Recommendation: Read “Is It Acceptable for Christians to Smoke or Consume Drugs?” and “Does the Bible Support Moderate Drinking of Alcohol?” before starting this study.
Workers in God’s vineyard
How can we improve our chances against the devil?
1 Peter 5:8-9 – Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
1 Peter 1:13 – Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ …
1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 – Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
Remark: Being sober is essential for vigilance and care. Alcohol alters consciousness so that people perceive dangers as less threatening and are less able to distinguish between right and wrong (good and evil). A substantial share—and in some categories, more than half—of crimes and accidents occur when people are intoxicated.
What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
Galatians 5:19-23 – Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance {self control}: against such there is no law.
Remark: Drinking alcohol undermines self-control, the very quality commended here.
What is the opposite of being filled with God’s Spirit?
Ephesians 5:17-18 – Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine {oinos}, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit …
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 – Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.
Remark: See also Micah 2:11. A spirit of drunkenness drives out the Holy Spirit of God, whom we need in order to be sealed for salvation (see Ephesians 4:30).
What was special about Nazarites?
Numbers 6:1-6 – And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord: He shall separate himself from wine {yayin} and strong drink {shekar}, and shall drink no vinegar {chomets} of wine {yayin}, or vinegar {chomets} of strong drink {shekar}, neither shall he drink any liquor {mishrah} of grapes {enab}, nor eat moist grapes, or dried {fresh grapes or raisins}. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree {yayin}, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body.
Amos 2:8,11-12 – And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine {yayin} of the condemned in the house of their god. / And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord. But ye gave the Nazarites wine {yayin} to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
Luke 1:15 – For he {John the Baptist} shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine {oinos} nor strong drink {sikera}; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.
Remark: Nazarites were not allowed to drink alcohol. The Nazarite calling was closely associated with being set apart for God’s special purposes—often as a prophet or “man of God” (see Samuel in 1 Samuel 1:11; John the Baptist in Luke 1:15; Samson in Judges 13:4–7). If they received a vision or assignment from God, no one could claim it was the result of drunkenness.
Why cannot people who drink alcohol be used by God?
Isaiah 28:7 – But they also have erred through wine {yayin}, and through strong drink {shekar} are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink {shekar}, they are swallowed up of wine {yayin}, they are out of the way through strong drink{shekar}; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
Ezekiel 44:21 – Neither shall any priest drink wine {yayin}, when they enter into the inner court.
Leviticus 10:8-11 – And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine {yayin} nor strong drink {shekar}, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.
Isaiah 5:11-12 – Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink {shekar}; that continue until night, till wine {yayin} inflame them! And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine {yayin}, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.
1 Timothy 3:8 – Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine {oinos}, not greedy of filthy lucre …
Remark: See Ezekiel 44:21 and Leviticus 10:8–11 alongside 1 Peter 2:9. God does not permit those who serve Him to drink alcohol, because it clouds judgment, dulls perception of Him, and can cause them to stumble in their calling.
Is it fine for other groups of people to drink?
Proverbs 31:4-7 – It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine {yayin}; nor for princes strong drink {shekar}: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Give strong drink {shekar} unto him that is ready to perish, and wine {yayin} unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Deuteronomy 21:20 – And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
Remark: See also Titus 2:3 and 1 Peter 4:3. Scripture does not commend drinking wine or other alcohol for those making important decisions. The supposed benefit of alcohol—“forgetting bad things”—is not positive but harmful. The Bible even uses irony to mock those who try to escape their troubles by turning to the bottle instead of turning to God. Only those determined to remain sick and miserable would choose alcohol for that purpose. Scripture warns that turning to alcohol to escape suffering only deepens the misery; instead, we are called to seek God for comfort and wisdom.
All things new
Was new wine more desirable in the ancient word?
Deuteronomy 7:13 – And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine {new wine; tiyrowsh}, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
Joel 2:19 – Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine {new wine; tiyrowsh}, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen …
Remark: Yes. See also Judges 9:13. New wine was harder to obtain and therefore more expensive and valuable than aged, fermented wine. Fresh grape juice was satisfying and gladdening for the Israelites because it arrived as a harvest reward—a rare, seasonal commodity full of sweetness and flavor not readily available the rest of the year. Scripture says God will satisfy us with new wine; there is no need for the inferior old wine. To be satisfied means to need nothing else.
Hosea 4:18 – Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.
Isaiah 24:7,9 – The new wine {tiyrowsh} mourneth, the vine {gephen} languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. / They shall not drink wine {yayin} with a song; strong drink{shekar} shall be bitter to them that drink it.
Remark: A “sour drink” refers to a stale beverage in which fermentation has taken hold. Its opposite is a “sweet drink.” Fresh grape juice was considered sweet, while fermented wine could taste sour or even bitter, since fermentation consumes sugars and produces compounds that impart acidity and, at times, bitterness.
Doesn’t Jesus say that old wine is better than new wine?
Luke 5:37-39 – And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.
