As God created the heavens, the earth, and all therein, He continually recognizes that His creation is “good” (Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, NKJV). After the sixth day, when God’s creation was complete, God says that His creation is, “very good” (Gen. 1:31). This being the case, God’s creation in its purest form is good – but man does not waste much time before corrupting what God has made good. In Genesis 3, man makes his choice to sin. By Genesis 9:20ff, we find that man has learned about vineyards and wine. With God’s good creation in mind, we might wonder, is alcohol good? Over the next several weeks, we will examine the subject of alcohol in light of God’s word to consider whether or not we as Christians have the right to drink.
Searching for the term “alcohol” in our Bibles is not going to yield any results. Based on context, we understand that certain terms refer to alcohol – such as “strong drink” (Prov. 20:1; 31:6; Isa. 24:9) and “wine” (Gen. 9:21; Prov. 20:1). Even in these terms, we must be careful to always consider the context and not always assume it is in reference to alcohol. For example, “wine” can refer to alcohol, but it can also speak of grape juice. Based on context, the “wine” mentioned in Genesis 19:34 is alcoholic, but in Isaiah 16:10 or Isaiah 65:8 the reference to “wine” must be speaking of that which is fresh grape juice not having undergone a fermentation process. Even in the New Testament, the specific Greek word translated as “wine” can refer to either alcoholic or nonalcoholic drink. To determine its usage, we must therefore consider the context.
Next week, we will consider the context of several different passages to determine whether the wine being spoken of is alcoholic and whether it serves as a positive or negative example. While we will not be able to exhaust every reference, we will do our best to give a wide enough sampling to consider what God’s word truly says concerning alcohol.
By: Preston McElyea