The Fruit of the Vine

There are many subjects that seem to stir up intense debate among Christians, but alcohol and its consumption has got to be near the top of the list. The majority of Christians tend to fall into one of three categories; those who believe that alcohol is to be enjoyed in moderation, those who believe that the consumption of alcohol is not sinful, but that Christians should abstain from it, and those who believe that the consumption of alcohol is sinful. So who is right? As Christians, what should our attitude towards alcohol be? Like everything else, the Bible is not silent on this matter, and it is there that we must look for our answer. (For the purpose of this post, I will use the word "wine" to represent all forms of alcohol).

Wine is spoken of throughout the Bible, and is portrayed as a gift from God that should be enjoyed with thankfulness. It was often used as a sign of blessing, rejoicing and abundance ( Genesis 27:27-29, Psalm 104:14-16, Jeremiah 48:33, Zechariah 10:7, Amos 9:13-14) and the lack of it as a sign of want and judgement (Isaiah 16:10, Isaiah 24:11). Even today, part of the Jewish Passover prayer includes the line "Blessed are You O Lord, King of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine." Though some Christians today claim that the wine of that time was non-alcoholic, this does not seem likely due to the numerous references to drunkenness as well as the fact that the pasteurization of grape juice did not exist until the late 19th century. It is also unlikely that it was mixed with water, as this was used a metaphor for unfaithfulness and impurity (Isaiah 1:21-23). There are only a few people in the Bible who were expressly forbidden to drink wine. The priests were to abstain before they went into the Temple (Leviticus 10:8-10), the Nazirites were to abstain as part of their vow to set themselves apart for God (Numbers 6:2-4), and John the Baptist was to abstain as the forerunner of the Messiah (Luke 1:13-15). There is no difference between the Old and New Testament's views of wine, other than not causing your brother to stumble (which I will address later in this post). The New Testament particularly addresses the consumption of wine by elders (1 Timothy 3:8) and even the consumption of wine by Jesus Himself (Luke 7:33-34). The overall tone of the Bible towards wine itself is very positive, and does not forbid the drinking of it by Jews or Christians.

But while the consumption of wine is not condemned in the Bible, drunkenness is strongly condemned (Proverbs 20:1, Proverbs 23:20, Romans 13:13, Galatians 5:19-21) and its devastating consequences can be seen in the cases of Noah and Lot. As with many other things (food, sex, money), our sinful nature has taken a gift from God meant for pleasure and joy and twisted it into something horrid. Drunkenness, like all sin, ruins lives, tears families apart and brings death. Though not everyone who consumes alcohol is tempted to drink to excess, there are those who are, and for them it is best that they flee from that temptation and abstain from alcohol.

This is where the issue of not causing our brother to stumble comes in. The consumption of wine can cause our brothers to sin at times and we should never allow our freedom to drink wine come before what is best for others (Romans 14:21). This means that if we have brothers and sisters in Christ that we know are either tempted by alcohol or choose not to consume it, we should never serve it to them or in their presence. This does not mean that we may not consume it in the privacy of our homes or with those for whom alcohol is not a problem, it simply means that we must always show love for our brethren by putting their needs ahead of ours.

So if the Bible is pretty straightforward in its attitude toward wine (good in moderation, sinful when consumed in excess, harmful to others in some circumstances), why don't Christians agree on the subject? Well, the truth is that for many years we did. For centuries, the general consensus among Christians was that wine was a gift from God to be enjoyed, but that drunkenness is a sinful abuse of that gift and those who could not drink in moderation should abstain from it. From its early roots, the church required wine for use not only in the Lord's supper, but for everyday life as well. Thus, as Christianity spread throughout Western Europe, so did viticulture. In fact, until the twelfth century, it was the Catholic monasteries that brewed virtually all of the high quality beer and wine. And it was through the travel of Christian missionaries that viticulture was spread to the new world.

Though the Reformation shed light on huge differences on many theological points, the consumption of alcohol was not one of them. Many Reformers like Luther, Calvin and Knox maintained the traditional belief that wine in moderation was not only permissible, it was a gift. The Reformed Christian confessions of faith, the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, the Methodist Articles of Religion and the Dordrecht Confession of Faith all mention and assume the use of wine, especially as an element in the Lord's Supper. Even the "killjoy" English Puritans were temperate partakers of "God's good gifts".

The 17th century saw the Virginia colonists continue in this belief of alcoholic beverages as natural foods which are good in moderation. Beer arrived with the first colonists, and the Puritan minister Increase Mather preached in favor of wine, but against its abuse: "Drink is in itself a good creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness, but the abuse of drink is from Satan; the wine is from God, but the drunkard is from the Devil". This was also the attitude adopted by early Methodists like John and Charles Wesley and Baptists like John Gill.

It was not until the early 19th century that attitudes towards alcohol began to change. The urbanization and Industrial Revolution of the UK and the US began to bring about many problems like urban crime and poverty, yet alcohol was given most of the blame. Groups that started out promoting temperance (moderate consumption) soon became abolitionist and pressed for total prohibition. This movement was spearheaded by the Women's Christian Temperance Union, (whose leaders soon became the spearhead of another movement: women's suffrage) which was inspired not by the Bible, but by the writings of the Greek philosopher Xenophon. The idea of prohibition did not take complete hold in the Protestant churches until the 1869 invention by Methodist Thomas Bramwell Welch (as in Welch's Grape Juice) of a pasteurization process that stopped grapes from fermenting. The belief of many prohibitionists was that once alcohol was banned, many of the social problems and sins would cease to exist. But the Prohibition Era shows that this in effect only compounded the problem. It was not the wine that was causing these ills for society, but rather the sinful nature of mankind.

In his Fourth Invocavit Sermon of 1522, Martin Luther says "[W]e must not ... reject [or] condemn anything because it is abused.... [W]ine and women bring many a man to misery and make a fool of him (Ecclus. 19:2; 31:30); so [we would need to] kill all the women and pour out all the wine." And in 1 Corinthians, Paul never requires abstinence from wine, but rather a love for one another that manifests itself in moderate, selfless behavior. We have been given many good gifts by our heavenly Father, gifts that we may use in the context that He has set before us. As Christians, we have the freedom to partake of these gifts in that context, to enjoy a glass of wine over dinner or a beer while we watch the game.

I would like to end this post by saying that I in no way believe that the consumption of wine is required in the Bible. It is simply a freedom the we can choose to use. There are Christians who choose not to drink wine for various reasons, and I respect them for their choice. I only take issue with those who would say that drinking wine is considered sinful by God, or who condemn those Christians who choose to drink in moderation.

For more information on the history of Christianity and alcohol, I found the following articles to be helpful in writing this post:

Christianity and Alcohol- Wikipedia
Christian History-Christianity Today
History of Alcohol and Drinking Around the World-David J. Hanson, Ph.D
Alcohol and the Christian (1 & 2)- Matt & Adina