You’ve been told what to believe about alcohol—but have you ever been shown what the Bible actually says? In this teaching, you’ll uncover the God-honest truth about wine, strong drink, and Scripture—without church tradition muddying the waters.
Have you ever felt conflicted by the mixed signals of religious culture regarding alcohol? Confusion thrives where context is ignored. In this teaching, we walk you through the Bible’s own words, the historical setting, and the educational clarity most believers were never given, helping you separate biblical truth from modern Christian distortion.
So come join us as we learn the God Honest Truth about what the Bible teaches regarding alcohol!
#BibleAndAlcohol #WhatTheBibleSaysAboutAlcohol #WineInTheBible #ChristianViewOnAlcohol #GodHonestTruth
AI Generated Research Reports
Notes From God Honest Truth
Transcript
Teaching Introduction
So, here’s an age-old question. What does the Bible say about the consumption of alcohol? Does the Bible prohibit the consumption of alcohol? Does the Bible call alcohol a sin? Does the Bible command you to consume alcohol? We’re going to be looking at the scriptures. We’re going to be looking at some in-depth entries on the lexicons and the dictionaries. All of that to come to the overall subject of what scripture tells us about the consumption of alcohol. So, make sure to stay tuned for this study on alcohol and the Bible.
Video Start
So, this teaching is going to be all about alcohol, the subject of alcohol, and what scripture has to say about it. Whether or not it is a sin, whether it’s not a sin, whether it’s commanded, whether it’s prohibited, all that kind of good stuff. We’re going to get into that. But before we get into that, I do want to let everyone know that we have cut this down a whole lot for the sake of trying to get this particular teaching under an hour. Like we’re going to try to get all of them. So, we’ve cut out a whole bunch of information that may be of benefit to you if you want to go on and study further and further your education in this particular subject.
Now, for more information, as always, go ahead and do your own study, but we also have a lot of additional notes and information on our website that we have regarding this subject. And all you got to do is go to our website at www.godhonestruth.com. Click on the article post for this episode. There you’ll be able to find the on demand video, the slides that you see here on your screen as well as the notes that we took for this particular subject and the transcript if that is a benefit to you. A much more convenient way is to go down below in the description and we have provided a convenient link for you down there in the description and that should be there. Whether you’re watching on a video platform or an audio podcasting platform, it should be down there in the description. All the same, simply click on that convenient link and it’ll take you directly to the article post on our website.
Introduction
So now, let’s go ahead and introduce the topic and what we’re going to be kind of getting into, some things to think about, stuff like that. So, here is the introduction to alcohol and the Bible. So, a few questions I want you to try and keep in mind as we go through this particular study. Number one, is the consumption of alcohol a sin? And of course, only the Bible can define what sin is. So, as we go through the scriptures and we start looking at this from a well-rounded, holistic kind of approach, keep in your mind, is scripture forbidding the consumption of alcohol, and is the consumption of alcohol a sin? Number two, is the consumption of alcohol commanded? And conversely, is it prohibited? So it’s kind of like one and two going two different sides of a coin there. So is the consumption of alcohol a sin and is the consumption of alcohol commanded? Keep those two questions in mind. And also the general question, what is the holistic teaching of scripture when it comes to the subject of alcohol?
Now, as we go through this particular study and also other kinds of study as you go into the future, there are different kinds of ways to approach things from scripture. There are five different I’m sorry, four different types of direction that we come up with that scripture gives us regarding any particular subject. Number one, there is the positive instructions or positive directions or positive commands. These are things like thou shalt do blank. Fill in the blank. For an example, such as one of the ten commandments, it says remember the Sabbath day to set it apart. Thou shalt keep the Sabbath day, right? That is a positive command. The flip side of that is a negative command. And that is pretty much just what you would think it would be. Something like, “Thou shalt not do blank.” Fill in the blank. An example would be thou shalt not commit adultery or thou shalt not kill. Those are negative commands. That is the exact opposite of a positive command. Something that is commanded or commanded not to do. A negative command.
Then the third type is something is a what we refer to. This is what we just came up with. Okay? We didn’t get this from any John MacArthur, Billy Graham or Tim Heg or anything like that. This is the four we came up with. But the third one we titled as a guiding direction or a guiding instruction things like that. These are things and subjects that are neither commanded nor prohibited. But scripture does provide mention of these subjects sometimes as in a good way, sometimes in a negative way. And it also mentions regulation or how to regulate that particular subject at times even though it doesn’t command it or prohibit it. It’s kind of like the uh gray area when it comes to subjects. We know it’s in scripture and scripture mentions it sometimes in a positive light, sometimes in a negative light, but it’s not commanded and it’s not prohibited. These are things like marriage. Marriage is not commanded. That’s you may have a different opinion, but from what we can see, marriage is not commanded. Take for instance Yeshua. He was never married and he was sinless. He was perfect. Maybe it’s something we should have looked up to, guys. I don’t know. Uh I’m joking. I’m joking. Uh yeah, marriage is not commanded as far as we can tell. You can be celibate and still be absolutely okay. You can be married and be absolutely a-okay. As we covered in our plural marriage or polygyny series about a year ago or so, plural marriage is one of those guiding subjects in scripture. It’s not commanded that a man have more than one wife, and it’s not prohibited for a man to have more than one wife, but scripture obviously mentions the practice of plural marriage. And there’s actually guidelines and regulations regarding the practice of plural marriage. There’s other things as well. We’ll get into some more examples here later on in the teaching, but that’s just to get you started so you know what this concept is.
And finally, there is the subjects that scripture says pretty much nothing about. One thing that we example that we decided to come up with is we went back in um 2025, last fall, and we did the Christmas in detail series. One of the episodes was about birthdays. And if you watch that, you what we were able to come up with or conclude was that scripture does mention birthdays. Two times definitely that we know of and one time more than likely it was a mention of a birthday celebration. But anyways, scripture mentions it, but scripture never commands you to celebrate your birthday. Conversely, scripture never prohibits the celebration of a birthday as far as we can tell and there is zero regulation on how to celebrate a birthday. So there you go. That is what you that’s kind of thing that scripture is silent about as far as the instructions or the directions or the guiding of that. So, you got positive commands, instructions, you’ve got negative commands or instructions, you’ve got guiding commands or instructions or subjects, and then you got subjects that scripture is just kind of silent on, and you’ve got to use your best judgment on how to go about that.
