it backwards by bringing out the best wine last. Try to substitute “grape juice” in there and it doesn’t work. Besides, the words used are those commonly used for wine. True, Jews often watered down their wine substantially and they tended to criticize the Galatians and others who drank it straight, but it was still wine.
Paul told Timothy to use a little wine for his stomach’s sake. I’ve heard preachers say that Timothy was not allowed to drink it; he was only to use an ounce or so per gallon of water as a way to purify the water he’d been drinking. Uh… no.
There is a principle here that has crippled us and our ability to reach others: fear of pleasure. God made a beautiful and awe inspiring and funny and, yes, pleasurable world (I assume you’ve seen the BBC series on Planet Earth or similar depictions of this incredible creation God bequeathed us). He filled it with things that are fun to taste, fun to touch, and fun to look at. He warned us that demons would come along to teach us doctrines of self denial and the avoidance of pleasure (1 Timothy 4:1-4). And, boy, how those demons converted Christians by the tens of thousands! There are churches that deny all pleasurable things — comfortable clothes, electricity, caffeine, alcohol, dancing (which, if you pay attention, God put into the wiring of every child), parties, secular music, etc. As in Colossians, these rules look like strict, holy rules but they are useless, ineffective, and NOT from God!
Take poor caffeine, for example. I know of just under 200 studies done on caffeine. In every case, caffeine is found to be beneficial unless you have acid reflux disease, high blood pressure, or a couple forms of mental illness. Otherwise, it is a hugely beneficial — and natural — element that brings joy and improved performance when taken in small to moderate doses. Why are people always railing against it? Because it makes life better… therefore, it must be evil!
The heroes of the faith in the early centuries lived horrible lives. Many of them were forced into those lives by persecution and poverty and others put themselves in that situation by retreating to caves, deserts, and the top of poles. People looked at these men and called them holy men but God might have a different opinion. He told us to go into all the world, not sit on a pole. He also told us not to listen to those rules about self denial that seem so Christian and yet are not.
I have friends who will not take medicine if it has alcohol in it. They think, by refusing it, they are suffering for Jesus. In a way, they are. Romans 14 indicates that if someone is doing this because they love the Lord, He will honor it — and that is good news! Still, God didn’t make the rule they have bound on themselves. If they wish to keep that rule, okay… but do not dare bind it on anyone else (Matthew 15:8,9).A drink a day is good for most people’s hearts and a drink of red wine a day has recently been proven to lower the odds of developing Alzheimer’s. Who are we to deny people access to that?
We have taken the same attitude that forbids alcohol or, well, fun and slathered it heavily over the subject of sex. Christians are known for being repressed sexually. This is an unfair characterization but I can understand how it has come to be. There are countless loveless homes where sex is never discussed, rarely engaged in, and everyone is fearful that they might actually enjoy it! God’s attitude toward sex is very different. The Song of Songs celebrates it, of course, but God also celebrates when a “man goes into his wife’s chamber” or “knows his wife” and Paul goes so far as to say that, upon marriage, your body is transferred to your mate. He strictly forbids those who want to withhold sex for any reason — even religious ones — and tells them that, if they do, they can only do so with full agreement from their partner and, even then, only if they are also fasting. That way, they have to stop their physical boycott within a few days at most! (I Corinthians 7:1-7). While Paul celebrated celibacy, he did so only as a single man. He forbade such pseudo-religious posturing to anyone with a husband or wife. If anyone is about to write saying “Didn’t Paul say it was good for a man not to touch a woman,” the answer is “no!” Paul said that is what the Corinthians said and he was writing to correct them.
Drunkenness and gluttony are always, always wrong. Drinking a glass or two of alcoholic drink is not wrong unless you are a person who has trouble with self destructive, addictive behavior. And to those who say “no one would be an alcoholic if they hadn’t taken that first drink first” I would have to ask if that standard applies to other behavior. Should we never spend money out of fear of becoming consumerist, materialist, or supporters of bad companies? Should we never have sex out of fear that we might like it too much and go beyond the barriers of marriage God put in place for us? Should we never speak out of fear that we might use our words for cursing one day? Please…
The wine in John 2 was wine. Most wine of that day had an alcohol volume a little less than most table wines today (according to the best guesses of historians and archaeologists) but it is overeating and over drinking that are issues, not merely eating and drinking, even if for pleasure. Societies that introduce table wine into family life at childhood (think France, Italy, Spain, etc.) have a tiny percentage of the alcoholism that exist in nations that forbid all alcohol to anyone until they are adults (thus making it more attractive to any child wanting to appear grown up). They have far fewer traffic accidents, domestic violence, etc. than do the “morally superior” countries such as the UK and USA that spend so much time and money making alcohol unavailable to minors. Anytime you bring this up, those Christians in those countries are shocked — shocked I say — that you would suggest loosening up the rules and re-educating the populace. Why? Because they have an appearance of holiness and, for that, they are willing to throw away so many dollars and so many people.
