DOES THE BIBLE FORBID THE DRINKING OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES?

The Bible gives many examples of drinking with warning and prohibitions against overindulgence.Prov 20:1 “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler.” Wine can make a fool out of you or cause fights. People sometimes do stupid, embarrassing things when their inhibitions are depressed after drinking too much. 

 Prov 23:32 “Wine bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper.” This passage seems to describe a typical hangover.

 Prov 21:17 Says that drinking can lead someone into poverty. You can spend a fortune on drinking too much and it can lead to loss of employment. Divorce, alimony and child support payments are also expensive.

 Isa 5:11 warns against those who run after strong drink and stay up late into the evening until wine inflames them.

 Priests in the Old Testament were told not to drink while ministering in the Tabernacle (Lev. 10:9-10). 

 Noah planted a vineyard and got drunk on his wine (Gen 9:21).

 Lot’s daughters got him drunk in order to have sex with him (Gen 19:23).

 Paul wrote in 1 Cor 5:11, “. . . you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.”

 I guess it is ok to have a non-believer friend who is a drunk. We can’t hold non believers to the same standards as believers.

 Eph 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk with wine which leads to debauchery.” Notice this doesn’t prohibit drinking, only drunkenness.

 Paul wrote that drunkenness (not drinking) is an act of the sinful nature, along with hatred and selfishness (Gal 5:21).

 On the positive side, we are told that alcoholic beverages can be used for our benefit. It can ease our suffering when sick or dying (Prov 31:6). Paul advised Timothy to drink wine for his troubled stomach (1 Tim 5:23). Wine was also used to cleanse wounds (Luke 10:34). Wine can gladden the heart (Prov 104:15) and Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding. If he was opposed to wine he could have turned the water into sparkling spring water.

 Moderate drinking is acceptable, drunkenness is forbidden. Paul warns us that we should not do anything that might make a brother stumble (Rom 14:21). In this area, as in others, you have to give your brother the freedom to choose for himself whether to drink alcohol or not. Paul says in Rom 14:17 that the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking.

 He also tells us in I Cor 6:12, “Everything is permissible for me – but not everything is beneficial.” I think Paul is saying that unlike the many prohibitions in the Old Testament, from a theological perspective, we can eat and drink what we want. All is permissible, but, there are reasons why sometimes some of us should not indulge. For instance, if you have a family history of heart disease, diabetes, or alcoholism, it would be best for you to avoid certain food and alcohol.

 Bottom Line: We can misuse most anything that God gives us: money, food, material possessions, sex and booze. These things are neither good nor evil in themselves. It is how they are used that makes them a blessing or a curse.