Intoxicating Terminology
Now, let’s go over some terminology so that you will better understand what we’re talking about when we get into the actual scriptures themselves. Now, this it seems kind of nerdy and yes, it is kind of nerdy, but you know, I’m a nerd and it’s going to be very helpful if not just for this one particular reason. And that’s because out there in the wide world of churchianity and history and etc etc. There is this two-wine theory and for those of you who don’t know two-wine theory goes that if the word wine as it’s translated in English is spoken of in a positive light in scripture then the people who hold to this theory say well that’s just grape juice that’s not actual alcoholic wine conversely if it’s talking if the whatever’s um translated as wine is spoken of in negative light in scripture. These people who hold to this two-wine theory say that that is the actual alcoholic wine. So therefore scripture tells you do not drink alcohol because every time the alcoholic wine is mentioned it’s always in a negative light and every time the good wine aka what they refer to as grape juice is mentioned it’s always in a positive light. That’s okay. First of all, that is false on the get-go. There are some research papers that we had put together by AI that is on the article post. You can go check those out. There is gosh, altogether five different uh reports and almost 100 pages or so. And there’s a lot of good information there, especially on some of the history, which we’re not going to get into in this particular teaching. But there in those research reports, it talks about this whole two-wine theory being a really recent development. No one for gosh about 1,800 years or so ever thought that there was grape juice in the scriptures. It was always alcoholic wine because everyone understood that’s just the way things were. But then pasteurization came along and things like that and we were actually able to have grape juice and keep it without it turning into wine or vinegar. Then it was only after that that people came up with this whole two-wine thing. And there’s reasons behind it and why they wanted to do it and all this other stuff. But just know that it’s false.
And the reason we’re going over this terminology is so that you know and understand what scripture is talking about when we get into the actual scriptures. So the first term that we’re going to go over is the Hebrew word yayin. And that is Strong’s H3196. That’s H3196. Yayin. Yayin. And again, all this you can find the extended entries in our notes if you’d like even more information to go along with this. But according to the outline of biblical usage from blueletterbible.org, yayin means wine. From Strong’s entry on yayin, it has it defined as meaning to effervesce. And this is important because I was over in Iraq. I served in the Marine Corps during Operation Iraqi Freedom. I know how hot it gets over there. And before modern technology like refrigeration, before modern technology like even canning even and pasteurization and things like that, fruit juice that’s left out is going to start fermenting in very short time. So, what happens when it starts, if you’ve ever made wine before, you you know this, but for those of you who haven’t, I used to make my own wine and when wine is fermenting and it’s working and the yeast is going and all that stuff, it bubbles. It’s what’s called effervesce. And if you leave it out on the counter, you’ll see bubbles before, you know, a day or two days has gone by. And that’s what effervesce means. And if you just leave it out and without modern technology, refrigeration, fruit juice is going to do that on its own because there’s natural yeast in the air. It’ll make it turn into wine just naturally. So that’s what Strong’s entry here is getting all about when it comes to this word yayin. It comes from a root that means to effervesce or bubble things like that. But it defines yayin as wine meaning as fermented. By implication intoxication. Yeah, it’s not grape juice. It’s alcohol. Brown-Driver-Briggs for the entry on yayin has it defined as wine. A common drink for refreshment. Gesenius’ Hebrew lexicon wine so-called from bubbling up and fermenting. The effect of wine intoxication. Jastrow’s dictionary of the Targums. The entry has for yayin says wine. Yayin mixed means mixed with water. Shekar means unmixed. We’ll get into that word shekar in just a minute. And then Klein’s dictionary has it defined as wine, just plain wine. The Hebrew Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament has it defined as foaming wine. Something fermented from wine like vinegar. Wine as in drunk drunkenness makes merry forbidden to priest. We’ll get into that as well.
Now, something also to take note of is that back during this time period that we’re going to be talking about, which is from creation all the way up through the book of Revelation, the entire time period that encompasses what we speak of in scripture. Okay. During this whole time, they the common practice for them was to take the wine that was produced, whether they would produce it or they go out and buy it, they would take this wine and mix it with water. And I think the ratio was somewhere about 4:1. So, it wasn’t the straight wine like we’re kind of think about doing nowadays, but they they did that, too. But, you know, it wasn’t if you didn’t have a lot of money, you couldn’t afford a whole lot of wine. So, you had to kind of mix it. And what happened with that is it would actually kill some of the bacteria and the squigglies that was in the water because of the alcohol content. That’s what would kill the bacteria. So, it’s healthy for them to do this. and it was a way to preserve the grape juice without just throwing it out and wasting it.
Our second term we’re going to be looking at is the Hebrew word tirosh. Tirosh. And this is Strong’s 8492, tirosh. And this word is very similar to that last word we looked at, yayin. But tirosh means new wine or fresh wine or just started or something like that. The outline of biblical usage has it defined as wine fresh or new wine. Must freshly pressed wine. Strong’s definition must or fresh grape juice as just squeezed out by implication rarely. Fermented wine new or sweet wine. Brown-Driver-Briggs must fresh or new wine. Gesenius’ Hebrew lexicon. Must new wine because it is intoxicated takes possession of the brain used of the juice of grapes. The Hebrew Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament or to roast means to tread down, press wine. It also could mean unfermented wine or must and also means new wine, fresh wine, unfermented grape juice, new wine, must, etc., etc. Whereas yayin is the regular old standard wine that you’re probably thinking of and used to. Tirosh is the kind of wine that was just started. It was just pressed out. Maybe it’s got no alcohol content to it, but more than likely it’s got a low alcohol content because it’s just started working. That yeast has just started on it. So, it’s still kind of sweet and sugary. It’s not got a dryness to it at this point because it’s not fully worked. But that’s what tirosh is. And tirosh the vast majority of time it’s used it is used in the context of having an alcohol content. It does not mean grape juice like we mean today. We will prove that from scripture here in just a little bit. So remember that word tirosh as well as our first word that we learned yayin.
