Unfermented Grape Juice
RO178-02

The American news media is suddenly sounding warnings about the lethal hazards associated with the use of alcoholic beverages. The surgeon general of the United States has now classified alcohol as a drug, along with cocaine, nicotine, and marijuana. Parents are being cautioned about setting a bad example for their children by their use of alcoholic beverages as an innocent and social pleasure. More and more advertisements are being run in newspapers and on TV, offering cures for alcoholism for desperate victims. More and more people, at all age levels, are finding themselves addicted to alcohol, and on a course of self-destruction – people who thought that it could never happen to them.

Such as substance, so corrosive to the soul and body, is naturally of concern to every spiritual Christian. The destruction by alcohol of the Christian's body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, cannot be taken lightly. The destruction of Christian marriages and families through the use of alcohol cannot be ignored. The potent genetic predisposition by many to alcoholism cannot be treated with indifference. The human suffering caused by drinking cannot be brushed aside. Spiritual Christians find this a matter of serious concern.

The lessons from experience, and the convictions and teachings of Scripture cause many Christians, indeed, to be offended by the use of alcohol by other believers. They feel that this is incompatible with new life in Christ. Interestingly enough, this attitude is even to be found among Christians.

Some years ago, I attended a church picnic of a large denomination. The theme of the picnic was new Life in Christ. And they had a little place where there was a sort of an archway and a banner that had been stretched across that arch, and it said "New Life in Christ." And that was the theme of their picnic. They also sold alcoholic beverages at this picnic. And I ran into a couple of men that I had known in years past, and they said, "Oh, so glad to see you." One of the men said, "Listen, let's get a picture here." And he got his wife to get the camera. And he said, "Let's take it under the arch." And they were all holding a can of beer in their hand. So, we stood there, with the beer cans in hand, and over our head, the banner said, "New Life in Christ." I'm glad it didn't say, "New spirit in Christ," or something like that. But it did say, "New Life in Christ."

Well, another friend of mine saw that, and he was so indignant. He said, "I can't believe that those guys would ask you to take a picture, and stand there under our sign, our theme of the picnic, and stand there with cans of beer in their hands. That's just disgusting." And the person who was indignant was also a beer drinker, but he didn't want this associated with his Christian associations; with his Christian testimony; and, with his contacts with Christianity. Somehow, there was something that made him uncomfortable, such that something was disjointed between the use of alcohol and his Christian profession.

Paul's principle, explained to us here in Romans 14, is that these concerns over the use of alcoholic beverages should be respected by Christians who do drink. Christians who do not drink should not be urged to ignore the convictions of their conscience against the use of alcohol. The primary concern of a spiritual Christian, Paul says is to prevent a brother in Christ from doing something which will ruin him spiritually.

Paul says, "Give up your freedom to use alcoholic wine" (the specific illustration that he uses), if it will lead another brother into temptation and destruction." So, Paul is saying, "Don't raise your glasses of booze in a glamorous, sophisticated toast, which in fact, may rob a believer of his eternal rewards in heaven if he follows your example.

We have found that the Bible refers to wine both as a great blessing from God, and as an evil causing great human misery. It is amazing how many Christians read the Bible, and pass that point over, and never give it a second thought. Anybody who has read the Bible extensively should be greatly concerned, and it should have leaped out from the pages of Scripture at us, and signaled us that there was something here that we weren't getting hold of, and that we were probably missing. You cannot talk about wine as a great, marvelous blessing from God representing the eternal life in heaven on the one hand, and wine as a destructive poison that is going to put a person in the flames of the lake of fire for all eternity. There was some problem with the same thing, having such dire, drastically contrasting results.

Good Wine and Bad Wine

In the Bible, we have shown you that the word for "wine" is generic. Therefore, it is used for both unfermented and fermented juice. It is amazing how many Christians don't know that. They think that the word "wine" in the Bible translation of the Greek and Hebrew words has the same meaning that "wine" does in English, which is always alcoholic. Unfortunately, we don't have different words so that we can distinguish, in the particular place in the Bible, where this grape juice is being referred to – to have a word that says, "This is unfermented juice," and "this is fermented juice." Sometimes, as you have seen, we do.

However, the word is generic. It refers to both unfermented grape juice and fermented grape juice. This is much like we use the word "cider" today. We call unfermented apple juice "cider," and we call fermented apple juice "cider." And we don't make any distinction between them. We just say "cider." But you have to check whether it's alcoholic or nonalcoholic cider.

