Should Christians Drink Alcohol? What the Bible Says

Hey, thanks again for sending in questions related to our recent sermons. As you know, we’re continuing our series in John, looking at Jesus’ miracles, how they help restore what is broken in the world. And this last week, we studied one of Jesus’ more famous miracles, when he turns water to wine. An excessive amount of wine, between 120 and 180 gallons of wine Jesus provided for this party, this wedding reception, this feast.

We said it points to how we as Christians, in the redeemed earth, we will enter into a forever kind of feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb, a rejoicing festival forever, really. And Jesus was bringing a little bit of that good, glorious day into this one particular little piece of time at this wedding in Cana. And so the question this week is one many of us have: what should be the Christian relationship to alcohol? Are we free to partake?

Are there limits? Should we avoid it altogether? Jesus drank wine, Jesus provided wine to this wedding. Does that mean it’s okay to drink wine? Maybe he was just setting them up for failure. He just gave them a bunch of wine. So how are we to understand this? We’ll come at it from two different directions. On the one hand, wisdom would say it’s not proper to ban alcohol altogether. But then on the other side, it’s something to be careful with.

So, on the “do not ban alcohol altogether” side. I know a number of Christian organizations do that, whether it’s schools or churches. They ban maybe their staff or their faculty, or sometimes their students, or sometimes, if you need to be even a member of a church, you have to agree not to drink alcohol. And I would say that is too prohibitive. My joke whenever I’m talking with leaders of organizations like that, I say, if you have a rule that would prohibit Jesus from teaching at your school, or you have a rule that would prohibit Jesus from being a member of your church or a pastor of your church, if you have a rule that would prohibit Jesus from serving there or being there, then that rule is too strict. Jesus, we know, drank wine. We also know wine of the time had an alcoholic content that could produce drunkenness.

We know that because there’s commands against drunkenness. So sometimes I hear this perspective of, “Oh, it was okay for them to drink wine because it wasn’t really wine with any alcohol in it.” I say, well, that can’t be the case, because then we wouldn’t have any warnings against having too much, drinking too much, being drunk.

So we know the wine had alcohol in it. We know Jesus drank it. If we prohibit anyone from drinking alcohol altogether, it would mean Jesus would be prohibited from our organizations. That’s one step too far. So, the response there then, among some, especially if you are a younger Christian, I hear this often: “So we can drink then, right?”

And I heard a pastor one time very wisely respond, “It means we might be able to drink.” We’re not going to prohibit it, but we’re also not going to wholesale open the door to it either, because there are dangers associated with alcohol. And Scripture warns on many occasions.

Proverbs 20:1, wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise. Proverbs 23:29–35, drinking brings woe, sorrow, strife, and it describes how being intoxicated bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Proverbs 23 again warns that alcohol impairs the judgment, makes you insensitive to danger. Like, who hit me? I don’t even feel it, right? Ephesians 5:18, do not get drunk on wine, for that is debauchery. Isaiah 5:11 talks about those who rise early in the morning and run after drink all day, stay up until inflamed into the night. 1 Corinthians 6:10 says drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God. There are strong warnings in Scripture against the dangers. And so, proceed, perhaps, but also with caution, especially, I’d say, if you have a family history of people that struggle with their alcohol use. Take extra caution in how you partake of it.

The last piece: like Romans 14, when it’s talking about food that we eat, we have freedom. If we have freedom to eat something, and for somebody else that’s a struggle for them, then it’s loving on our part not to cause our brother or sister to stumble.

And so if you’re around people who struggle with alcohol, it is not loving for you to drink around them. And so there’s lots of warnings, lots of considerations. Don’t want to prohibit it on one hand, but on the other hand, you got to be careful with it. I really appreciate that pastor who said, in response to “Hey, so we can drink, right?” he said, “We might be able to.” Depends on you, depends on your setting, your family history, who you’re around. And you don’t want to go too far, because you can go too far. So I hope that’s helpful. We’ll see you next time.