Going on we’re going to look at the Hebrew word shekar. Shekar. And this is Strong’s H7941. And the outline of biblical usage has it defined as strong drink, intoxicating drink, fermented or intoxicating liquor. Now, I take issue with that and we’ll get into that in just a moment. Let’s go ahead and finish this word real quick. Strong’s definition or entry for shekar means an intoxicant. Intensely alcoholic liquor, strong drink, drunkard, strong wine. Brown-Driver-Briggs entry intoxicating drink strong drink forbidden to priest on duty allowable and sacrificial meal committed for weak and weary is Hebrew lexicon the entry for shekar meaning strong drink intoxicating liquor whether wine or intoxicating drink like wine made from barley or distilled from honey or dates wine made from dry grapes or dates it is often distinguished from wine wine mingled with spices appears to be intended and finally Finally, the Jastrow’s dictionary of the Targums entry for shekar meaning intoxicating drink. Yayin is unmixed wine and shekar is mixed wine. That’s their entry they’ve got there. Especially beer of date or barley. Klein dictionary has it defined as intoxicating drink, strong drink, beer. And Hebrew Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament has it defined as intoxicating drink, beer, fermented alcoholic beverage, intoxicating drink, etc., etc. It also has go down or down near the end has defined as intoxicating drink beer which would have been made primarily from barley beer made from wheat. So just a comment on this word shekar. I’m not too fond of some of the lexicon entries here because I think they get it incorrect. Let’s go back and look at where the outline of biblical usage and also uh Strong’s things like that. It has it defined as liquor. Now, when we think of liquor nowadays, we think about a distilled spirit, something like vodka or rum or moonshine or, you know, what have you. However, the whole steam distillation process was still thousands of years away from the time period we’re talking about. Abraham and Moses and David and Solomon and the Apostle Paul and the Apostle John, etc., etc., knew nothing about distilled spirits, distilled alcohol because that process and that sort of technology just did not exist at that time. What shekar actually means, what I found out from the research is shekar is a word that refers to something made from like barley or oats or stuff like that you find in some of these more accurate or I think more accurate lexicons. And it was kind of interesting because around the area of Israel, they didn’t actually make well, it was more suited to growing grape vines than it was like hops and things like that. Now, down in Egypt and up in Mesopotamia around Babylon, stuff like that, they could grow or they could more easily grow hops and barley and things like that up there than they could down in Israel. So outside of Israel, you could find things like beer and stuff like that, but usually in Israel, you would have more commonly things like wine because grapes and grape vines would grow a whole lot better than barley or um hops in Israel. Shekar, the best way I found to think of this as shekar meaning beer, things like that. Whereas yayin and tirosh meaning wine. However, all three words still meaning something that has an alcoholic content. So back then they had wine, they had beer, things that were fermented, but they did not have things that were distilled. They did not have rum or vodka or moonshine or tequila or what have you.
So, just to recap these Hebrew words real quick. Yayin means wine like we would normally think of today. Tirosh means a new wine, just a grape juice that’s just started working, maybe a low alcohol content, but still an alcohol content. And also the third word shekar, which means something made from barley or oats, things like beer. Now, moving on into our Greek terminology, and this is going to be fairly similar, but we got a few new words as well. Our first word we’re going to be looking at is Strong’s G3631. That’s Strong’s G3631. And that’s the Greek word oinos. Oinos. And the outline of biblical usage from blueletterbible.org has it defined as wine. The metaphorical fiery wine of God’s wrath. Strong’s entry has it defined as wine literally or figuratively. Thayer’s Greek lexicon has it defined as must or new wine etc etc or just plain old wine. Greek English lexicon of the New Testament has defined as a fermented beverage from the juice of grapes wine. And also it’s got a good entry right here in the Greek English lexicon. I love it. That’s why I left it in here for your perusal. But it says here from the Greek English lexicon of the New Testament for oinos.
Though some persons have argued that whenever mention is made of Jesus either making or drinking wine, one must assume that this was only unfermented grape juice, there is no real basis for such a conclusion.
Thank you, Greek English lexicon of the New Testament. And finally, from the BDAG for oinos defined as a beverage made from fermented juice of the grape or meaning wine.
Our second word we’re going to look at in the Greek is Strong’s G1098. That’s Strong’s G1098. And that is the Greek word gleukos. Gleukos. As long as I’m pronouncing that right, but that looks right. The outline of biblical usage from blueletterbible.org has it defined as the sweet juice pressed the grape sweet wine. This is what we looked at in the Hebrew word tirosh earlier. But Strong’s has this Greek word gleukos defined as sweet wine must or fresh juice used of the more saccharine and therefore highly inebriating fermented wine new wine. Thayer’s Greek lexicon has it defined as must the sweet juice pressed from the grape sweet wine. The Greek English lexicon of the New Testament has gleukos defined as a new sweet wine in process of fermentation sweet wine. And finally from the BDAG for gleukos has the entry defined as sweet new wine commonly referred to as must. So gleukos is like the tirosh it’s the new wine. The grape juice that’s just started in the process of working and bubbling and on its way to being fully fermented and fully alcoholic. So, it might have a low alcoholic content, but like we said with tirosh, it’s still got an alcoholic content to it. And once again, we’re going to be proving all this from scripture. As Jerry Maguire said,
“Show me the money.”
And I’m going to show you the money coming up here in just a moment.
And finally, our third word, and this is going to be very important to understand as we get into some of the scriptures here, but this is the word uh Strong’s G3183. That’s Strong’s G3183. And that’s the Greek word methysos. Methysos. And the outline of biblical usage from blueletterbible.org has it defined as drunken or intoxicated. Strong’s has it defined as a sot or a drunkard. Remember that name or that word drunkard. Thayer’s Greek lexicon has methysos defined as drunken or intoxicated. The Greek English lexicon of the New Testament has it defined as a person who habitually drinks too much and thus becomes a drunkard. And finally from the BDAG has the word methysos defined as a word that is used of both sexes though the older writers used it only of women and it has defined as a drunkard with those addicted to other vices. So in a nutshell, oinos is the wine like we talked about with yayin. It’s the standard everyday old wine that we are used to nowadays. Now back then again, they would probably mix it with water, but it’s the wine that we think of nowadays. The second word that we looked at, the gleukos, is like the tirosh, that’s the fresh wine or the new wine, which might have a low alcohol content, but it’s still got an alcohol content all the same. This last word we looked at, methysos, is a word that’s meaning someone who is habitually drunk. Not someone who just got drunk tonight and like, “Oh my gosh, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m so sorry.” That’s not what it’s talking about when it talks about a drunkard. A drunkard is someone who repeatedly and regularly and habitually gets drunk. That’s what methysos and drunkard means when we go through the scriptures.
