Social
Drinking
By
Shelby G. Floyd
William Shakespeare wrote in the play, Othello, “O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil.” There is no doubt that devil would be a good name for wine and strong drink for it produces no good, but rather is the occasion of much of man’s unhappiness, sorrow, shame and death. Anything which causes man as much sorrow and woe as does alcoholic beverages cannot be of God but must be of the wicked one who is set to destroy man’s body, soul and. spirit.
Calling Evil Good and Calling Good Evil
What is
so disturbing today is that some people, who claim to be religious, are calling
social drinking good instead of evil. (Isaiah 5:
20-23.) Some even blaspheme the wonderful name and character of Jesus Christ
by reference to his visit to the marriage feast in
Term Wine Used In
Those
who affirm that Jesus endorsed social drinking assume the point which is their
burden to prove, namely, that the water which Jesus turned into wine was
intoxicating wine; this they will never be able to do. In fact, the teaching of
both the Old and New Testament condemns the use of intoxicating beverages. It
is not fair to assume that the wine which Jesus made was intoxicating wine,
since the term wine is used in at least three ways in the Bible: first, the
term wine sometimes refers to grape juice which is still in the cluster or in
the vine. The prophet, Jeremiah, used the term in this sense when he said, “...but
you are to harvest the wine, summer fruit and oil, and put them in your storage
jars, and live in the towns you have taken over.” “… And
they harvested an abundance of wine and summer fruit. (Jeremiah
40: 10, 12.) Isaiah also used
it in this sense, “In that day sing to her, “A vineyard of red wine!” (Isaiah 27: 2.)
Secondly, the term wine sometimes refers to grape juice, freshly pressed out of the grape, but not yet fermented. In this sense Isaiah states, “…tread out no wine in their presses.” (Isaiah 16: 10.) Jesus in one of his parables no doubt used the term wine to refer to fresh grape juice, and he called it new wine. (Matthew 9: 17.) When they put the new wine into the new bottles it would be fresh grape juice; but when it fermented and the bottles expanded it would be old wine and intoxicating. Therefore, in the third place, the term wine does sometimes refer to intoxicating drink.
When Solomon said,
Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions?
Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
Those who linger long at the wine,
Those who go in search of mixed wine.
(Proverbs 23: 29-30.)
He did not have in mind fresh grape juice, but rather intoxicating wine. Therefore, in reference to intoxicating wine, Solomon said,
Do not look on the wine when it is red,
When it sparkles in the cup,
When it swirls around smoothly;
At the last it bites like a serpent,
And stings like a viper.
(Proverbs 23: 31-32.)
Solomon simply meant by this last statement that one should not drink wine when it is fermented and intoxicating for it will destroy like the bite of a serpent and like the sting of an adder.
In view of this, would Jesus Christ have made intoxicating wine, and would he have encouraged others to drink wine which Solomon prohibited God’s people from doing? Obviously, he would not have done that. Therefore, the water which Jesus turned into wine was doubtless fresh grape juice, the drinking of which everyone would approve.
Social Drinking Will Be Disaster When Christ Returns
Let us further examine the teaching of Jesus Christ to see if he taught or approved social drinking. Near the end of his life, Jesus, taught his disciples concerning his second coming, saying, “But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24: 48-51.) Eating and drinking with the drunken would be social drinking and this is what Jesus positively forbids his disciples to do; therefore, Jesus does not approve of social drinking. (cf. Luke 21: 34.)
The Inspired Apostles Condemned Social Drinking
The
inspired apostles of Jesus Christ were just as strong in their contentions for
total abstinence as was the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul exhorted the Christians at
Social Drinking Is Revelry
Every
Christian realizes that drunkenness is wrong, but there are some religious
people who believe social drinking to be right. Let us see if this is true? The
word revelry in Romans
“a revel,
carousal, that is in the Greek writing properly a nocturnal and riotous
procession of half drunken and frolicsome fellows who after supper parade
through the streets with torches and music in honor of Bacchus or some other
deity, and sing and play before the houses of their male and female friends;
hence, used generally of feasts and drinking parties that are protracted
till late at night and indulge in revelry.” (Thayer, p.
367.)
Therefore, according to
this definition, not only is drunkenness wrong, but also reveling, which
involves feasts and drinking parties which is protracted until late at night.
There is only one safe course for the child of God; he must totally abstain
from the use of alcoholic beverages.
Copyright © 2007