The Bible has a lot to say about drunkards and drunkenness.  

Isaiah 28:1-4 and 7-8 “Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim (Ephraim is referring to the northern kingdom of Israel- Israel was divided by Isaiah’s time) whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!  Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.  The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up… But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.  For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.”

It is no wonder that the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?  Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

The Bible even gives rebuke to drunken spiritual leaders (an obvious example of the blind leading the blind into a ditch).  We saw that from Isaiah 28 and we see that in the following passages.

Isaiah 56:9-12: “All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.  His (that is, Israel’s) watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.  Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.  Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.”

Micah 2:10-11: “Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.  If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.”

That surely describes many who are called spiritual leaders in the realm of professing Christianity now.  The Bible’s rebuke of people who cleave to such spiritual leaders also applies to multitudes within the same realm.  And also, in its immediate context, that passage from Micah is also another rebuke to Zionism.  Many churches don’t even excommunicate people who are known drunkards and/or those who commonly frequent drunken environments.  Many other churches allow such as long those who do such things don’t talk much about it and keep themselves from public scandal.

Isaiah 30:8-11: “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”

Many use the instance of Jesus turning water into wine to attempt to justify Christians recreationally drinking alcohol.  I challenge those who make this claim to demonstrate that they are intent on following everything else the Bible says Christians should do every other place in Scripture.  If they’re not (and you can know for certain that they are not), why should they be taken seriously in their contention about Christians being allowed to go about getting drunk and being at social gatherings where the alcohol is flowing?  Why don’t they rather contend for the need to always be sober (like the Bible is one hundred percent certain in teaching)?  

Luke 21:33-36: “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.  And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting (excess), and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.  For as a snare (a trap) shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.  Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

Matthew 24:45-51: “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat (food) in due season?  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.  Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.  But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Those who use the instance of Jesus turning water into wine to attempt to justify Christians drinking alcohol are false witnesses which are tampered with by their own bias. They don’t even receive what the Bible teaches regarding how a living faith in Jesus causes one to live soberly and to shun having companions that are not sober.  

Titus 2:11-12: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world…”

The “well, Jesus turned the water into wine” people (the way they twist that event) often even rise up against the need to live soberly in order to partake of God’s grace in Christ even worse than the openly heathen Governor Felix did when the Apostle Paul testified before him.

Acts 24:24-25: “And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.  And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.”

We also read in Habakkuk 2:15: “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!”

Since Jesus never sinned, the Bible never testifies against any of His deeds.  Whatever He served at that wedding in Cana then did not have the alcoholic content to make anyone drunk- at least considering the overall moderation of the environment and the guests at the wedding.  Jesus knew what was set forth, He knew the environment, and He knew the crowd there well enough to know that He was not in danger of making anyone drunk by doing what He did there.  

Just because the Bible doesn’t always condemn all drinking of wine (as the Bible uses the word “wine” in English translations) doesn’t mean that it was considered okay in the Bible to drink the fruit of the vine when it had fermented much beyond the point of what we would consider grape juice or where it was not mixed considerably with water.  In those ways, used in moderation, it could simply be a source of nutrition and pleasure to the taste buds.  It is unreasonable to think that the substance which we put under the general label of “wine”, the stuff that the writers of the Bible were referring to, was always significantly fermented or not significantly diluted with water when used.  

Yet the Bible does indicate that that wine which is stronger should indeed be shunned.  

Proverbs 20:1: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”

The mindset of the inspired writers of Scripture is indisputably that it is ungodly to drink, even if it were grape juice or apple juice that you were drinking, to the point of drunkenness. 

Proverbs 24:29-33: “Who hath woe?  who hath sorrow? who hath contentions?  who hath babbling?  who hath wounds without cause?  who hath redness of eyes?  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder ( a poisonous snake).  Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.”

1 Samuel 1:13-16: “Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart (she was praying to God); only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.  And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken?  put away thy wine from thee.  And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.  Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial (or, of the devil): for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.”

