THE TRENTON BULLETIN

THE TRENTON BULLETIN

Trenton Church of Christ, Trenton, Florida

The life of Jesus is contained in four books of the New Testament. As authors, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John offer different glimpses of the short life of God in the flesh (John 1:14). Matthew and Luke begin with his birth showing Jesus to be a Jew (Matthew 1:1-17) and a son of Adam (Luke 3:23-38). Mark declares the Christ as a man for all men (Mark 16:15) and John unveils the character of God embodied in the human form (John 20:30-31). All of the gospels put together only make up one hundred pages of typed manuscript; yet no words have changed the world as those few pages of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

How well do we know Jesus the man, Jesus the Son of God, Jesus the son of Abraham and Jesus the one who came for all men? The whole of scripture from Genesis to the Revelation declares the mystery of Christ and the revealing of God’s plan to save man. We see glimpses of the nature of God’s Son throughout the writings of Moses, the prophets and the psalmist (Luke 24:27,44). The epistles of the early church declare the risen savior as Lord and King. Yet contained within a fraction of the immense portrait of redemption is the earthly life of the crucified Christ.

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us [and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father], full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). John was privileged to see and behold the Son of God. He walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, shared moments of joy and moments of grief in the presence of the Christ. What John found in the man from Nazareth was grace and truth. John lived with Jesus and devoted his life to him. For those of us removed in time from walking with Jesus in the flesh is given the call to walk with Jesus in the spirit. Like John we need to see Jesus for who He is and who He came to be for all men. The Son of God who, “existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).

One hundred pages tell us everything about His teaching of grace and mercy. Upon those blood stained leaves contain the promise of redemption. Vibrant echoes of judgment pour forth as Jesus Christ the Lord sounds the message of His father to a lost world. Four men pen the immortal words of salvation in one single message of hope. Untold thousands have given their lives for those one hundred pages.

Four books; 89 chapters; 3,778 verses; 82,825 words; one hundred pages; the story of Jesus Christ – priceless. The written story of Christ could easily be read in a day but takes a lifetime to know, and even then the story has not fully been told. Yearn to know these 100 hundred pages for on these leaves lay the eternal blessing of God’s love. His story is to permeate every fiber of our lives. His life is to mark the path for our journey. His promise will uphold our hope in the security of His words that promise eternal life. His death will signal victory over that which we fear. His resurrection has declared the true story of why God’s Son became flesh and dwelt among us. He died that we might live and He arose that we would share in the final resurrection. One hundred pages – one single life. Thank God for Jesus Christ.

There are some, including some among our own brethren, who believe that Jesus' turning water into wine, according to John 2:1-11, puts God's stamp of approval upon the drinking of intoxicating beverages for social and recreational purposes. In Paul's listing of the qualifications of elders and deacons, the expressions "not given to wine," and "not given to much wine" are sometimes used to support the position that drinking a little wine for social and recreational purposes is scripturally sanctioned (1 Timothy 3:3, 8).

The same arguments would also justify the social and recreational use of other drugs, since alcohol itself is a drug. How many who profess to be faithful Christians are ready for this consequence and conclusion? I would hope, none!

I wish to emphasize at the very beginning of this article that I do not believe the above passages, or any others, can be used successfully and rightfully to prove that the social and recreational use of alcohol and drugs is approved of God. I believe this basic issue must be kept before us regardless of the difficulty of some passages and contexts, and especially in the face of the mixed signals we may get from "scholars" who have dealt with this general theme.

What was the "wine" that Jesus made from water? Many jump to the conclusion that because the word "wine" is used, Jesus made a fermented, intoxicating drink. I do not believe that can be proven. Someone may respond, "Yes, but you cannot prove it was not fermented." I may not be able absolutely to prove that it was not fermented, especially to others' satisfaction. It is not my obligation to prove that. It is only my intention and obligation to prove that just because the word "wine" is used does not necessitate the conclusion that Jesus made fermented, intoxicating wine.