It is so sad. Except in the preaching demon brigade. They love it.
May 24th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
In my opinion (backed by some – not exhaustive- study) the concept of non-alcoholic (rather than alcoholic) wine being used in ancient times is a case where the cultural influence on theology is at play.
The majority of ancient Christian streams of tradition (i.e. Catholicism, Anglicanism, etc) use alcoholic wine in the observance of the Eucharist. The people in these streams of faith would not consider the use of alcohol in one’s daily life to be wrong, except in the case of a recovering alcoholic, etc.
The rise American Temperance Movement coincides with the change in (then young) American Christian movements (i.e. Baptists, Church of Christ, etc.) switching from wine to grape juice in the Lord’s Supper.
The goal for this switch was to refrain from becoming a stumbling block for recovering alcoholics as they participate in communion, and thus, was a noble goal. Alcoholism was (and still is!) a serious problem for the church, and this was a measure taken to minister to that population.
This However, did not sit well with those who wished to model modern church after the early church. So, over time, in order to justify the use of grape juice in the Lord’s Supper, the sort of scholasticism arose in which wine in the Bible became nothing more than grape juice. This idea was based not on historical information, but on the feeling that the way we do things in church ought to be informed only by the New Testament text rather than responding to the culture in new and imaginative, yet Godly, ways.
Now, that which was meant to free the alcoholic from the chains of alcohol, has created a culture that (at times) vilified the drink itself, and the use of it by anyone, even though that concept is not found in the Bible. Culture influencing theology.
Fun Fact: Grape juice was invented by Thomas Bramwell Welch in 1869, a supporter of the temperance movement, and was intended to replace wine in the church which he attended.
May 24th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
You go, Patrick! I have a sort of checkered background when it comes to alcohol. My parents drank, sometimes to excess, and my father made wine as a hobby. After I was 13 I came to live with my uncle’s family, which was absolutely dead set against alcohol, and into a church society that was the same way. That, and the fact that there was a fair amount of alcoholism in my family, led me not to drink. To this day, I still have no desire for alcohol. For a long time I perpetuated the idea that drinking was forbidden, but then I began to really read my Bible. I still have to occasionally quash the idea that I’m morally superior to those who do drink alcohol moderately–Satan knows where to tweak me.
The twisting and bending of the scriptures that we have done in the name of control are completely without merit. Thanks for standing up for plain common sense.
May 24th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Jim’s McGuiggan’s father was a drunkard who did nothing good for his family. It is better never to drink than to do so and learn you are an alcoholic who then will fight all your life (or not) against the results of that. There is nothing redeeming about alcoholic beverages except to cause division in families – church or otherwise.
You seem to know a lot more about Jim’s situation than do I. However, it is not true to say there is nothing redeeming about alcoholic beverages when a great many medical studies say otherwise.
May 24th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Interestingly, after my heart attack in 1995, I asked my cardiologist whether I should be drinking red wine. His opinion at that time was that the jury was still out, and there are other problems from alcohol that I wouldn’t have to worry about. He hasn’t changed his opinion in the years since, and I’m pretty sure he’s not basing it on theology. So I don’t worry about drinking. Never liked the stuff anyway.
May 24th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
i do not know a lot about Jim, except we were at Sunset School of Preaching while he taught there. And he had nothing good to say about alcoholic drinking.
I have no right to tell anyone else what he/she should do about this, but I have a son who is a recovering alcoholic, and have no idea why unless it was because we had none in our house and he had to try it somewhere else. It has been a long struggle for him, with three failed marriages, so for my family I believe it is wrong.
May 24th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
While in the Lutheran church, my son asked the pastor if it would be possible to have grape juice instead of, or along with wine, for the Lord’s supper. To the man’s credit, he agreed. Now that my son is back with the church of Christ, he no longer has to worry about that on Sunday morning. And he hasn’t had any alcoholic beverage for over 20 years, but it will always be a battle he has to resist.