Remark: This passage is often cited to claim that old (alcoholic) wine is better and that Jesus endorses drinking alcohol. But Jesus is not approving anything here; here is talking about something else. Christ states that people who have already symbolically drunk old wine do not immediately desire new wine. He even says, “he says,” indicating it is the drinker’s sentiment, not Jesus’s evaluation. The point of the parable about new wine and old wineskins is that a complete renewal was needed in the religious life and society of the Jews. A partial patch would not suffice, because those accustomed to the “old wine” would resist the “new wine”—Jesus’s teaching. See the surrounding context in Luke 5:37–39; Matthew 9:17; and Mark 2:22.
What does fermentation symbolize in the Bible?
Exodus 12:15 – Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
Matthew 16:6 – Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 – Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Remark: Leaven was a decaying, fermenting agent—an old piece of dough from a previous batch worked into new dough. Thus, the processes of decay and fermentation usually symbolize something old and corrupting: the human tendency toward hypocrisy, attachment to man-made traditions, and ultimately sin (“malice and wickedness”).
What was Jesus’ mission?
2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Luke 22:20 – Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Remark: See also John 3:3; John 13:34; Romans 12:2; Revelation 21:1. Jesus’ mission was to renew the human race—our thinking, our way of life, ultimately our bodies, and all creation. He did not come to produce what is old or degenerated; rather, he brings what is new and life-giving.
Did Jesus create alcoholic wine at Cana?
John 2:1-11 – [1] And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: [2] And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. [3] And when they wanted wine {oinos}, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine {oinos}. [4] Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. [5] His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. [6] And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. [7] Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. [8] And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. [9] When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine {oinos}, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, [10] And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine {oinos}; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine {oinos} until now. [11] This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
Considering the broader biblical themes and evidence, it is difficult to maintain that Jesus’s first sign involved creating intoxicants contrary to God’s moral will and handing alcohol to wedding guests and his disciples (cf. Habakkuk 2:15). Would Jesus create wine symbolizing corruption—fermented wine? Or would he rather create fresh grape juice, rare and difficult to obtain, to display his power and mission to bring newness?
Revelation 21:5 – And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Remark: In light of this study—and the other two recommended articles “Is It Acceptable for Christians to Smoke or Consume Drugs?” and “Does the Bible Support Moderate Drinking of Alcohol?”—it is unlikely that Jesus created alcoholic wine. Wine begins as unfermented grape juice (“new wine”). If Jesus is creating, why would he create it in a decayed, fermented state rather than new? By providing unfermented grape juice, Jesus would be making a statement: he does not follow man-made customs, and it is not necessary to consume alcohol to rejoice and enjoy fellowship.
Isn’t good alcohol served first? How could grape juice be “good”?
John 2:10 – And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine {oinos}; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine {oinos} until now.
Remark: The text may suggest the guests had drunk freely, but this does not require that the wine Jesus made was alcoholic—and we are not claiming the hosts’ earlier wine was grape juice. Some infer from John 2:10 that the “good wine” must have been alcoholic, using modern party logic (serve the best alcohol first, then inferior alcohol once people are intoxicated). That conclusion imports modern assumptions and overlooks historical and biblical context. In antiquity, “good/bad” wine can be understood in three tiers: Best—unfermented grape juice (rare, seasonal, highly valued), which is what Jesus provided; Good—lightly fermented and/or diluted wine, likely served first and exhausted; Bad—strongly fermented or heavily watered-down wine, served later and also depleted. If Jesus had produced ordinary fermented wine, the sign would be unremarkable, since such wine was common. What is remarkable is supplying the most prized “good wine”—fresh or minimally fermented grape juice—at a time when juice would have been scarce long after harvest (the wedding was likely in early spring near Passover; cf. John 2:13)..
Didn’t Jesus drink some alcohol on the cross?
John 19:29-30 – Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar {sour wine; oxos}: and they filled a spunge with vinegar {sour wine; oxos}, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar{sour wine; oxos}, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Matthew 27:34,48 – They gave him vinegar {oinos} to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. / And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar {sour wine; oxos}, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
Mark 15:23 – And they gave him to drink wine {oinos} mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.
Remark: The drink offered to Jesus by the Roman soldiers had anesthetic properties intended to dull pain, serving a medicinal purpose and likely containing low alcohol (approximately 1–3%). The Gospel accounts can be read in different ways: in Matthew 27:34 he refuses wine mixed with gall, while later (27:48) he appears to “receive” a sour wine/vinegar; “received” may mean he only tasted it. Even if Jesus did ingest some of this pain-dulling drink, the broader point stands: drinking wine for intoxication is spiritually harmful. In antiquity, people often had limited options and commonly used diluted wine to make water safer to drink; Jesus would have shared in the ordinary, low-alcohol dilutions of his time. Today, with safer beverages widely available, we can choose to avoid alcohol—an addictive drug bringing significant risks to our lives.
Will there be wine in heaven?
Mark 14:25 – Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine {ampelos}, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
Remark: See also Matthew 26:29 and Luke 22:18. Jesus avoids the term “wine” and says he will drink the “fruit of the vine,” which is to be understood as fresh grape juice. He reinforces this by saying he will drink it “new,” a term associated with “new wine” (unfermented grape juice).