Amiable Alcohol
Now, let’s go ahead and do our due diligence and get into the scriptures themselves. And like I said, we’re going to show you the money here in just a moment. So, stay tuned. First, let’s go over some positive scriptures or something that’s relatively positive about alcohol from scripture. Didn’t think it existed? Well, here we go. And let’s look at it.
First example we’re going to look at is from Numbers 15:7. And as a drink offering, you bring one-third of a hin wine. That’s the word yayin as a sweet fragrance to Yahweh. Now here, this if you don’t know, if you don’t get the context, this is in regards to a part of a the sacrificial offering, part of a sacrificial offering. Let me put that way. Well, there’s several there and several contain yayin, actual alcohol. And here is saying that you are to provide this alcoholic wine as a sweet fragrance to who? Not to the priest, not to yourself, not to the priest or the pope or anything like that. No. Or provide this alcoholic beverage as part of the sacrifice as a sweet fragrance to Yahweh. So even Yahweh wants this alcoholic beverage as part of the sacrifices that were to be done to and for him.
Now we go down and look at Deuteronomy chapter 14 verses 24-26. But when the way is too long for you that so that you are not able to bring the tithe or when the place where Yahweh your Elohim chooses to put his name is too far from you, when Yahweh your Elohim is blessing you, then you shall give it in silver and shall take the silver in your hand and go to the place which Yahweh your Elohim chooses. And you shall use the silver for whatever your being desires, for cattle or sheep, for wine, yayin, or strong drink, shekar, for whatever your being desires. And you shall eat there before Yahweh your Elohim, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
So here it’s talking about taking the tithe to the temple because what was one of the purposes, what’s one of the biggest purposes of the tithe, especially back then? that was to support the temple work and the priests and all that stuff because the priests, the Levites did not get land aportion to them. Their duty was for Yahweh to serve at the tabernacle, to serve at the temple. So, they didn’t have the land to grow crops. They didn’t have the land to raise livestock. They didn’t have the land to grow vineyards and grapes and make all this other stuff like wine. the stuff they survived on and stuff they got was what people brought to them. And a lot of it was in the form of a tithe. And if you remember, it says to tithe the first of your land. It’s first of your crops. There are certain animals, the firstborn, the males and stuff like that that were to be given as a tithe. And here it says that if you’re not able to bring this tithe, like if you’re a long ways away or if you’re infirmed and you can’t carry your sheep or your grain, the many bags of grain, if you had a big year, if you couldn’t do that, then what does it tell you to do? It says, “Convert all of that into money and take that money with you to the place where Yahweh chooses to put his name.” And what is it that you are told to do when you get there? It says you shall use the silver for whatever your being desires for cattle or sheep for wine or strong drink shekar. It says you can use it for wine alcohol or beer alcohol for whatever your being desires and you shall eat it there. Meaning where Yahweh chooses to put his name. You shall eat it there before Yahweh your Elohim. And you shall rejoice. shall be happy and thankful and grateful to Yahweh for all that he has blessed you with. So a part of this rejoicing, a part of this tithe, the part of being around where Yahweh chooses to place his name involves the use of alcohol, wine, and beer. Again, look for yourself. Deuteronomy 14 24-26. We just read that. you want to look at your own translation to make sure it’s not mistranslated in the one we’re providing, that’s fine. Go for it. Look at it. But I I guarantee you if any accurate translation is going to have the exact same thing that we’ve got here.
But moving on, we look at Proverbs 31 6-7. Give strong drink to him who is perishing and wine to those embittered in being. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his trouble no more. So if people’s having a rough time, if people are embittered or if they are perishing or if they’re down and infirmed, what’s the Bible tell you to do? It says to give him strong drink or a beer in this context or wine. And what’s it say it’ll do? It will make him forget his poverty and remember his trouble no more.
Going on looking at Ecclesiastes 9:7. Go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a glad heart for Elohim has already approved your works. Once again, what’s it say to do? It says to drink your wine with a glad heart. Be happy about it. Be glad you’ve got it. Be glad you are blessed with that. Psalms 104 13-15. watering the hills from his upper rooms, the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your works, causing the grass to grow for the cattle and plants for the service of mankind, to bring forth food from the earth and wine that makes the makes glad the heart of man, oil to make the face shine, and bread which sustains man’s heart. So once again, this is something that comes forth because of and as a blessing from who? Yahweh. The one who had formed the mountains, who formed all the earth and the universe as we know it, from all his works. Who causes the grass to grow for the cattle, the plants for the service of mankind, who brings forth food from the earth, and brings forth wine that does what? It makes glad the heart of man.
Then we go on and look at Luke 10:33-34. But a certain Samaritan journeying came upon him. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him. And he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. And having placed on him and having placed him on his own beast, he brought him to an inn and looked after him. Now this is in the parable that Yeshua was telling about the good Samaritan. And what happens when the good Samaritan comes upon this man who’s been beaten and robbed? He treats his wounds that he has. And how does he do it? He treats his wounds with oil and wine. So this is not consumption of wine. Granted, but it is a positive thing about wine. It’s good for at least back then good for treating wounds, open wounds. And like I said, it killed the squigglies in the water. So, why wouldn’t it also kill the squigglies and bacteria on a wound? Makes sense, right? Distilled spirits would probably be more effective, but wine would be a good use as well. Maybe look into that some more as a one of the survival techniques you put in your brain for later use. I don’t know.
Then going on, looking at 1 Timothy 5:23. And here Paul is writing to Timothy and Paul is telling Timothy this in 1 Timothy 5:23. He says,
“No longer drink only water, but also use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent ailments.”
So again, to soothe the upset stomach of Timothy, Paul recommends consuming alcohol, not grape juice, alcohol, wine. All right. So, that’s just a few verses as far as a amiable position on alcohol from scripture or a positive position about alcohol from scripture.
Daftly Drinking
So, now let’s go ahead and look at the flip side of that and let’s look at some more of the negative things about alcohol as it comes from scripture. Because if we’re going to be honest on the subject, we’ve got to look at all sides, not just the positive, but also some of the negative.
Coming from Genesis 19:32-36.
“Come, let us make our father drink wine, yayin, and lie with him, so that we preserve the seed of our father.”
So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she arose. And it came to be on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “See, I lay with my father last night. Let us make him drink wine, yayin, tonight as well, and you go in and lie with him, so that we keep the seed of our father.”