Are those who are contending that one can be a faithful Christian and drink wine doing so from the standpoint that is important from a nutritional perspective or a medical perspective.  I would guess that is virtually never the case.  I believe that at most, it is very rarely the case.  The very context of Paul telling Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 5 to use a little wine instead of only water actually demonstrates that drinking wine of any significant strength, other than to treat an evident medical condition, should be considered out of bounds for those who would be faithful Christians.  Timothy had to be reassured that he was not making himself impure by using a little wine with water for his stomach’s sake and his frequent illnesses.  Even then, I believe the passage itself and what is known of the Jews’ practices at that time, both indicate that Paul’s advice to Timothy implies that the wine should be diluted much with water.  Paul knew Timothy was of the mindset that drinking alcohol recreationally, let alone drinking it to the point of intoxication, isn’t becoming for one who would be faithful to the true God.  Timothy had been raised in a Biblically faithful household.  His scruple regarding this was not a product of superstition but rather based upon established principles already laid down in the Hebrew Bible/Old testament.  

The concept of using drugs and alcohol in moderation is not a reasonable statement (besides of course the trace amounts of alcohol found in many foods and drinks which are commonly regarded as non-alcoholic- it is very, very difficult to get drunk from merely using such).  The very use of drugs and drinks with a known to be high alcohol content is promoting immoderation, even if it’s only drinking a little at a social event.  The environment where the alcohol is being set forth abundantly is itself promoting immoderation.  One would be hard pressed to even point out a real life situation where a faithful Christian would have any good reason to be in such an environment- even if they were not joining in the drinking (perhaps leaving a wedding reception early before the party really starts is the closest one could righteously come to this without going over the line).  Also, to use drugs recreationally, while actually hoping to keep one’s sobriety fully intact, defeats the purpose anyone would have of using them.  The whole concept of using drugs and alcohol in moderation is a trap in both the natural and the spiritual realms.  

The first example of a man getting drunk in the Bible is Noah.  He did this one time- quite possibly by accident.  I believe it is reasonable to think that the changes to the earth and to the human body after the flood, perhaps especially related to accelerated aging in Noah’s body, caused him to get drunk from the fruit of the vine in a way that he honestly did not expect would happen.

Genesis 9:20-21: “And Noah (after the flood) began to be an husbandman (a farmer), and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.”

Though there could very well have been guilt in Noah here, even if it was due simply to carelessness, it is also reasonable to believe that Noah repented towards God for this, that he learned from this, and that it did not happen again.

The next example of a man getting drunk in the Bible is Lot in Genesis chapter 19:30-38.  That event is so disgraceful that no more needs to be said.  

Let it sink in though that everyone who gets drunk or high risks doing and saying disgraceful things which they would rightfully be ashamed to say or to do if they were sober.  

Being attached to drugs and/or alcohol is a controversy with God which those who have need to deal with Him over.  Righteousness could not be at their reins while this attachment remains. 

Many use drugs or alcohol as an attempted escape of some kind.  Yet the times when one really hopes for  an escape are among the best times to deeply seek the Lord.  The drug and alcohol use only push the problems down- and guarantee that the one using them will both remain God’s enemy and have the same problems tomorrow.  It is a weakness; not a strength.

Many people say that they don’t care what others think about them.  Yet for some, drinking and and/or drug use, or at least companionship with those who are doing so, is necessary for acceptance in their social circle or social circles.  Those whom that is true of should admit they are actually slaves to the opinions of others and really choose to actually not care what others think of them- so they can live to please the true God who alone is worth worshiping and serving (and by the way, that is the righteous Biblical context of not caring what others think of you- the proper mindset should free one to do what’s right before God rather than embolden them in unrighteousness and ill manners).

Walking righteously before God means choosing to die to sin with Christ and choosing to bear His reproach before those who are not doing so.  Those who want to remain attached to sin, which would include being attached to a crowd pursuing sin, are paying a price for this that is higher than they can imagine.

Hebrews 11:24-26: “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.”

Christ will win in the end- and His true people will share in His victory.  His enemies will receive His reproach.  Those who think that giving up drugs and alcohol is too hard should consider that.  

Aaron’s email is: [email protected]

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