Water into What: Christians and Alcohol

I often see people debating the issue of wine on social media. Some insist that Jesus could never have made alcoholic wine at the wedding in Cana as people could have become drunk and the Lord would never contribute to such actions. Others insist that all alcohol is inherently evil and Christians should never take it as it’s the ‘devil’s drink’. Such people quote incidents of people becoming drunk, such as Noah and Lot and the consequences of their drunkenness.

In this study, I will confine this topic to the New Testament for the sake of brevity as we are concerned with how Christians should treat the issue of alcohol. But first, a few comments about wine and grape-juice in New Testament times. Wine was made by treading the grapes, separating the juice from the skins, and putting the juice into wineskins. The skins of grapes contain yeast, so nothing needed to be added for fermentation to immediately begin as the treading process released the yeast.

If one was to drink the juice on the same day it was pressed, the alcohol level would be almost zero. If put directly into a refrigerator and kept very cold to slow down the fermentation process, this could stay relatively fresh and have low alcohol content for a few days. In fact, it is not easy to make grape juice. Today, techniques of sterilization and chemicals are used to remove the yeast and stop fermentation, and then preservatives added to make the juice last. 

In a hot Mediterranean climate at the end of summer, and with no refrigerator, sterilization technique, chemicals or preservatives, making grape-juice stay fresh for more than 24 hours would be basically impossible, the entire harvest would have to be consumed immediately, or thrown away, for without being sealed into wineskins to ferment, it would be non-consumable. For this reason, you will not find any word in the NT which refers to non-alcoholic grape-juice. There are three words used to describe wine in the NT. I will add the Strong’s number so you can check the Greek for yourself. If you don’t have a concordance, you can use websites such as Bible Hub to see the Greek words and meanings.

The most common word is ‘Oinos’ which always refers to alcoholic wine, both as new and old wine. The second is ‘Gleukos’, from which we take our English word Glucose, and this refers to sweet alcoholic wine freshly made. This word is used only once in the NT in Acts 2:13 when the new believers were accused of being drunk on the Day of Pentecost. The third word is ‘Oxos’ which refers to sour wine or vinegar and is mentioned in John 19:29-30 as being offered to Jesus when He was on the cross.

Wine was part of the staple diet of people in Jesus’ time. It was commonly diluted with water to both give the water some flavor, and to make water safer to drink. Let’s examine some NT Scriptures. In Ephesians 5:18 Paul writes;

‘Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.’

The word wine here is of course oinos, as one cannot get drunk on grape juice. What about the use of wine in a Church service? In 1 Corinthians 11:17-33 Paul is rebuking the church in Corinth for abusing wine at the Lord’s Supper. In verse 21 he accuses some of them of getting drunk. Paul then speaks of the Last Supper where Jesus took the cup and the bread, and the only conclusion one can come to is that the same wine was used by Jesus with His disciples as the Corinthians are using for communion. Paul’s point is that Jesus ‘gave thanks’ (v24) before giving it to His disciples, and when we are taking communion, we also ‘give thanks’ and consider the elements as representative of the body and blood of Christ, and never to be taken without self-examination.

Paul also warns them of the consequences of taking the bread and wine without discernment and flippantly, and states that because they have treated communion with contempt, many have become weak and sick and a number of them have died (v 29-31). 

So, let’s look at Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana from John 2:1-11. Firstly, the word used for wine throughout is oinos, alcoholic wine. We are told in verse 6 that there were six large stone jars used for ceremonial washing and each of them held twenty to thirty gallons of water, or 75-115 liters. In verse 7, Jesus told them to fill them and they were filled right to the top. So, if we are to be conservative and say they were 20 gallon jars, we have 120 gallons which is 450 liters, but it may have been as much as 180 gallons or 680 liters. The average wine bottle is about 750 mil, so Jesus made between 600 and 900 bottles of wine.

Jesus then instructs the servant to take some of the wine to the banquet master who tasted it, and made this statement to the bridegroom in verse 10. 

‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now’.

This statement is very obvious in its intent. You impress people with the most expensive wine until they have ‘had too much to drink’ and some of them on their way to getting drunk, and then bring out the cheap stuff because they won’t care in their inebriated state. But, the alcoholic wine Jesus made was better than the best wine presented at the start of the feast.

There is absolutely no way to read this miracle in either English or the original Greek and deny that Jesus made the equivalent of 600-900 bottles of the best alcoholic wine at this wedding. We don’t know how many people were at the feast, but it was a common practice for the celebration with food, dancing and drink to last from five to seven days (Judges 14:10-12). 

Most people at this wedding may have used watered down wine, but as in many weddings, there may have also been those who drank too much and were drunk. We don’t know on which day of the wedding Jesus made the wine, but considering the amount He made, perhaps we can speculate there were several days until the end of the celebration. We DO know that He didn’t make non-alcoholic grape juice, for all the reasons already stated. 

What can we conclude?

1. That God is generous in His gifts to us, not miserly. When asked to provide the wine Jesus provided an incredibly generous amount.

2. That God’s gifts to us can be used responsibly, or abused. If you want to ban alcohol because it can be abused, then will you ban sex for the same reasons?

3. Beware of self-righteous hypocrisy. I have seen the same people who self-righteously state that ‘strong drink has never passed my lips’ who eat enough for 3 people and are obese. Such people seldom speak about gluttony, but Scripture condemns this abuse of food.

4. Alcohol, in responsible amounts, is beneficial for health in many ways. Paul instructed Timothy to stop using only water, but to drink a little wine (oinos) for his stomach sake and frequent illnesses (1 Tim 5:23).

5. Do not cause a brother or sister to stumble. In Romans 14:1-23 Paul speaks about Christians who may be weak in their faith, or have convictions about what they eat or drink. He specifically mentions wine in verse 21 and goes on to say to keep these things between yourself and God. Paul’s point is about exercising love in the Body of Christ and helping each other in our walk with the Lord. To preach to someone who has a problem with alcohol that they can have a drink now and again is simply wrong, and to tempt such a person is sinful. Do not drink wine in the presence of a person who cannot drink alcohol or anyone who has a problem with drinking responsibly. Everything we do must be for the glory of God. We are called to love one another, to put others first, and to exercise wisdom.

6. Do not condemn Christians who drink wine responsibly. It is the Lord who created grapes, put the yeast in the skins to cause fermentation, and even made wine for a wedding feast. Wine is not evil, but like all of God’s gifts, can be abused and create evil.

7. Keep in mind that Jesus said that John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking, but the Son of Man did both and would be accused of being a glutton and drunkard (Matthew 11:18-19). Jesus never denied that He had meals with tax collectors or sinners, and perhaps He only drank watered wine on such occasions. But there is no doubt that He drank wine.

7. Whatever Jesus was drinking at the Last Supper with His disciples, and I believe it was oinos -wine, we will also be drinking with Him in heaven, for He said He would not drink it again until He drank with us in His Father’s kingdom (Matthew 26:29).

I pray this short article has been informative for you. Please share it with those who have questions about wine, and God bless.

Steve Copland

Strongs references:

Oinos – alcoholic wine – also called new wine 3631

Gleukos – sweet new wine 1098. Only once Acts 2:13

Oxos - Sour wine – vinegar 3690 John 19:29-30