So they made their father drink wine, yayin, that night as well. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she arose. Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. Now, this is the story of Lot and his daughters after they escaped from Sodom and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and that whole story. So, they’re in this cave and it’s kind of seeming like they think they’re the last ones on earth and they want to try and repopulate it and there’s no man except their father. So, these two girls, the sisters, they get pregnant by their father and the way they do that is they get him drunk. Now, as it says here, apparently he drank so much wine that he did not even know when they were in the process. Let’s put it that way. And that would have to be really, really drunk. It really would. Is not just a buzz. I mean, some people think that, well, just a buzz is, you know, prohibited, but no. Drunkenness is prohibited according to scripture. I would in my own personal opinion, so to take this for what it’s worth, in my own personal opinion, I wouldn’t say that, you know, a buzz would be prohibited or bad. But drunkenness is clear that is bad according to scripture. And here is a good example where incest took place between Lot and his daughters and it was all facilitated by drunkenness. So that’s a good uh warning against drunkenness there from scripture.
Oh, and looking at 2 Samuel 11:12-13. And David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I’ll let you go.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. And David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his master. but he did not go down to his house. So here, King David is actually trying to get someone drunk. That’s Uriah. And the reason he’s trying to do this is because he’s already slept with Uriah’s wife. He’s already committed adultery and got her pregnant. And he’s wanting to make Uriah not know what he’s doing and make Uriah think that he actually got his wife pregnant instead of David. But it didn’t work. So again, this is a negative instance of alcohol in scripture where King David himself is making someone drunk and using alcohol in a negative manner.
We go on and look at Isaiah 5:11. Woe to those who rise early in the morning pursuing strong drink, shekar, who stay up late at night. Wine inflames them. So in that first instance where it says strong drink that’s the Hebrew word shekar and you can generally think of that as beer. In that second word wine that is yayin. That’s the standard old alcohol that we think of nowadays when we think about wine. Then going on to look at oh this is one more thing here. It said notice what it says here about strong drink. It says woe to those pursuing strong drink who stay up late at night. Wine inflames them. Would grape juice inflame someone? Highly doubtful. You don’t see a bunch of kindergarteners running around, you know, blitzed on grape juice being inflamed. No, this is not talking about grape juice. It’s talking about alcohol.
Then looking at Isaiah 5:21-23. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. Woe to the mighty to drink wine, yayin, and brave men to mix strong drink who declare right the wrong for a bribe and the righteousness of the righteous they turned aside from him. So again a negative mention of strong drink or wine or just alcohol in general. Hosea chapter 4:11. Whoring and wine, yayin, and new wine, tirosh, enslave the heart. So here’s a good example of both yayin and tirosh being used in a negative context and it’s talking about enslaving the heart. Does grape juice enslave the heart? No. But alcohol does can be addictive to certain people and it would enslave the heart. And this tells us right here that both yayin and tirosh both wine and new wine as it’s mentioned in scripture is alcoholic. It’s not the grape juice that some people try to make it out to be.
Going on looking at Proverbs 20:1. Wine, yayin, is a scoffer, strong drink, shekar, or beer a brawler and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. Once again, would grape juice make someone a scoffer or a brawler? Nope. But alcohol sure would. Acts chapter 2 verses 13 and 15. And when this sound came to be, the crowd came together and were confused because everyone heard them speaking his own language and others mocking said, “They have been filled with sweet wine, gleukos.” For these men are not drunk, as you imagine, since it is only the third hour of the day. Third hour of the day being about 9 in the morning. So the crowd outside when they saw the apostles and whatnot speaking in various tongues, they thought, “Wow, these guys have already hit the sauce. They’re already drunk on new wine.” Now, would these people think that the apostles were drunk by drinking grape juice, something that’s non-alcoholic? No. They would only think that the apostles were drunk if they had been drinking alcohol. And they specifically accused them of drinking sweet wine. that new just started wine that we talked about earlier. So again, it’s not talking about grape juice. It’s talking about alcohol.
1 Corinthians chapter 6:9-10. Do not do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the reign of Elohim. Do not be deceived. Neither those who nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor greedy of gain, nor drunkards, methysos, nor revelers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the reign of Elohim. Now, once again, let me reiterate. Methysos, a drunkard, is someone who habitually and regularly gets drunk. It’s not just a one-off thing. This is a repeated occurrence kind of situation. But here it’s putting drunkards in the same categories, in the same list as things that are absolutely abominable and disgusting. Things like adulterers and the effeminate, transsexuals in our day, probably homosexuals, thieves, greedy of gain, those who would steal from other people. uh revelers, those who would swindle, etc., etc., and they say that this group of people, including the drunkards, will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
When looking at Galatians 5:19-21, and the works of the flesh are well known, which are these adultery, whoring, uncleanness, indecency, idolatry, drug, sorcery, hatred, quarrels, jealousies, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, murders, drunkenness. wild parties and the like of which I forewarn you even as I also said before that those who practice such as these shall not inherit the reign of Elohim. So here drunkenness that would I would say be a one-off in this context but it’s not talking about a one-off. If it just said drunkenness then I could accept that. But it also says down at the end those who practice such as these which intimates or gives the insinuation that it’s an ongoing practice. You don’t practice something just once. You practice it over and over like a baseball or a musical instrument or what have you. So this this drunkenness that they’re talking about is being practiced over and over is what I get from this particular passage of scripture. Now, if you have a different interpretation, by all means, let me know in the chat or in the comments down below and we can discuss it further. But that’s the way that I take this verse and the way I understand it.
Anyways, so now going on to Ephesians 5:17-18. So then, do not be foolish, but understand what the desire of Yahweh is, and do not be drunk with wine, in which is loose behavior, but be filled with the spirit. This is probably one of the most direct and didactic teachings about alcohol and drunkenness in all of the scripture. Says, “Do not be drunk with wine.” And that is the overall teaching that I can see from scripture about alcohol is that it’s okay to consume. It’s even okay, as far as I can tell, to get that little buzz. Enjoy yourself. Make your heart glad as we read in scriptures earlier. But do not be drunk. What does drunkenness lead to? Well, drunkenness leads to injury. Sometimes there’s verses on, you know, wounds without cause. It talks about in Proverbs or Psalms, one of those. It’s it’s in the notes. Go look in the notes. But yeah, you can injure yourself. You can injure others. You can definitely put a bad mark on your testimony and make people think negatively of the faith itself. So, don’t be drunk, but it’s still okay to consume alcohol as long as you do it responsibly and in moderation. Same thing with stuff like food. Food is not bad, but gluttony is. That’s the exact same thing it’s saying with alcohol. That you can drink alcohol, but you don’t go overboard like you would with gluttony being the overboard with food. Drunkenness would be the overboard with alcohol. see how that works out.