May 24th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Patrick, this is a great commentary on an even bigger issue. I can recall sitting in the worn seats of the Benson Auditorium at Harding University and hearing multiple lessons warning me against consuming alcoholic drinks of any kind and in any quantity. No middle ground of any kind was discussed. Frankly, it reminded me of my “health” classes at church, where I was shown video of the aftereffects of various venereal diseases in an attempt to keep me from being sexually active. Certainly, alcohol is harmful when taken in excess. However, the alcohol itself is not the source of the sin…the consumer is! I don’t begrudge anyone for taking a “teetotaler” stance on alcohol, but those folks need to remember that God put no such rules on men. In fact, God created the reactions and natural processes that produce alcohol! Strangely enough, it’s only alcohol consumption that gets hammered this hard – I can’t recall the last time I heard a lesson or sermon about overeating. And if I did, there was certainly no suggestion that one was better off to never eat than to eat and run the danger of becoming a glutton! We really need to work a little harder at understanding there’s a big difference between personal laws and God’s commands.
May 25th, 2010 at 8:48 am
Excellent Blog!! Back in High School and College I was a big teetotaler. Once I read more and discussed more and reserached more, I came to the conclusion that no, it is not wrong to consumer a tasty alcoholic beverage with a nice cheeseburger and fries. I agree, we have gone to the extent of banning all pleasure and it’s really sad.
We hardly ever have any adult beverages at home and when we are out for dinner, we hardly drink it but on a hot summer day with some chicken wings and good friends…mmmmmmmm. About as good as an RC cola and a Moonpie.
May 25th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Patrick (or anyone else),
How do you reconcile your conclusion on alcohol to the realities of our society/church? I *assume* that as a COC minister, it is probably in your contract to not partake of alcoholic drink. Maybe not. Let’s assume it is NOT something in your contract—would you ACTUALLY drink?
…And if you do/would drink, do you do so publicly? Or is it more something where you pay the guy that cuts your grass to run down to the store and buy you a 12 pack, since “you are a preacher and don’t want to be seen buying beer…people wouldn’t understand and it would send the wrong message.”
I’m not being antagonistic; I truly would like to know how you handle this. This is what stops me from drinking…not the idea that it is sinful. I don’t drink (usually) because in our society, Christians don’t drink. And I feel for me to drink would be at the expense of my credibility. It’s not like the person is going to confront me and allow me time to have a detailed discussion of inferences, etc.
I realize that I am inferring the best way for *me* to handle this situation. If I may ask, how do you handle it?
I do not have such a contract and, in fact, never heard of anyone having one. Each community/region has different cultural norms, I realize, but I must say that it is very rare for me to speak to ministers under the age of 40 where this is an issue at all. Why? Because it is not an issue with their congregations. It used to be, a long time ago, but hasn’t been in recent memory. That said, you have to work this out on your own.
May 26th, 2010 at 12:48 am
Patrick, this was a very level-headed commentary. Thank you. JMF–although not a preacher, I sympathize with your quandary & hope you can come to some sort of answer.
May 26th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Are you sure about this? I was working through this text at a church in Florida and one of the men took issue with me about the wine being alcoholic. He was adamant it was nothing more than grape juice. He also was a Ph.D. level math professor and an engineer in the space program out at Kennedy Space Center. Who was I to argue with a “rocket scientist”?
May 26th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Thank you for this post, Patrick. I do appreciate your boldness..you obviously will catch a lot of flack over this, but you are not going beyond what is in the bible, and I commend you. Thank you again.
May 27th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
If the wine at the wedding feast at Cana was not alcoholic, then why did the wine steward pronounce it the best (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+2&version=NIV)?
Would that be a different wine than the one warned about through so many of the prophets and proverb-writers that makes people drunk? A different wine than the one that God promised He would give to restored Israel, along with grain and many other blessings? A different wine than what Paul recommended to Timothy?
The scriptural answer is not total abstinence, but total common sense. Don’t drink enough so that you lose your common sense. Don’t put yourself in situations where you might become inebriated and be a danger to yourself and/or others. Don’t overdrink and be a bad example to others. If you can’t handle alcohol, don’t handle alcohol.
The danger with it, of course, is that alcohol – like any other mood-altering pharmaceutical – begins to affect your judgment the moment you begin imbibing. You can become too inebriated to realize that you’re inebriated. The tipping point is different with every person, and often different with every circumstance: tiredness, how much you’ve had to eat, how much you have spaced out the drinks, etc.
I don’t drink. (Okay, an Irish coffee perhaps two or three times a year before bed. I am a sucker for addictive behaviors and I don’t tolerate alcohol well. So I don’t drink.) My wife has a half-glass of red wine before bed most evenings. If she has a little alcohol while we’re out, I drive home.
You have to know your limits.
June 2nd, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Alcohol has so often been condemned, but I look around at a lot of our congregations, and have to wonder…what if a person’s weight became a matter of right and wrong (and I do think there is a reasonably good argument for some degree of rightness or wrongness regarding how well we take care of our bodies)? Would we be so critical of those that indulge in alcohol?
