Drinking Intoxicating Beverages - Part 5
By Allan E. McNabb

This week we continue our study on intoxicating beverages.  Since teenagers originally asked me about drinking alcohol, I’ve tried to make these points meaningful to them.

Review
So far we’ve learned it’s a sin to be intoxicated, concluding we shouldn’t participate in drinking to any degree.  We’ve also seen it’s a sin to go to drinking parties, whether we drink or not.

Throughout our study we’ve learned that first century wine was significantly diluted with water, giving it an alcohol content of about 1%, which corresponds to non-alcoholic wine today.

Last week, we began reviewing Scriptures people use to justify drinking alcoholic beverages today.  At best these passages justify drinking grape juice or non-alcoholic wine, not alcoholic wine.

This week we review three more Scriptures people use to justify drinking alcohol — qualifications of elders and deacons.

Qualifications of Elders and Deacons

  • In giving the qualifications for elders and deacons, Paul says:  Elders:  “not addicted to wine” (1 Tim. 3:3; Tit. 1:7)
  • Deacons:  not “addicted to much wine” (1 Tim. 3:8)

Based on these Scriptures, some people think it’s okay to drink wine as long as they’re not addicted to it.  But when we investigate the meaning of these Scriptures, we learn that’s not the case.

Elders: Not Addicted to Wine, Not a Brawler
The Greek word (paroinos) regarding the qualification of elders is translated differently in various translations:

  • “addicted to wine” (NASB)
  • “given to wine” (NKJ)
  • “brawler” (ASV)

Here Paul is talking about one who is a drunken brawler, a drunk who is engaged in noisy fights or quarrels.

Deacons: Not Addicted to Much Wine
The Greek phrase here regarding the qualification of deacons is translated:

  • not “addicted to much wine” (NASB)
  • not “given to much wine” (NKJ, ASV)

Robertson’s comment on this phrase gives the meaning:  “Not holding the mind (ton noun understood as usual with prosexw, 1 Timothy 1:4) on much wine (oinwi, dative case).  That attitude leads to over-indulgence.”

Example: Cooking Wine
Cooking wine is used by many Christians today.  Ironically, it has a significantly higher alcohol content than first century wine (oinos).

When using cooking wine, the alcohol is cooked out, flavoring the food and resulting in little or no alcohol.  This closely corresponds to first century wine, which was diluted with water, leaving a very low alcohol content of about 1%.

If a twenty-first century man improperly uses cooking wine, resulting in intoxication, he would sin and wouldn’t be qualified as an elder or deacon.  But as long as the cooking wine is used properly, not resulting in intoxication or any other sin, a man could be qualified.

Similarly, in the first century, people diluted wine with water (Rev. 14:10).  As long as a man used wine properly, as commanded by Paul (1 Tim. 5:23), he did not sin and could be qualified to serve as an elder or deacon.

Summary: Qualifications of Elders and Deacons
To be qualified as an elder, a man can’t be addicted (given) to wine, and thus engaged in drunken brawling.

To be qualified as a deacon, a man can’t have his mind fixed on wine.  If he used wine as a first century Christian, he had to do so properly, as commanded by Paul to Timothy, using a “little wine” for his “stomach” and “frequent ailments” (1 Tim. 5:23).

These Qualification Don’t Justify Drinking Alcohol Today
In the same epistle in which Paul gives the qualifications for elders and deacons, Paul commands, “No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments” (1 Tim. 5:23).

As we’ve already learned, first century Christians used low-alcohol wine, which they diluted with water before drinking.  Using this wine, for the sake of one’s stomach and ailments, was lawful.  And remember, the alcohol content of the diluted wine was about 1%, making it comparable to twenty-first century non-alcoholic wine.

The qualifications of elders and deacons do not justify drinking alcohol in our culture.  At best, they justify drinking grape juice or non-alcoholic wine.

To be continued.