And finally, the last one we’ll look at as far as negative passages in scriptures about alcohol is 1 Peter chapter 4:3-5. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the desire of the nations, meaning Gentiles, having walked in indecencies, lust, drunkenness, orgies, wild parties, and abominable idolatries, in which they are surprised that you did not run with them in the same flood of loose behavior. blaspheming. Who shall give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead? So, here’s something that’s talking about here. Peter is saying when you were a Gentile, you would do things like get drunk regularly. Now that you’re in the faith, we should leave that behind and don’t do that. And what’s something he says you should not do? Drunkenness. So again, scripture does say in no uncertain terms, do not get drunk and definitely do not be a drunkard, but you can consume alcohol.
Regulation
And one of the things that we know or one of the ways that we know that you can consume alcohol is because scripture does provide regulation regarding the consumption of alcohol. Now, what’s one of the important things to understand about the scripture regulating the use of alcohol? Well, the biggest thing is that scripture does not teach us and instruct us in how to sin. That’s the biggest thing right there. If the consumption of alcohol was a sin, it would simply say, “Do not drink the wine. Do not drink the new wine. Do not drink the beer. Do not consume alcohol in some form or fashion or whatnot.” But scripture never says anything like that. Now, admittedly, scripture also never says, “Thou shalt drink alcohol.” It’s not a command and it’s not prohibited. It is regulated, though, which goes to show that it’s not a sin because scripture does not instruct us on how to go about sinning. So, let’s look at some of these regulations real quick.
Leviticus 10:8-10. And Yahweh spoke to Aaron, saying, “Do not drink wine or strong drink, you nor your sons with you, when you go into the tent of appointment, lest you die, a law forever throughout your generations, so as to make a distinction between the set apart and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean.”
So here, if you want to talk about prohibition, then number one, this passage right here is only talking about the priest, not everybody in general. Even further, it’s only talking about the priest when they’re on duty at the temple or the tabernacle. It’s not all the time. If they’re not on duty, they’re more than welcome to have alcohol, consume wine, or whatnot, but not while they’re on duty. So that’s a regulation regarding the consumption of alcohol. But then it’s only for the priest. Now I would extend that to everyone going into the house of God or a temple or the tabernacle, not just the priest. I personally would extend that to everyone. And don’t be drunk when you go to the house of God. So I’ll put it that way. You disagree. Feel free to disagree. That’s fine. We can still be brothers and sisters. But that’s the way I would definitely extend it to everyone on that one. But just during that time that you’re in the house of God. When you leave and you go home, have that glass of wine, have that beer. That’s fine. You’re not sinning. You’re not going against scripture. And I can make you this promise. Anytime you see me on video here on a teaching or a live stream, I will guarantee you there’s not the first drop of alcohol or any intoxicating substances in my body because of that section right there. Now, once I hit stop streaming, that may be a different story. But during the times you see me here, there is nothing there because of that passage right there.
Now, going on, looking at Proverbs 31:4-5. Not for sovereigns, O Lemuel, not for sovereigns to drink wine, nor for princes to desire strong drink, lest they drink and forget what is inscribed and pervert the right of all the afflicted. So here at the at most you can only say that alcohol consumption is not advised or if you want to for the sake of conversation we’ll go ahead and say prohibited. But it’s only in the context of what it say here. Sovereigns, meaning kings and princes, not everyone in general. It’s only talking about kings and princes. Again, regulations on the consumption of wine.
Looking at Numbers 6:2-4. Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, “When a man or woman does separate by making a vow of a Nazarite to be separate to Yahweh, he separates himself from wine, yayin, and strong drink, shekar, beer. He drinks neither vinegar of wine, nor vinegar of strong drink. Neither does he drink any grape juice, nor eat grapes or raisins. All the days of his separation, he does not eat whatever is made of the grapevine from seed to skin.” First thing, this is the vow of the Nazarite and the regulations concerning the vow of the Nazarite. Next, if you’ll notice, it goes on to say that whoever does this is to refrain from consuming alcohol. Why is this important to notice? Because if it was normally prohibited for anyone to drink alcohol, there would be no need to make a special exception in the Nazarite vow. It would just say, “Do not drink alcohol outside of death.” And then it would be assumed when they’re talking about the Nazarite vow. For instance, in the Nazarite vow, it says, “When a man takes a Nazarite vow, he shall not engage in homosexual activities.” Well, why does it say that? Because it is a blanket prohibition for everyone outside of the whole Nazarite vow regulations. So when you start talking about the Nazarite vow, it’s assumed just like everyone all the time they’re not to be homosexuals. That’s not the case with wine because wine alcohol is not prohibited. But in the case of a Nazarite, it is. Even the skin of grapes and raisins, they’re not allowed to have that either. There’s various speculations of why that is, but we won’t get into that.
A very another very very important thing to notice. It first starts to listen out by saying that he is to be separate to Yahweh. He separates himself from wine and strong drink. So when you’re in the vow of a Nazarite, you do not drink any alcohol, whether wine or strong drink. And I would even extend that to distilled spirits today. So no wine, no strong drink. No vinegar even. And then notice this. If you didn’t catch it the first time, catch it now. It says, “Neither does he drink any grape juice.” Well, if wine is only talking about grape juice, as some people put forth, why would it need to go on and include specifically grape juice in the whole list here, contrasting it with wine and strong drink? Well, because wine and strong drink is not talking about grape juice. Wine and strong drink is talking about alcohol. Then it goes on to also include grape juice. See how that works out? It’s so simple. You start looking at this and you start studying it and reading for yourself instead of just listening to a preacher on the radio or on TV or whoever’s in the pulpit that morning. Do it yourself. And it the scriptures come alive. It shows you what it is talking about. And wine and strong drink is not referring to grape juice. It’s referring to alcohol. It’s so clear when you see passages like this. So I thought that was very very neat and very very important thing to take note of.
