Christians and Alcohol: Consuming, Drunkenness, and Abstinence as Sin

This post is almost unnecessary, but I don't want to take anything for granted in this discussion. So, before we press on we need to address what immediate individual sin is, or what implications drinking has on the Christian actually imbibing alcohol.

It has been said from time to time that simply consuming alcohol is a sin. This view is invalid according to Scripture as displayed by this syllogism:

1. The Bible states that Jesus was sinless.
2. Jesus drank alcohol.
3. Drinking alcohol is not a sin.

Of course this logic presupposes that the Bible is true, but keep in mind this discussion series is titled "Christians and Alcohol" and if an individual does not believe that Christ is without sin it is hardly possible for that individual to be a Christian.

It is also clear in Scripture that drunkenness is a sin.

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

-Romans 13:12-14

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

-Galatians 5:19-21

So, consuming alcohol is not a sin, but consuming too much is considered a fleshy pursuit. These are simple biblical truths.

But what about abstaining from alcohol?

According to Mark Driscoll, he was "studying the Scriptures for a sermon about Jesus' first miracle of turning water into wine, as reported in John's gospel, a miracle that Jesus performed when he was about my age. My Bible study convicted me of my sin of abstinence from alcohol. So in repentance I drank a hard cider over lunch with our worship pastor."

There are situations where abstaining from alcohol is a sin (I will discuss this later; just hold on) and to be fair I do not know exactly how Driscoll means his abstinence was sinful. But at face-value, this statement is silly (I will discuss the deeper interpretation as well; just hold on). It is silly for this reason: wine was the primary drink in the ancient context in which Jesus lived.

(This is good to note before I go further: the wine in John's gospel and in the rest of the New Testament was approximately 3 parts water, 1 part wine. The average individual would have to consume 22 glasses of wine to get drunk. Bladders tend to fill up before you get to that 22nd glass. Hard cider contains a much larger amount of alcohol than ancient wine.)

Wine in the ancient context was the drink of choice for the whole of the population. It is clear that it was a cultural norm. Our observations from the previous post shows us that our culture does not view alcohol in the same way that Jesus' culture viewed it. This ancient wine, if you want to call the diluted mixture that, was as much a staple of culture as wearing sandals. But Driscoll doesn't think that walking around in biker-boots or barefoot is a sin. Abstinence from alcohol in this sense is definitely not a sin.

There are intangibles at work here. This discussion is only a small piece of the pie. Remember the reaction and relation I discussed at the end of the last post? That is where we are going next.

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Earlier in this series:

Christians and Alcohol: Prolegomena

Christians and Alcohol: In Context