Words for "Wine" in the Bible

I want to point out to you again, one very compelling illustration of the difference that exists in these words. In Hosea 4:11, if you were going to simply translate the Hebrew there with English words, literally what it says, the translation would be: "Harlotry and wine and wine take away the heart." This is giving us three things that take a person's heart away from God – that move a person away from God. Well, harlotry, we can understand – that illicit sex moves you away from God. But what's the sense of the rest of the sentence that says, "Wine and wine take away the heart?" Well, that's because we don't have English words to distinguish. But it so happens that in the Hebrew text, the word is "shakar" (alcoholic wine – destructive wine). That will obviously take your heart away from God. And new wine is "tirosh" (unfermented wine). So, here in one verse, you have alcoholic and nonalcoholic wine, both translated by the same word "wine." The translator attempts to make a distinction by using the term "new wine." New wine means that it has just been crushed, and it hasn't become fermented.

So, you can move away from God with illicit sex; with using alcoholic beverages; and, with the luxurious lifestyle, which is what the "new wine" refers to. The "new wine" in the Old Testament is always associated with the good things of life: the good foods; and, the good things that God gives you. So, it falls into the category of being obsessed with luxuries. That will take you away from God.

When you come to the New Testament, you have two basic words. The first one is the word "oinos." This refers to alcoholic and nonalcoholic wines. The other word is "gleukos." "Gleukos refers only to unfermented, nonalcoholic wine. So, you have both, even in the New Testament.

Now, we have no evidence from these New Testament words that Jesus ever drank alcoholic wine. Jesus, as you know, was accused of being a drunkard; a glutton; and, of being possessed of a demon (Matthew 11:18-19, John 8:48-49). But He was none of those things. And He challenged anybody to prove that He was. Now the fact that this accusation is made is no basis for suggesting that the reason people said He was a drunkard is because He was drinking alcoholic wine. That's not true at all. The reason people said he's demon-possessed is because He was acting like a demon possessed person. No, that's not true at all. He wasn't acting by what they considered normal. He wasn't acting, relative to the religious system, in the way that they considered He should act normally toward it. So, they wanted to say, "He must be demon-possessed." But that did not make him demon-possessed. This does not indicate that Jesus ever used alcoholic beverages.

No one ever accused Him of sin; no one ever accused Him of the appearance of sin; and, no one ever accused Him of tempting others to do something that was self-destructive and sinful. I think as we go along, you'll see more and more that, in all honesty, you will have to say, "You don't know." You cannot say, with complete certainty, that Jesus Christ ever used alcoholic beverages. But you will see that, in all likelihood, after we put this more and more together, and you get a better picture about alcoholic beverages in the Bible, that it would be very unlikely that He would have ever participated in the use of alcoholic beverages.

Isagogics

Preserving Unfermented Grape Juice

Fermentation

For fermentation to take place, the temperature has to be between 50 degrees and 75 degrees, or it won't take place. Those of you who, maybe do as I used to do, make your own yogurt, you knew that this was a fermenting process. You got the cell that would cause the milk to curdle into yogurt. But after you finished it, you had to find some nice, warm place for the thing to incubate. And when I was in seminary, I used to put it on the back of the refrigerator where the heat was coming up. And I used to bootleg my own yogurt in those days, instead of going to the store where you had to buy it. But it's the same leavening, yeast, fermentation process. Now you have to have this limited range of temperature for the process to take place.

You also have to have exactly the right ratio and proportions of grape juice, gluten, and water for fermentation to take place – to convert the grape juice into alcoholic wine. Otherwise it goes to vinegar.

Now grapes, you should be aware, in nature, do not, on their own, turn into alcohol. Grapes in nature do not turn into alcohol. Alcohol comes after the death of the grape has set in, and after the process of decay of the grape has set in. Fermentation requires man-made conditions and controls. Grapes in nature will die. They'll rot on the wine, but they do not become normal alcoholic beverage.

Now the ancient world did know how to preserve grape juice from fermentation. We know this because several of the great writers of the ancient world have left records, and some of them are quite extensive, on how to prevent fermentation of grape juice, because grape juice was the beverage of the day. That was the iced tea. That was the coffee. And that was much preferred than drinking the water of the day. So, therefore, it's not surprising that these writers considered this a significant subject for them to write about, and to give people information about.

