A Brief Theology of Alcohol
I believe I’ve written about alcohol use before, but I still notice a lot of confusion around the subject. Some think drinking alcohol is incompatible with following Jesus. Others view it as a neutral issue, and shrug their shoulders as if it’s not really that important. Neither attitude really captures what the Bible has to say about it.
Biblically, alcohol is a good and useful gift from God. The Psalmist in Psalm 104 describes wine as a good gift from God that is intended to gladden our hearts.The Apostle Paul saw wine as useful. And so he instructed Timothy, the pastor, to drink wine to help with his stomach problems. Jesus of course turned water into wine at a wedding party. And Deuteronomy 14:25-26 actually instructs God’s people that there are appropriate occasions to buy food and strong drink, and enjoy both in God’s presence as an act of worship, thanking Him for creating a world where we can make good food and pour stiff drinks.
And heaven itself is pictured in the Bible as a feast complete with wine.
[6] On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. (Is 25:6)
Again. Biblically, alcohol can be a good and useful gift from God meant to heighten our joy in God and is meant to be enjoyed in the presence of God.
But like sex or any other strong pleasure God made, alcohol is a fire. Fire when it’s in the firebox serves a wonderful and delightful purpose. But when fire is brought out of the firebox it can burn the whole house down. When alcohol is used and abused outside of its intended design its effects are destructive.
Therefore alcohol must be consumed with great care. Because like all of God’s good gifts, they can be turned into idols. Good things can become God things.
Many people have fallen to the sickness of alcoholism. And because of that, the biblical principle of not causing the weaker brother to stumble applies (Rom 14:13). Some people just need to abstain from alcohol use. Whether it's because they were rescued from an alcohol addiction or whether it's because they have alcoholism in their past they need to stay away from it. But whatever the case may be, the Christian community has the responsibility to bear with the weaker brothers and sisters and be sensitive to the fact that alcohol can become a stumbling block for them.
But there is also something called the ‘tyranny of the weaker brother.’ I’m not sure who coined that phrase but it means that sometimes in the name of not causing the weaker brother to stumble we create extra biblical law. No where in the bible does it say it’s an unqualified sin to drink alcohol. It is a good gift from God. And so it is wrong for a church community to make a blanket rule that states we will never drink, ever.
At the end of the day God wants us to become Kings of Creation and exercise dominion over alcohol. We should put it in its proper place. We should master our pleasures and not let them master us. God wants us to be connoisseurs not drunks.