"Sin/Morality"

Does The New Testament Authorize Social Drinking?

What do we mean by the above title? We mean, does the New Testament (the 27 books in the Bible from Matthew to Revelation) authorize (justify, teach) it is scriptural to engage in drinking of beverages which contain alcohol (distilled from grain and used in beverages). The New Testament must either authorize the use of drinking or condemn it. It cannot do both. If the New Testament teaches one may social drink, then we must proclaim it from the housetops. But if the New Testament teaches it is a sin to social drink, then we must proclaim that from the housetops too. Whatever we believe or teach, we must have a "thus saith the Lord" (1 Peter 4:11; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:3).

Nothing Good Has Ever Come From Drinking

The drinking of alcoholic beverages has never produced anything good in a person. That's a fact, Jack! Christians are to prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). If it can be proved that alcohol is not good, then it follows Christians should abstain from it. And those who are engaged in drinking (saint and sinner) must repent before it's too late (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Galatians 5:19-21). How are we going to prove that alcohol is not good? Let's take a look at some statistics and see the results alcohol has produced.

Drinking Among Teenagers

Almost 9% of teens between 12 and 17 overdose with alcohol
Arrests of teenagers for drunken driving has tripled since 1960.
60% of people killed in drunken driving accidents are in their teens.
Dr. William Rader, A California psychiatrist specializing in alcoholism in teenager says, "Alcohol is the number one problem among teenagers today. Half a million teenagers in the United States are alcoholics. Twelve-year-olds are not reported in Alcoholics Anonymous."

Our Number One Social Problem

Next to heart attacks and cancer, alcohol is the nation's third most serious health problem.
Alcohol related health problems account for 26% of all admissions to state and county mental hospitals.
Dr. Karl Menninger says that alcohol constitutes the country's largest mental health problem and that nothing looms as large on the horizon.
The Vietnam War lasted from 10 to 12 years and took some 56,000 American lives. But did you know that in just one recent 5 year period, over 125,000 Americans were killed in alcohol related auto accidents. (That is more than the Korean and the Vietnam War put together).

Alcohol And Crime

Alcohol kills one person every 24 minutes in traffic "accidents".
Alcohol is a contributing factor in 80% of all crime.
Alcohol accounts for 40% of all problems brought to family counts.
Statistics tell us that 3/4 of all divorces are associated in some way with alcohol.
The superintendent of a children's home in Texas said 90% of the children were there because one, or both, of the parents had an alcohol problem. (Much of this information was taken from Don Humphrey, Social Drinking and the Christian)

While some of America has been brainwashed into thinking you can't legislate laws to enforce morality, they fail to look at the facts. In 1919, when the Prohibition Law became the 18th amendment to the Constitution, did you know that within the next ten years crime dropped 54%, death due to liquor dropped 42%, and insanity decreased 66%. Then in 1933 when Prohibition was repealed, drunkenness rose 350%, hospitals recorded an increase of 400%, illness due to alcohol increased 250%, homicides increased 78%, rape was up49 percent, and assault jumped 100%. With the above statistics, how can you prove that social drinking is good according to 1 Thessalonians 5:21?

How Much Alcohol Does It Take To Make One Intoxicated?

A leading authority states the following: Blood alcohol of 1/10 of one percent can be accepted as prima facie evidence of alcohol intoxication recognizing that many individuals are under the influence in 5/100 of one percent range...There is no minimum (blood alcohol concentration) which can be set at which there will be absolutely no effect (Minutes of the 1960 annual meeting of the American Journal of the American Medical Association).

At 6% (which would take only three beers, or three classes of wine, or two highballs) man's reaction time is distorted. At 10% he is considered legally drunk (over 5 bears). As brother Flavil Yeakley says, "Obviously there are degrees of intoxication, but remember that the Bible does not say 'Don't get dead drunk,' it just says, 'Don't get drunk'!" Let's remember social drinking makes one sociably drunk!

Well, Jesus Drank Wine

It is often alleged that our Savior drank intoxicating wine. The passages that are usually cited for Jesus drinking are Matthew 11:19, 26; 27-29; 27:48; John 19:30. The social drinker argues that since Jesus turned water into wine, He must have approved of social drinking (John 2:1-11). First, it must be noted that Jesus lived under Old Testament law and was subject to it. Therefore, did Jesus cause His fellow man to err? (Proverbs 20:1). Did He cause His fellow man to be bitten like a serpent? (Proverbs 23:32). Did Jesus cause His fellow man to sin? After all, He made anywhere from 120-180 gallons of wine. It was strictly forbidden in the old law to make one drunk. "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink...and makest him drunken" (Hab. 2:15). Did Jesus make His fellow man drunk? This is what you have if you believe Jesus made wine that is intoxicating.

The word wind (oinos) in the New Testament is a generic word, and its definition is derived from the context in which it is located. In Genesis 40:11 the butler told Joseph, "I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup in Pharaoh's hand." Plutarch, who lived 600 years before Christ said, "The Egyptians neither drank fermented wine nor offered it in sacrifice" (Bible Wines, p. 77). Albert Barnes in his commentary on John 2 lists the following:

Pliny, Plutarch, and Horace describe wine as good, or mention that as the best wine, which was harmless or innocent...The most useful wine...was that which had little strength; and the most wholesome wine...was that which had not been adulterated by the "addition of anything to the must of juice." Pliny expressly says that a "good wine" was one that destitute of spirit." Dr. Jacobus says, "The boiling prevents fermentation. Those were esteemed the best wines which were least strong." Dr. S. M. Isaacs, Jewish Rabbi says, "In the Holy Land they do not commonly use fermented wines. The best wines are preserved sweet and unfermented."

Social Drinking Is Wrong!

The word sober (nepho, this word and this word only) is used in 1 Thessalonians 5:6, 8; 2 Timothy 4:5; 1 Peter 1:13; 4:7 and 5:8. W. E. Vine says this word "signifies to be free from the influence of intoxicants." Note the following syllogisms:

Major Premise: Today's wines are wines which intoxicate.
Minor Premise: The Bible tells us to abstain from wines which intoxicate (1 Thessalonians 5:6; 8; 2 Timothy 4:5; 1 Peter 1:13; 5:8).
Conclusion: Therefore, we must abstain from wines which intoxicate.

Major Premise: We are to abstain from all and every form of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Minor Premise: Alcohol is proven to be evil (alcohol causes 20% of all divorces, 25% of all insanity, 37% of all poverty, 47% of all child misery, 50% of all traffic deaths).
Conclusion: Therefore, we are to abstain from alcohol.

Major Premise: If it is the case that social drinking makes one sociably drunk, then it is a sin to drink.
Minor Premise: It is the case that social drinking makes one sociably drunk, then it is a sin to drink.
Minor Premise: It is the case that social drinking makes one sociably drink. (The more liquor you consume, the more of a drunkard you become.)

The word drunk (methusko) means: "...cause to become intoxicated: get drunk, become intoxicated with wine" (Arndt & Gingrich, p. 500). W. E. Vine says with regards to methusko, "to make drunk, or grow drunk (an inceptive verb, making the process of the state expressed in methuo), to become intoxicated, Luke 12:45; Ephesians 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:17"

Conclusion: Therefore, it is the case that social drinking is a sin.

Major Premise: Drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21).
Minor Premise: Social drinking is getting sociably drunk.
Conclusion: Therefore, social drinkers will not inherit the kingdom of God.

From Our Archives, 1984
By: George Reed