These writers, however, as you read their record, you will discover, use the word "wine" as the Bible does, for both fermented and unfermented grape juice. They spoke specifically, therefore, of a wine which would not intoxicate the drinker. And they called that "wine" – exactly the way the words in the Bible do. So, I hope you've established in your mind now that the Bible uses the word wine as a generic word, and it covers both fermented and unfermented types. You have to decide, in each case, which is in view.

Boiling

Well, in any case, this water was steamed off, and the result was residue of a thick, syrupy substance. This syrupy residue, in itself, because the water had been removed, now had so much sugar in it that it was not able to ferment. Therefore, it could be preserved in proper containers in this syrupy condition for years. This process was widely used in the ancient world, and has often been referred to in various writings. The sweet syrup was actually then mixed with water when it was to be used as a beverage. The Jewish people were reported to have been in the habit of drinking the boiled wine as their standard, fermented beverage. The ancients referred to this unfermented mixture of syrup and water as "wine."

Among the Jews, and the other ancient people, you should be aware of the fact that they cultivated grapes, not primarily to make alcoholic wine, as is often supposed. They cultivated grapes primarily as a food product, and to produce nonalcoholic beverage that they could drink out in the field as they worked, and as they went about their business during the day in that hot climate, and avoid contaminated water conditions, which were very real in that part of the world. And you know what contaminated water conditions mean.

If you've ever been to Cozumel or someplace south of the border for any extended time, you know what contaminated water is. And you know that when we go down south, we are always careful to grab that two-gallon or two-and-a-half gallon bottle of purified water. And we carry it down south of the border with us, and stick it in that refrigerator, and that is the water we drink. We go to a restaurant, and the first thing we put on the table is our bottle of water, carried in those plastic jars (bottles) that hospitals use. I don't know what they have in, but they're excellent little canteens. And you set that on the stable, and then you pull out your own cups, because you don't even want to take a glass that has been washed with the water that you have south of the border, which is not purified, and which is reeking with bacteria. And then, when you have a friend like Danny Rouch, he gives you a little bit of secret of taking those two tablets of Pepto Bismol just before you eat with every meal, and wash your hands with Hibistat like doctors do, so they don't even have to lick their hands clean anymore. They just rub this on, and they're sterile. And you do all this, and then you sit down. And you sit there waiting until they bring their meal. And you have just about eliminated all the bacteria. You can just almost see these bacteria. I think I do – seeing them dropping all over around there as you go through this process. But if you don't do that, you know what happens. If you don't, check with me later?

This is what they faced in the ancient world. And it was no small matter to be faced with water like that. So, the Jews had a very distinct and very significant reason for growing grapes. It was not for alcoholic beverages. It was just so that they could have normal stuff to drink that wouldn't make them sick in some parts of the ancient world.

In hot climates, the sweet grape juice will, very quickly on its own, turn sour, of course, if it is not preserved. It doesn't turn into alcohol on its own.

Filtration

Settling

Fumigation

Sometimes these various methods were actually combined to preserve the juice from fermentation. They would process the grape juice. They would place it in a new container. This container had to be coated with pitch inside and out, and then it was sealed tight from the air, and immersed in cold water, below 45 degrees, for several weeks. And after that, it just would not ferment.

So, the answer to the question is "yes." The ancient world had ways of taking grape juice, long past the harvest season, and keep it preserved in an unfermented state. Nonalcoholic wine was the standard beverage in ancient times. People could avoid, as I've indicated, contaminated water, but they could still allay their thirst with unfermented, sweet grape juice wine, and not get drunk. In fact, among the Greeks and the Romans, it was illegal to serve alcoholic wine to women. It was especially forbidden to pregnant women, because it was considered injurious to the unborn child. And these laws were enforced with severe penalties.

So, the health of the body may perhaps have been part of the reason that Samson's mother was told to refrain from taking any alcoholic beverages while carrying the child. It may have been that, as well as, of course, the fact that Samson was a Nazirite, an especially chosen person for a service of God in the category such that, therefore, they were to be totally separated from alcoholic beverages. And we'll get into that a little more – that there is that interesting correlation that the people that are called to great divine service and influence in the work of God have been separated specifically from the use of alcoholic beverages.

So, it is no secret, of course, that alcohol is destructive to body cells such as the brain and the liver. So, it is understandable that the ancient world would feel that this was bad for women, especially those bearing a child.

