I've been asked about the fact that I have mentioned wine on a number of occasions in my blog and yet mention in the sideline notes that I am a Christian. How is this possible?
In the interest of full disclosure, let me first state the obvious; I find nothing biblical to condemn the consumption of alcoholic beverages. In fact, I find quite the opposite. How's that for a plot spoiler. Second, while writing this I am currently snacking on a few of the Salt and Pepper chips mentioned earlier and enjoying a glass on one of my standards, the Bota Box Old Vine Zinfandel. I also have ABBA playing so take that into consideration (just wait 'til we get to a discussion of music!).
In addition, I think that there are really two questions implicit in the general query. The first is the question of what the bible says about wine (and for the rest of this post I am using wine loosely to include any alcoholic beverage). The second is, if drinking wine is OK, when and (and this is almost never addressed) why. If this sounds like good news reporting, you're not far off. I find asking the W's to be an excellent start to almost any discussion.
This post will only address the first question. Stay tuned for the sequel (which to my mind is the more interesting).
Is It Acceptable For A Christian To Drink Wine?
Obviously, for a Christian, what this question really asks is, "What does the Bible say on this issue?". Since you already know my answer, let me instead lead you through my manner of research and you can reach your own conclusion. If I remember correctly, I clicked on the Warn Viewers That This Blog May Include Adult Content warning. Well, since this topic is about alcohol, I deem it of adult content. To the under 18, read this with your parents. To the over 18, make informed decisions.
In any thing I look at, my typical style is to try to go to original material. In this case it's the Bible. In the instance of biblical research I start by thanking God for the internet. While there is a lot of stupidity, there is also a tremendous amount of beauty. In this case, one of those beautiful things is the website www.studylight .org
This website has an amazing search-able lexicon. Go, type in the word you want to look at, and read all the times it is used. Unless is it an extremely rare word (and we may come to some of those in later, very adult, conversations) by the time you read the contextual setting of each time the word is used, you should have a decent idea of what the bible actually says on the subject.
As you read through the verses in which the word shows up ask the following questions:
Do you see a common theme?
Are there exceptions?
Can you explain why there are exceptions or are they enigmatic?
If there is no direct continuity, is there some broader principle at work?
One other quick caveat (and bone to pick). In thinking about writing this blog I ran a quick google search on the matter. One of the first sites picked up fell into one of the most common and most irritating traps of rhetoric. It would use a verse like Leviticus 10:9, "“You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die.", and argue that such a verse condemned drinking. Rules of grammar are necessary for more than English majors and attorneys. A verse like that actually says that wine is not to be consumed if going into the tent of meeting. That's it. If you are not going into the tent of meeting it is at worst ambiguous about wine consumption and at best an implicit acceptance of wine in other contexts. Also, if you look at the verse in full context, it goes on (in the same verse and the next) to say, "This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, 10 so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common ..." The tent of meeting was special and holy. The rules that applied to it were different from regular or common life since it was different. The real point I am trying to make is think logically and read the entire context of the subject.
In a quick referential search on the lexicon of the website mentioned, it appears there are about 8 Greek words for wine in the New Testament and about 15 Hebrew words for wine in the Old Testament. Again, I am not really trying to convince you of anything and I'll let you read through all the references and come to your own conclusions. However, when I read through them in context, they tend to lead me to the following conclusions.
First, there is a strong prohibition against over consumption. While some brilliant theologians could argue to tenure regarding what "over consumption" means, I focus on this; the Bible is about relationship. If your consumption leads to the degradation of your relationship with God or your relationship with the person next to you, it is over consumption. *This concept is much more fully dealt with in Part 2 of this discussion, so please wait to read that installment before assuming you know what I mean.
Second, there are numerous invitations to celebrate all that God has given us and at least one one warning which suggests that tea-totaling can lead to a judgmental appearance. In Philippians 4, in the context of celebrating everything true, noble, lovely, right, pure, admirably, excellent, or praiseworthy, there is also the caution to be seen as people who are comfortable with moderation. I frequently think that many Christians have forgotten the value (and the directive) to be relationally attractive.
Finally, in looking at the verses pertinent, I see many references which either directly accept and celebrate wine or implicitly accept it as acceptable behavior. I am not going into the arguments that "wine" means an un-fermented grape juice; quite frankly to accept the strained interpretations and grammatical contortions required to resolve all the referenced verses into that belief system requires more faith than it does to become a Christian in the first place.
There is a final consideration for me that must be mentioned. So for we have dealt with the highly educated part of this analysis. What about the hillbilly side?
There are numerous Biblical references to vineyards in both the OT and NT. In many of the references, the vineyards are described in near industrial level terms with significant acreage and many employees. I live in an area of fairly extensive vineyards. They are a significant investment in money and even more in labor. As far as I know, they yield only one harvest a year.
We have a lot of wild grapes growing on the fence rows that we use to make grape jelly in the late summer. Grapes only last a couple of weeks at best once picked. Squeezed grape juice lasts even less time. After that the grapes, for the most part, rot. If they don't rot directly, and I find this a bit ironic, they ferment.
All this begs the question of why so many generations would go through so much work to harvest industrial size crops that were either ruined or fermented within days after harvest if fermented grape juice was biblically illegal? The hillbilly conclusion is that historically people had vineyards for the grape juice which they stored long term as wine. This would also show a biblical ethos of stewardship as you would minimize waste. I can see no other reasonable satisfaction of the data presented. So, with gratitude, I drink wine (in moderation).
Next time I'll look at the more interesting questions of when and why one should joyfully consume alcoholic beverages.
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