Moving on, looking at Romans 14:13-21. Therefore, let us not judge one another any longer, but rather judge this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in our brother’s way. I know and am persuaded in the master Yeshua that none at all is common of itself. But to him who regards whatever to be common, to him it is common. And if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not by your food ruin the one for whom Messiah died. Do not then allow your good to be spoken of as evil. For the reign of Elohim is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the set apart spirit. For he who is serving Messiah in these matters is well pleasing to Elohim and approved by men. So then let us pursue the matters of peace and the matters for building up one another. Do not destroy the work of Elohim for the sake of food. All indeed are clean, but evil to that man who eats so as to cause stumbling. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine, nor to do whatever by which your brother stumbles. Now keep that passage in mind.
Let’s read one more real quick. 1 Corinthians 8:8-9 and 11-13. But food does not commend us to Elohim, for we are none the better if we eat, nor any worse for not eating. But look to it, lest somehow this right of yours becomes a stumbling block to those who are weak. So this weak brother for whom Messiah died shall perish through your knowledge. Now sinning in this way against the brothers and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Messiah. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I am never going to eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. Now, these two passages right here gives really good regulation in my opinion regarding the consumption of alcohol. It it talks a lot about food and especially food sacrificed idols and stuff like that. But I do believe this definitely extends to the consumption of alcohol. If you are around someone, if you drink alcohol and you’re around someone who used to be an alcoholic, is trying to get off, you know, alcoholism, it is very very important for their spiritual well-being to not drink in front of them. Yes, you have the freedom to drink alcohol. Scripture does not consider alcohol to be a sin. Scripture does not prohibit you from drinking alcohol. This is something that you need to understand for the love of your brothers and sisters out there who are weak in conscience, who are a recovering alcoholic, things like that. Because here it says that you could cause them to perish through your knowledge. Your freedom to consume alcohol is not does not override someone else’s walk in the faith. Especially those who are weak is in that instance or in that context. People who are recovering alcoholics trying to get off of it, stuff like that. It is much better to refrain from drinking alcohol while you’re in their presence. It’s not going to be forever. It generally is never forever unless you married someone like that. Then that might be a different subject, but it’s not going to take forever. You can definitely hold off. And if you can’t hold off, go get some help because that means you probably got an issue yourself. But yeah, think about your brothers and your sisters if you’re going to drink in front of somebody. And consider whether or not it’s going to hurt them just to see you drink or whether it’s okay or not. So take others into consideration.
Now, this is something I got thinking about. It’s either today or yesterday that there might be this is just a thought. So, let me know what you think, too. It might actually be a um negative to sometimes not drink in front of someone. And what I mean by that is that number one, you’re not commanded to drink. So, if you don’t drink whatsoever, this really doesn’t apply to you. This is talking about those of us who are not opposed to drinking and may drink every now and then. For instance, if you’re going to talk to someone, a a co-worker or a friend or someone on the street or you you meet out a restaurant or something like that and you’re talking to them about the faith and about Yeshua and salvation, stuff like that, and they’re having an alcoholic beverage. As long as they’re not overdoing it, because remember, consider again the situation. Read the room as they say. It may help the situation for you to also have a beverage to sip on while you’re talking to them. And this would let them know that, hey, you’re not this stick in the mud crude that’s all going to be, you know, uptight about everything and therefore they don’t want anything to do with what you’re telling them about. So, you see how that would kind of help break the ice and warm the waters when you’re talking to someone like that. So it may be helpful sometimes to even consume alcohol in furtherance of the faith and to help bring someone into the faith in that very specific I’ll grant you very specific situation that may be beneficial. But once again if you think differently let me know down in the comments or let me know in the chat. We can also always discuss that. So anyways that’s my thoughts. Definitely like Paul tells us in Corinthians and Romans, etc., etc., definitely take your brothers and sisters into account, read the room if when you’re going to be consuming alcohol, and never get drunk. Do not engage in drunkenness, and don’t be a drunkard. So, definitely take your brothers and sisters into account before you consume that alcohol. Think about the optics of it and whether it’s going to cause someone else to stumble or not. And decide accordingly, decide rightly.
Went on looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 6:12. All is permitted me, but not all due profit. All is permitted me, but I do but I shall not be under authority, meaning under the power, dominated, under control, ruled of any. This applies not only to alcohol but also to other things like drugs and even food or shopping or gambling. Do not be under that authority. Do not be under that addiction to any of these kinds of things. And pertaining to this teaching and the subject of alcohol, do not be under the authority or the control of alcohol. Get some help if you need it.
1 Timothy 3:2-3. An overseer then should be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, sensible, orderly, kind to strangers, able to teach, not given to wine, no brawler, but gentle, not quarrelsome, no lover of silver. And then in 1 Timothy 3:8. Likewise, attendants are to be reverent, not double tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for filthy gain. Now here you see that the qualifications the regulations for a overseer, an elder, for a deacon, an attendant is not to be given to much wine. It doesn’t say not to be given to any wine, to be completely dry and sober. No, it says you’re not to be given too much wine or even given to wine. So that has the implications that even elders and deacons can have alcohol, but they’re not to be under the control or be alcoholics or drunkards and stuff like that. Again, if there scripture prohibited it, it wouldn’t even need to be listed most of the time. They would just be assumed once they go into the qualifications for positions like this.
All Together Now
So now let’s go ahead and start trying to put all this together and think of it in context as uh we’ve looked at the trees. So now let’s consider the forest as the analogy goes sometimes. So what I would call the consumption of alcohol is a nerdy word. Here’s a new word for you. It’s a nerdy word called adiaphora and that is the plural of adiaphoron. And it’s a Greek word meaning not different or differentiable. And basically the concept is especially within the matters of faith is that it’s not essential to the faith. It’s not required but it is permissible. That’s what adiaphora means.
And here is a Wikipedia entry for adiaphora and also a Merriam-Webster definition for adiaphoron. And here on the Merriam-Webster for the second entry, it’s got a religious ceremonial or ritual observance that is held to be an affair of the individual conscience because it is neither forbidden nor enjoined by the scriptures. So alcohol in scripture is adiaphora. It’s neither forbidden nor commanded. Other things in scripture, this is a list that we came up with. Now other things in scripture that are not commanded and not prohibited are things like tattoos. Oh yeah, tattoos. You didn’t think we was going to start with that, huh? This is something that at least we’ve come to the conclusion that tattoos are not forbidden, but at the same time they’re also not commanded either.
