At the wedding in Cana, Jesus turned water intended for ritual cleansing into wine, creating an alcoholic beverage (John 2:1-11). What implications does this have for 21st-century Christians with regard to drinking alcohol, and where do we draw the line? What was Jesus ‘saying’ when He produced alcohol at the wedding? Or was He simply helping out the newlyweds?
Is alcohol completely forbidden?
Drinking large amounts of alcohol can lead to drunkenness, which is unwise.(Proverbs 20:1 and Ephesians 5:18). It’s easy to see why: drunk people are unable to control their actions and speech, and are much more likely to do or say something ‘stupid’ they might regret later. Regularly getting drunk costs a lot of money. A person with a hangover is unable to function properly, and ill-considered comments made while drunk can cost you friendships and relationships. There are many practical reasons why a Christian should avoid getting drunk, and we don’t even have to consult the Bible to know this.
Does that mean that consuming even the tiniest quantity or drop of alcohol is a sin?
The answer to this question has to be “No.”
There are no verses in the Bible that forbid the use of alcohol. In fact, a number of Old Testament verses (e.g. Deuteronomy 14:22-23; Judges 9:13; 13:4-5; Leviticus 10:9; and Numbers 6:2-3) – which would have been familiar to Jesus – suggest that, while abstinence from wine was required in certain circumstances, it was permitted in most others and sometimes even had a ceremonial purpose. More on that later.
Is being drunk completely forbidden?
According to 1 Corinthians 6:10, “drunkards will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”
Therefore, if you wish to inherit the Kingdom of God, be warned! This verse tells us that getting drunk regularly is one of the most dangerous things you can do![1]
Again: ‘alcohol’ isn’t the same as ‘getting drunk’. Whilst alcohol in itself is an acceptable ingredient to beverages and can be used to disinfect wounds, getting drunk isn’t acceptable (Proverbs 20:1; 23:20-21; 25:28 and 29:11; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1 Peter 4:3 and Galatians 5:20-23). The consequences of getting drunk are clear and immediate: consider, for example, Genesis 9, where the previously righteous Noah is disgraced by his excessive wine consumption.
When Jesus created alcohol at the wedding, the other wedding guests may well have enjoyed this delicious drink so much that they got drunk. That wasn’t Jesus’ intention nor was He trying to take the Kingdom of God away from them. He agreed to provide a first demonstration of His glory, at the specific request of His mother who was trying to help the newlyweds.
We shouldn’t try to interpret this as, ‘Jesus wanted people to get drunk’ or ‘Jesus was introducing new dogma on alcohol’.
Jesus and the drinking of wine
As mentioned above, wine was sometimes used for ceremonial purposes. For example, part of the Jewish Passover tradition is to drink wine, and as Christians, we obviously know that Jesus and His disciples drank wine at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:27-29, see also John 19:29-30).
This means that there was (and is![2]) nothing ‘intrinsically wrong’ with wine, or with drinking it.
Other than the wedding at Cana, Matthew 11:19/Luke 7:34 allude to at least one other occasion where Jesus may have drunk wine. But although His enemies tried to portray drinking alcohol as ‘wrong’, it was not considered sinful in Old Testament times to drink alcohol. Therefore, the question of whether or not He drank wine is irrelevant. We know that Jesus never sinned (2 Corinthians 5:21), so whatever quantity He drank, it did not constitute a sin. Unfortunately for us, we will never know how much that was…..!
Should Jesus have refused to make wine at the wedding?
Wine was not a forbidden substance and it was unlikely that the wedding guests would become habitual drunkards just because they consumed this new supply of wine. While it is true that contact with alcohol may trigger the habit, Jesus was also about to introduce eternal salvation and the Holy Spirit Who provides us with the self-control we need to avoid getting drunk (Galatians 5:22-23).
We should also keep in mind that in His days, alcoholic beverages were a perfectly acceptable alternative to non-alcoholic drinks (the alcohol content ensured that the beverage was free from bacteria, making it safe to drink. Plain water always carried the risk of illness). This is also why the Apostle Paul recommended that Timothy drink a little wine for health reasons (1 Timothy 5:23). Compare medieval Europe, where beer would have been the safe and perfectly normal alternative to contaminated water.
If you are worried about not having enough of the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ to exercise self-control, however, it is probably best to avoid alcohol.
After all, remember 1 Corinthians 6:10….!
[1] Please do note that the same applies to indulging in other (illegal) substances which cause you to lose control over your actions and speech! If you have been, or used, to be a drunkard on a regular basis, please don’t be discouraged but read our articles on forgiveness…..!
[2] Consider also Jesus’ words in Mark 14:25 / Matthew 26:29, “Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.” This means that wine is being consumed even in God’s perfect new world.