Unfermented grape juice was the casual drink of the ancient world like water is to us. This was true both of the peasants and of the Lords. It was their daily beverage. It was a refreshing, sweet drink that did not have the bitter, harsh taste of alcohol. Even in good wine, there is a tinge of a bite that is the alcoholic content. And it is totally different than that sweet, smooth, refreshing, delicious grape juice.

You can go buy grape juice at the grocery store. You can buy it blue; you can buy it red; and, you can even buy white. And you can put the juice in the glass, and put some club soda in it to give you some bubbly fermentation, and pour it in over the rocks (that means ice cubes – that's barroom talk), and it makes a very delicious drink. It is very refreshing. It's very delicious. And you can drink it all day long. And you find, as a matter of fact, that if you drink grape juice like that with a little carbonation in it, and make it cold, that you don't really have a taste for even drinking Cokes. It's nothing sacred anymore, I guess. But you find that you don't even have a yearning for a refreshing coke. The grape juice, I can understand, in the ancient world was a super drink that met the needs of a daily beverage that was not going to be hazardous. It was going to be healthy. It was not going to be destructive. They could keep it over time. They could produce it in an abundant amount, and it protected them from even the areas of the bad water problem.

You can see how the workers in the field or people at home could repeatedly quench their thirst, as they would have to, in these hot climates, without getting drunk, and being incapacitated. There's no way they could be out in the field working, or be at home working, and repeatedly drinking what the Bible calls "wine" if it was the alcoholic kind. They couldn't go very long, and not get knocked out with that.

I have been taken out to dinner (I remember on one occasion) by a Christian family, and we were taken to a super Italian restaurant. This family's background was that they would drink wine with their meals. So, they ordered a carafe of wine, and everybody around the table was drinking wine except Mrs. Danish and I. And then they ordered another one, and were in the process of eating. And it was kind of sad, as pretty soon I became aware that folks were getting a little silly, and the eyes began to look a little glassy. I mean, this was just a small amount. And before we were through, these people (Christians) were high on the alcoholic wine that they had taken even in the process of eating.

So, you couldn't take a great deal of this in the ancient world and still be able to operate during the day if it were indeed the alcoholic kind. Some ancient people did create mixed drinks with alcoholic wine, deliberately to make them more intoxicated. You have this referred to, for example, in Psalm 75:8, where the psalmist says, "For in the land of the Lord, there is a cup, and the wine is red. It is fully mixed, and he pours out of the same. But the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall bring them and drink them." It is fully mixed. Here wine is being compared to a judgment of God (the wrath of God). So, he's talking about alcoholic wine. When alcoholic wine is referred to, it is compared to the wrath and the judgment of God. And here, when it says "fully mixed," it means that they have boosted the alcoholic content by a special method in order to make it even more alcoholic.

The ancient world, you should remember, did not produce alcohol by the modern distillation processes that we have today. That was not known in ancient times. That was devised by the Arabs in the Middle Ages, and that, of course, makes alcohol of a much higher proof quality.

So, when we come on this background, this is the isagogical frame of reference that you need to understand what the Bible is talking about when it refers to wine, so that you're not going to be some clown that knows an English word for "wine,' and knows that that means alcoholic beverage, but that isn't what it means in the Bible. But you will be able to view the Scriptures on a case-by-case basis to see what is referred to.

Drunkenness is a Sin

It is a great tragedy, however, to see Christians, who have been released from the domination of the sin nature that leads to these immoralities, to be acting as if they were still so enslaved. The Bible does not explicitly forbid Christians to use alcoholic beverages. The Bible does not explicitly tell Christians not to use alcoholic beverages. That is, however, not a justification for you to assume that it's all right to do so, because you have to put the other side of the coin as well. The Bible does not explicitly direct you to use alcoholic beverages as a good thing. In fact, what you do find, as you read Scripture, is that there is clear warning from God of the enormous hazards in the use of alcohol. And the point that you get from the Word of God is that there is no merit in drinking alcoholic beverages. There is no glamor attached to the use of alcohol in the Bible, and there is no encouragement to consume it. There is very definitely warning against it.

I remind you of Proverbs 20:1, as an illustration of warning against drunkenness, and against the use of alcoholic wine: "Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging. And whoever is thereby deceived is not wise." In the Hebrew text, you have the two words "yayin" and "shakar." "'Yayin' is a mocker." By this context, we know that this is "yayin" in its alcoholic category. Strong drink is "shakar" – intensely alcoholic drink. It is raging: "Whoever is deceived thereby is not wise." Now there a very clear statement that the use of alcoholic beverages is not a smart thing to do.

