29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine. Proverbs 23:29–30 (NAS)

31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; 32 At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper. Proverbs 23:31–32 (NAS)

15 For thus the L ORD, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. Jeremiah 25:15 (NAS)

18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18 (NAS)

 Wine – the original terms translated “wine” in our English Bibles can mean either fermented or non- fermented  The only way to determine the meaning is by examining the context

21 He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Genesis 9:21 (NAS)

32 “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father.” Genesis 19:32 (NAS)

39 “You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm will devour them. Deuteronomy 28:39 (NAS)

33 “So gladness and joy are taken away From the fruitful field, even from the land of Moab. And I have made the wine to cease from the wine presses; No one will tread them with shouting, The shouting will not be shouts of joy. Jeremiah 48:33 (NAS)

17 “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.” Matthew 9:17 (NAS)

18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18 (NAS)

“For here was laid up corn in large quantities, and such as would subsist men for a long time. There was also wine and oil in abundance with all kinds of dates and pulse heaped up together. These fruits were also fresh and full and ripe, and no way inferior to such fruits newly laid in.” (Josephus, Wars of the Jews)

 Juice cannot ferment inside the grape itself

“Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.” Genesis 40:11 (NAS)

 Juice cannot ferment inside the grape itself  Boiling the juice down to a thick syrup prevents fermentation indefinitely  Lowering the temperature of the juice below 45 degrees allows the juice to keep for as long as one year

23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities. 1 Timothy 5:23 (KJV 1900) Quantity specified “a little” Purpose specified “frequent ailments”

23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities. 1 Timothy 5:23 (KJV 1900) This phrase is seen as elliptical by most scholars

9 When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, 10 and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” John 2:9–10 (NAS)  The wedding feast was seen as a religious festival  For Jesus to aid in a drunken festival contradicts the very tenor of Scripture  The headwaiter was sober enough to judge the quality of the wine

13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. Romans 13:13 (NAS)  This passage, and those similar leave room for lawful use  To prohibit much does not authorize little  A little promiscuity, a little sensuality, a little strife?

20 Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 1 Corinthians 11:20–21 (NAS)  This passage is a rebuke and condemnation  The terms contrasted are “hungry” and “drunk”

20 Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 1 Corinthians 11:20–21 (NAS)  “hungry” – to suffer want to be needy (Strong’s)  “The word methuei does not necessarily denote drunkenness. The word may denote abundance without excess” Archbishop Newcome, on John 2:10 and 1Cor 11:21 (Patton, pg. 101)

3 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 Peter 4:3 (NAS)

3 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 Peter 4:3 (NAS) oinophlugia - It is the excessive, insatiate desire for drink, from which comes the use of the word for the indulgence of the desire — debauch (Vincent’s Word Studies)

3 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 Peter 4:3 (NAS) komos - The word originally signifies merely a merry- making; most probably a village festival (Vincent)

3 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 Peter 4:3 (NAS) potos – drinking carousal from pino, to drink (Robertson) “the drinking bout…not of necessity excessive” (Trench) “a drinking, a drinking together…” (Green)

18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18 (NAS)  The passage contrast being full with wine and being filled with the Holy Spirit  How can one be filled with the perfecting influence of the Holy Spirit when influenced in any way by the corrupting influence of intoxicating beverages?