Now, tattoos for the dead, uh, pagan idolatrous tattoos, yeah, those are obviously not good and prohibited, but in general, the general subject of tattoos are not forbidden. How to tie tzitzit are commanded, but how to tie them? Which style or any style as long as you have a blue cord. You can have other colors with it, but you got to have blue. So, it doesn’t matter how you tie it. It doesn’t matter what colors you have in addition to blue, as long as you got blue. This is things that are adiaphora which concept of the godhead you choose. As we looked at in the godhead series, whether you are a trinitarian, a binitarian, a unitarian, or a oneness, or a modalist, it doesn’t matter. It’s not your salvation is not dependent on which concept of the godhead you choose. The whole subject of the godhead is adiaphora.
Dancing is another example of adiaphora. Hanukkah, the celebration of Hanukkah, the celebration of Purim, things like that. Getting married, as we looked at at the very beginning of this teaching, it’s not getting married is not a requirement and it’s also not prohibited. Birthdays, we mentioned that earlier, too. Celebration of birthdays, as far as we can tell, is not prohibited, but it’s also not commanded. It’s adiaphora. Personal wealth. You don’t have to be wealthy according to scripture. You’re also not required to be poor either. There’s nothing wrong with being wealthy. There’s nothing wrong with being poor. Scripture does not say that money is the root of all evil. What does scripture actually say about money? Scripture says that the love of money is a root of evil. So there’s nothing wrong with being wealthy either. Again, wealth is adiaphora.
And I’m sure you could probably think of some other things as well, but this is alcohol is one of the many things within scripture that is neither prohibited nor commanded. So, it’s up to your own conscience. If you do not drink alcohol, that’s absolutely a-okay as far as we can tell. If you do drink alcohol, that’s absolutely a-okay as far as we can tell. As long as you’re not getting drunk and especially not getting habitually drunk, being a drunkard.
Summary
So, in summary, think back to the beginning questions that we started with at the beginning of this teaching. Number one, is the consumption of alcohol a sin? As we’ve looked at all the scriptures or not all the scriptures but a good majority of the scriptures on alcohol, we would have to come to the conclusion that no, the consumption of alcohol is not a sin. Number two is the consumption of alcohol commanded. Well, after looking at the scriptures or at least a lot of the scriptures regarding the subject, we would also have to come to the conclusion that no, the consumption of alcohol is not commanded.
This is what I was going to say earlier. Yeah. You, one may try and make a case that you should drink alcohol on Passover because Yeshua had the cup of wine there when he had the last supper, which was a seder meal or a Passover meal. And you could say, well, that was the example set for us, so we should, you know, follow Yeshua’s example. Well, number one, it’s never commanded as part of the Passover celebration to drink wine. Not even Yeshua said,
“Thou shalt drink this at Passover.”
So, I would even say that no, even in that instance, it’s not commanded that you drink alcohol. Now, if you have alcohol with your Passover seder, hey, that’s fine. Go for it. Nothing wrong with that. Next, there was no grape juice in the days of the Tanakh or the apostolic writings, aka the Old Testament or the New Testament. The technology, the pasteurization and canning and distillation, stuff like that, was thousands of years away.
Now, some people may point to the fact that they in those times they would boil it down this grape juice into an almost syrup like consistency in order to preserve it and to keep it from fermenting. A comment about that real quick. Number one, they did do that back then. Was it common? No, certainly not. Certainly not common back then. It was a very labor intensive process. Think about taking a juice. Uh if if you’ve ever let me let me relate this to you. If you’ve ever made molasses, this would be pretty much the same thing. I made molasses one time or I helped someone make molasses and we actually grew the sugar cane ourselves. We cut it. We put it through a machine that squeezed out all the juice from the inside, all that sugary juice from the sugar cane. And then we put it in this huge pan over a fire. And we boiled that juice, this really watery sugar juice all night. Literally, we were up all night boiling this substance to boil it down to drive off all the water and turn it into molasses. It took a long time. And in relation to what we started with, it was only a very very small amount. After that, we then put it in jars and we we canned it so it wouldn’t go bad. But back then, yeah, they could have done that. They could have done that process, but they didn’t. They had no way of sealing it up like we do today with canning equipment. And if it was left out in the open, then the yeast and air would have gotten on that syrupy substance and started bubbling and making it ferment and turning alcoholic. The if it was left out in the open, also it would they run the risk of developing mold and things like that. So even though they could make it into like a syrupy kind of consistency, they didn’t. It was very very uncommon back then for them to do that kind of thing. And plus, think about it. When Yeshua made turn the water into wine, he didn’t turn it into a syrup because you read the story. They were already feeling good and then they said, “Oh, look at all these gallons and gallons of wine, not syrup.” So, yeah, that’s a non-starter by saying they could have, you know, turned the grape juice into a syrup to preserve it and keep it from fermenting. No, they didn’t do that because then they would have to reconstitute it by adding water to it if they wanted to drink it. And that was way too much work, way too involved for anything like that. If they turned it into wine, that is a way also of preserving that juice and keep it from going bad because alcohol would kill mold spores. It would kill anything that tried to get into it like bacteria and stuff like that most of the time. So yeah, it was a way of preserving it and keeping it for a long time without it going bad.
Now, a lot of times if a certain substance got into that wine and it that wine did go bad, then what you would have is what’s called vinegar. Vinegar is pretty much just basically the next step in the wine process. So if you got like a mother that you introduce into the wine, it could turn into vinegar. I’m sorry I’m starting to ramble. So let’s go on and finish this up. Anyways, going on. Scripture consistently warns against excess drinking and we refer to this as drunkenness or also being a drunkard. And those who habitually get drunk are referred to as drunkards. Scripture prohibits civil and religious leaders from being given to alcohol. Think back to when we read the verses on the kings and the princes, the priests going into the um temple or the tabernacle and also the elders and deacons qualifications in the Bible. Now, it’s not forbidden completely outright all the time, but definitely not being given to alcohol, being under control, being alcoholics, being drunkards, stuff like that. And what is the holistic teaching that we asked earlier in the teaching uh what is the holistic teaching of scripture regarding the subject of alcohol? Well, the holistic teaching from scripture is that the consumption of alcohol is allowed and it’s neither commanded nor prohibited. It’s up to your own individual personal conscience. So yeah, as one person said earlier, it is not a sin. Drinking is not a sin, but drunkenness is. And that’s what scripture teaches. And that is just the God honest truth.
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