This is also indicated for us in Isaiah 5:22: "Woe unto them who are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mix strong drinks:" "Wow unto to them who are mighty to drink 'yayin' (alcoholic type, in this case), and to mix their strong drinks (their 'shakar'), to make it even more intensely alcoholic." These are heroes and great men. But the Bible says, "If you do that, you are inviting woe to yourself." Wine in the Bible is very definitely seen as a divine blessing upon which rests divine approval. We must therefore conclude, indeed, that when it is so treated in the Bible, God is not speaking about alcoholic wine as a blessing from God, but about nonalcoholic, unfermented grape juice. That is a blessing from God.

Notice Genesis 27:28, where I think we can demonstrate that to you. What God is blessing is the nonalcoholic type: "Therefore, God gives you of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine." Do you know what the word "wine" there is in the Hebrew? It's our third word for "wine:" "tirosh." It is unfermented juice. So, here God is going to give you good things, speaking to the Jewish people, and here speaking in this case of Jacob and Esau and their meeting. The good things of God include wine in the unfermented state.

Notice Deuteronomy 7:13. This is reinforced even more. In Deuteronomy 7:13, Moses is describing how God will treat the Jewish people in their Land of Promise: "And He will love you, and bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land, and your grain, and your wine, and your oil, and the increase of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep, in the land which He swore unto your fathers to give you." Here, God is promising the great blessings that are needed to sustain the Jews in their daily life. And He said, "I'm going to give you these blessings. Look at these blessings. I'm going to increase your numbers. I'm going to treat you with love. I'm going to give you good childbirth. I'm going to give you good reproduction of your animals. I'm going to give you good crops. I'm going to give you good wine. Do you know that word? It is "tirosh" in the Hebrew. I'm going to give you good, unfermented, grape juice. Now you would never know that by reading it in English. But that's what God is saying. That's why "tirosh" is fitting. It would be horrible for God to say, "I'm going to give you this intensely alcoholic 'shakar,'" and mix it in with all these good things of life that they were to indulge themselves in as God's blessings. That wouldn't make very much sense at all.

Also, in Proverbs 3:10, God says, "For those of you who are devoted and obedient to doctrine, I will reward you." Proverbs 3:10 says, "So shall your barns be filled with plenty. And your presses shall burst out with new wine." And there the translators used the words "new wine" to show you that they were saying "tirosh" (unfermented grape juice) in this passage. Proverbs 3:1 says, "My son, forget not My Law, but let your heart keep My commandments, for length of days, and long life, and peace shall they be to you." And then: "Let not my mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them upon your neck, and write them upon the table of your heart. So shall you find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man."

Then he proceeds, having said to them, "Be true to Bible Doctrine; lived by it; learn it; be a devotee of it; and, be a fan of it." Then he says, "Here's the result. I'll be able to pour our blessings upon you," and those blessings included "new wine." Now that would be unthinkable if that were an alcoholic substance, and the Bible is very clear on that.

So, none of these wines here imply that there would be any danger to a person who would use it. Therefore, there is express divine approval for using it. It is human viewpoint people who think that they become happy with alcoholic wine. But the Bible says that happiness is avoiding alcoholic beverages (Proverbs 23:29-35). I'll let you read that again on your own. We went over that in detail in the last session. But here you have the explicit careful direction to the people of God: "Don't look at the wine when it is so attractive in the cup. Don't go seeking the mixed wines that have increased the alcoholic impact of it. Just avoid it, because it's going to bite you like an adder. It will hit you like a cobra." Now how can God talk about something like that, with those verses we have just read to you about His pouring out blessing on them in the form of "tirosh" wine? Well, he's not talking about "tirosh," unfermented grape juice here. He's talking about the "shakar," horrible, alcoholic type of wine.

So, whenever the Bible denounces wine as the cause of drunkenness, carousing, immoralities, and self-destruction, it can only be referring to the alcoholic type of wine.

In Romans 13:13, we read about the law that deals with how to treat your neighbor. The apostle Paul, in Romans 13:13, said to us, "Let us walk honestly as in the day." Christians are to live as those who have been made spiritually alive, and who are enlightened by doctrine. Christians are to walk as day people, not as night people. Therefore, he says, "Not in reveling; not in drunkenness; not in immorality; not in sensuality; not in strife; and, not in jealousy." He's calling upon Christians to avoid a lifestyle which is characteristic of those who use alcoholic beverages. People who use alcoholic beverages get drunk; they carouse; they are sexually immoral; they are prone to sensuality of every kind; and, they are prone to strife, and violence, and jealousy, and the whole bit. Now we cannot ignore that he is saying to the Christian, "Don't do anything that will lead you into this condition."

