Q: Does the Bible strictly forbid the use of alcoholic beverages? I thought Jesus turned water into wine.

A: For centuries there has been confusion on this topic. Solomon admonished, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” Proverbs 20:1. Moderate alcohol users argue that if the Bible mentions wine, it means alcohol. Let’s study the use of the word wine in the Bible. Because Bible concordances define the Hebrew yayin and Greek oinos as a fermented beverage, many assume the Bible speaks only of fermented wine. However, wine used to have several meanings. The 1955 Funk and Wagnall’s dictionary defined wine “in loose language the juice of the grape whether fermented or not.”

In ancient literature wine could mean fermented or unfermented grape juice. Aristotle wrote of a sweet grape beverage he called wine: “It has not the effect of wine, for it does not intoxicate like ordinary wine.”1 Marcus Cato describes “wine still hanging on the grapes.”2 Since wine could mean fermented or unfermented, Bible translators didn’t always specify which one a text refers to. Could the ancients preserve grape juice so that it would not ferment? The practice of keeping wine unfermented was well known. The most common method was boiling grape juice to kill all yeast germs. This left thick syrup that could be diluted with water when needed. “The Mishna (ancient Jewish writings) states that the Jews used boiled wine often.”3 This unfermented wine, wrote Pliny, “neither inflames the brain nor infests the mind and passions, and is much more pleasant to drink.”4 God placed a special blessing on unfermented wine. “Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine [tirosh] is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it.” Isaiah 65:8. Tirosh is Hebrew for freshly squeezed grape juice. In choosing the Levites as priests, God promised: “All the best of the wine [tirosh], and of… the firstfruits … them have I given thee.” Numbers 18:12. Solomon admonishes, “Honour the Lord… with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine [tirosh].” Proverbs 3:9,10. In startling contrast to this blessing on unfermented wine is Proverb’s fearful warning against drinking fermented wine. “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” Proverbs 23:31,32. The New Testament mentions wine thirty-seven times, referring to unfermented grape juice. Ernest Gordon notes that in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for grape juice—tirosh—is translated at least 333 times into the Greek oinos—wine—without the adjective ‘new’. “Oinos without qualification… can easily mean unfermented wine in the New Testament.”5 Jesus and the apostles drank the fresh juice of the vine. Jesus supernaturally created grape juice in Cana. John 2:1­11. Before he died, Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Passover. While celebrating Passover, nothing fermented or leavened could be in the house. Exodus 12:14­20; 13:7. Fermentation symbolized sin. Being sinless, it would have been blasphemous for Jesus to use fermented wine to represent His blood. Instead, He took the cup of fresh juice and said, “Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed… for the remission of sins… I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Matthew 26:27­29, italics supplied. Paul advised Timothy to drink a little “wine” “for thy stomach’s sake.” 1 Timothy 5:23. The meaning is clear after reading this third century prescription: “Let him take sweet wine, either mixed with water or warmed, especially that kind called protrops, the sweet … glukus, as being good for the stomach; for sweet wine [oinos] does not make the head heavy.”6

<sup>Refrences:
1. Samuele Bacchiocchi, Wine in the Bible, abridged ed., p. 16.
2. Marcos Cato, On Agriculture. See note 1.
3. John Kitto, Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, 1845 ed., s.v. “Passover,” p. 477.
4. Ibid., p. 36.
5. Ernest Gordon, Christ, the Apostles and Wine, An Exegetical Study.
6. See note 1, p. 16.</sup>