Drinking Intoxicating Beverages - Part 6
By Allan E. McNabb

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.

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

This week we review another Scripture people use to justify drinking alcohol, then conclude with a few closing thoughts.

Do Not Get Drunk With Wine
In Ephesians 5:18, Paul says, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation. . . .”

Some people contend it’s okay to drink wine, as long as they don’t get drunk.  But upon examining this Scripture, we see that’s not true.

“Get drunk” (Eph. 5:18) is translated from the Greek verb methusko, meaning “make drunk, or to grow drunk" . . . "to become intoxicated.”  It’s “an inceptive verb, marking the process or the state” (Vine's).
In other words, Paul tells us the process of getting drunk is a sin, in addition to the state of drunkenness.

Getting Drunk Begins With The First Drink
As repeatedly noted in our study, first century wine was diluted with water, and compares to non-alcoholic wine today.  Diluted wine in the first century had about 1% alcohol, compared to wine in our culture that has 11-14% alcohol.

We’ve also learned that a person in our culture is impaired with one beer, or four ounces of table wine, or a mild mixed drink (Blood Alcohol Calculator, The Police Notebook, Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm).

With this information, we must conclude that a person begins to get drunk with the first drink, violating the command in Ephesians 5:18 by drinking one alcoholic drink.

If someone asks if it a sin to drink just one beer or glass of wine, we must answer yes!

God Commands Sobriety
“So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.  For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.  But since we are of the day, let us be sober. . . .” (1 Th. 5:6-8).

As God’s children, we have a responsibility to be “sober in all things” (2 Tim. 4:5).  We constantly prepare our minds for action, being sober in spirit, every minute of every day (1 Pet. 1:13; 4:7; 5:8).

God commands sobriety; therefore, we shouldn’t drink intoxicating beverages, not even one.

Summary
We’ve learned it’s a sin to be intoxicated, concluding we shouldn’t participate in drinking to any degree.

• “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness” (2 Cor. 6:14)?
• “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them” (Eph. 5:11).
• “Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Th. 5:22).

We’ve learned it’s a sin to go to drinking parties, whether we drink or not.

• “For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries” (1 Pet. 4:3).

We’ve learned that drinking alcohol (ethanol) is sinful, because it harms our bodies.

• “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

We’ve learned Scriptures people use to justify drinking alcohol, don’t justify the behavior.  Scriptures such as Jesus making water into wine justify drinking grape juice or non-alcoholic wine, nothing more.

We’ve learned the process of getting drunk is sinful, in addition to the actual state of drunkenness, concluding it’s a sin to drink just one beer or glass of wine.

We’ve learned God commands sobriety; therefore, we shouldn’t drink intoxicating drinks, not even one.

Conclusion
Our purpose in life is to expose the evil deeds of darkness, by abstaining from every form of evil (Eph. 5:11; 1 Th. 5:22).

We don’t drink intoxicating beverages.  Rather, we expose the sin of intoxication with a steadfast life of sobriety.