Now if drinking alcoholic wine will lead you into this condition (and it will – that's the way you get drunk), then that raises the question as to what the Scripture is really telling us about Christians ever using alcoholic beverages at all. I don't think that this Scripture is a call for moderation in the use of alcohol, so as to do these things moderately. It is to do them not at all. He is not calling upon us to have just a moderate amount of carousing; a moderate amount of drunkenness; a moderate amount of sexual immorality; or, to be moderate in our sensuality, our strife, and our envy. He's saying, "Don't do it at all." It is not a call for moderation. It is really a call for total abstinence, without intimidation, and without apology. And it is the only safe and sure course for a Christian. And while the world likes to push you around, and likes to intimidate you, and make fun of you when you do not want to participate in their use of alcoholic beverages, down deep inside them, they have an esteem and a respect, and your word means something to them.

When I was in China, during World War II, the Chinese communists were seeking to move down from the north from Manchuria, in order to gobble up as much of China as they could before Chiang Kai-shek's troops could be brought up from the South. Periodically, our artillery battalion was ordered to hook up full field packs and all weapons, and hook the guns up to the trucks, and we just paraded through towns. The order came: "You are to make a show of force." We were there to intimidate. We were there to let people see what could happen to them if they were to seek to move in upon that ground, which was here under the supervision of this detachment of Marines. And we just wanted to show our muscle. It was always a concern to the commanding officer of a sneak attack moving down upon the compound, and moving in and wiping out this hindrance to communist ambitions and expansion.

I remember one New Year's Eve that the colonel called me and said, "Now, Lieutenant, I understand that it is not your turn to have to be officer of the day, but you're the only officer that I can trust that will not be drunk tonight celebrating New Year's Eve. Therefore, I'm going to ask you to be on duty so that if something happens, we have one guy who has a clear head." They knew where to turn when critical things were at stake. Yes, the world belittles you and makes fun of you. But there is deep within them the sense that here is something distinctively important and valuable in a person that says, "I understand how alcohol works. I understand that I, as a Christian, can use it if I want to, but I also understand that I see nothing in the Bible that says that you should do it, and certainly nothing in the Bible that even encourages me in any way whatsoever to do it."

So, all in all, when I step back and say, "Why would I do this, in view of everything that the Word of God and my experience demonstrates to me can be the result of this?" And maybe the experiences of some of you people is limited. You've never had to go up and pick somebody up who was vomiting in the street. You never had to go out and pick somebody that's a close friend, completely out of his senses, and bring him home, and get him stabilized. You don't know what that is. So, you perhaps don't really know what a bite; what a cobra; what a serpent; and, what venom, indeed, there is potentially in the alcoholic beverage. And you have to have this as an understanding of the background of the times, and of the background of what God has said about this subject, for you to understand, when we get back to Romans, why Paul has said, "Now you Christians, who have freedom to use alcoholic wine, should have a second thought in consideration about that. And you may find a Christian who has done some research about this, and says, "This offends me. I'm really uneasy about this practice, and it distresses me to see other Christians do this. And I don't think I should do this." The whole point is that Paul is saying, "You be very careful to understand that that Christian has pretty good ground for that reservation." And if you feel free to do it, you should not feel free to urge him to do it with all the potential destruction to him.

Please remember that all drunkenness and associated evils are the product of drinking alcohol. They are not the product of abstaining from alcohol. You don't get drunk by drinking unfermented grape juice. So, all the product of these evils begins with drinking. That is a simple fact of life.

Our point is that there is basically no wisdom in seeking to be a moderate consumer of alcohol so as to avoid alcoholism, because it doesn't work. The moderate consumer, if he has the potential for alcoholism, will get carried through. And your use, if not carrying you into that state, may influence some other Christian to do it. You better be thinking twice before you feel that you're so sophisticated, and so glamorous, and so jet-setting, and so with it, that when people come over, you'll say, "Would you like a glass of wine? Would you like a little schnapps? Would you like a little beer?" You better think about what God has said is the potential of this kind of alcoholic beverage. The Bible gives no encouragement to make that a lifestyle.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1988

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