Of course the short answer is that “alcohol kills”. Ok. And excess weight doesn’t? Our churches have much more of a weight problem (yours truly included) than any kind of alcohol problem. Anyone up for THAT discussion at our next potluck??
I think the issue is one’s own conscience between oneself and God. The “disputable matters” text of Romans very easily allows for two brethren to have diabolically opposed points of view, and BOTH be right with God. Now how is THAT for an awesome God who truly meets US where we are individually?? That’s the God I want to proclaim and submit to, and the God whose love I can draw on to be one with my brother with whom I do not agree. Praise to Him!
June 3rd, 2010 at 2:06 am
I like Proverbs 31:6&7 on this issue.
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Great commentary Patrick, something I’ve heard debated for years but I very much appreciate your viewpoint. I like how you paralled alcohol with other things we who grew up in ultra conservative churches were taught were “bad” or “wrong”. It’s amazing how church has managed to suck the enjoyment out of all of God’s created goodness, esp. when it comes to the joys of sex in marriage or just being able to tap your foot to your favorite tune. Bravo!
June 16th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Excellent — and very Biblical — thoughts, Patrick. I grew up hearing (and believing) that any use of alcohol was sinful. My wife and I now enjoy a drink from time to time. She usually has a glass of wine before bed. I enjoy a beer or two on Sunday nights after a long, difficult day of preaching and teaching.
Since I’m a Minister, I have to be careful. Our church is middle of the road/conservative, and if I was seen drinking a beer, I would likely be in a lot of trouble with the elders — maybe even fired. It’s one of the sad realities of being a Church of Christ Minister.
August 27th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I have TREMENDOUS respect for Jim McGuiggan and have been so enriched by his works. I was raised in a T totallars … one drink was “one drink drunk.” And yes Jesus made grape Kool-aid!! Well that is what I was taught.
But having lived in many different places I have learned just how “cultural” attitudes towards swimming, tobacco and yes wine really are. I done quite a bit of research on the subject and hand and am amazed at the special pleading done on the matter. Here are two blogs I wrote on the matter:
When Wine is Really “Wine”
http://stoned-campbelldisciple.blogspot.com/2009/01/when-wine-is-really-wine.html
Beer & The Bible
http://stoned-campbelldisciple.blogspot.com/2009/01/beer-bible.html
Thanks for calling us to discernment and not legalism.
Shalom,
Bobby Valentine
November 15th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
I’m a huge fan of McGuiggan’s faith-building, life-changing works, especially his commentaries that correct so many of our nutty ideas about Revelation and the prophets.
However, I have found his teaching regarding the consumption of alcohol to be biased.
Thanks so much for daring to speak the truth from the biblical record regarding this taboo topic. It pains me to speculate how many will be lost because their teachers insisted upon absolute abstinence from ‘all appearance of evil” in order to truly repent and be a “fit subject” for conversion.
January 16th, 2013 at 12:27 pm
Patrick,
1st off I will say, I don’t drink as there are Alcoholics in my family on both sides. That being said, I will not say someone is in sin for having a glass for dinner. There are many members of my CoC group who will say any opportunity they can that even one drink of an alcoholic beverage is 1/8th drunk. To me, reading the scripture and seeing what the Bible clearly says about drinking vs. drunkeness, and to hear the supposed “wiser” older members of our congrigation say it is clearly wrong, no ifs ands or buts about it, really disturbs me. I think the verses that make it pretty clear that drinking is acceptible in moderation is when you look at the qualifications of Deacons and Elders as seen below:
1 Tim 3:3-(Elders) not given to DRUNKENESS, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
1 Tim 3:8-Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, NOT INDULGING IN MUCH WINE, and not pursuing dishonest gain.
Clearly wine is not the problem, the over consumption of it is, or it would say do not drink wine.
I often thought about inviting several of those to my house for dinner who say taking one drink makes you 1/8th drunk, so therefore you are drunk and in sin. Prepare them a nice meal and before they eat, ask just one favor of them, and that would be not to eat so much you become full. And after everyone takes the first bite, pretend to get upset saying that I asked them not to get full. Then they would say but we have only had one bite. Then I would show them clearly how much they are distorting God’s word by saying a sip of wine is considered drunk, when they themselves say they can’t be full on just one bite of food. For if the qualification of a deacon says not to have too much wine, and one sip is too much (according to them) and then one bite of food would be too much as well. I wonder if that would hit the point home?
As always, thanks for speaking the Truth even when many don’t see it as such.
All for Him,
Jeremiah