The word is used five times in John 2:1-11, twice by John the writer of the gospel, once by the mother of Jesus, and twice by the governor or master of the wedding in Cana. In all five usages the Greek word is [oinos]. In fact, this word is the one used in the New Testament, except for Acts 2:13, where [gleukos] is used and translated "new wine." Vine says that "[OINOS] is the general word for wine" (p. 219). This one word in the New Testament and the Greek includes different Old Testament Hebrew words for wine. Thayer says the Greek word [oinos] translates, in the Septuagint Version, not only the Hebrew word [yayin], but also the Hebrew words [tiyrosh] and [hemer] (p. 442). [Tiyrosh] is the word in Isaiah 65:8: "As the new wine is found in the cluster.... " In the Greek translation this is the same word [oinos] as is used all five times in John 2:1-11.

What does all of this prove? The word [oinos] used in John 2:1-11 is a general word covering all stages of the juice of the grape (fermented and unfermented), including the juice in the grape still in the cluster on the vine (Isaiah 65:8). That proves Jesus, in turning the water into "wine," could have, and may have, made unfermented grape juice. As I mentioned earlier, that is all I am obligated to prove. Those who take the view that Jesus approved of the social and recreational use of alcohol and drugs must prove that the "wine" Jesus made could only refer to fermented, intoxicating wine. I believe that is impossible!

What if Jesus did make fermented wine? Does that prove that Jesus approves of the social use of alcohol? Remember, the basic point of this context is the recording of the first miracle Jesus performed. If Jesus' performing this miracle proves Jesus approves of "intoxicating wine making and drinking," would not his miracle of casting the demons out of the man and into the swine and destroying two thousand head of swine (Luke 8:26-37) prove that Jesus approves of our destroying other people's property? Would Paul miraculously striking Elymas blind (Acts 13:6-12) prove that Paul (under God's guidance and power) was giving us approval to punch out someone's eyes? Are we ready for these kinds of interpretations and conclusions? I think not!

I believe it to be very questionable and dangerous to use the miracles of Jesus and his apostles to establish approval for something we wish to do.

“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine … Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine” (1 Timothy 3:2-8). The expression [me paroinon] in verse 3, in the qualification of bishops, is translated "not given to wine," "not given to drunkenness." [Me] in the Greek means "no, not, never, no in no wise," and is a particle of qualified negation, according to Strong. [Paroinon] is a combination of the word [Para], ("with an accusative . . . at, by, near by the side of, beside, along" -- Thayer 477), and [oinos] which means "wine." Vine says it means "tarrying at wine.... probably has the secondary sense, of the effects of wine-bibbing, abusive brawling" (p. 146).

"Not given to much wine" translated from [me oinos polio prosechontas] (v. 8) is a similar expression to that found in verse 3. [Prosechontas] means "to hold to, signifies to turn to, turn one's attention to" (Vine, p. 211), and [polio] means much or many.

The emphasis in both of these qualifications seems to be that elders and deacons cannot be guilty of drunkenness or intoxication. Wine-bibbing, and giving attention to that which will intoxicate one is to be no part of the life of one considered to be elder or deacon material. Is it not dangerous to take these negatives toward that (drunkenness) which every Christian must agree is plainly condemned in the Scriptures and try to turn that into a positive in favor of drinking moderately socially and recreationally? In 1 Timothy 3:3 we have a similar construction in the expression "no striker, not violent." This could be translated "not given to striking or violence." Are we to interpret that to mean we can strike a little and engage in a little violence as long as we don't overdo it?

Admittedly, these are difficult passages, especially when someone is determined to make them say something they really do not say. I emphasize again what I wrote at the beginning. While it can be proven from the Bible that "wine" was used medicinally and sacrificially with God's approval, I do not believe it can be proven that God approves of the social and recreational use of alcohol and drugs.

I have known members of the church of Christ who drank alcoholic beverages. But I cannot remember even one of such cases where they were used without involving intoxication. I have seen grown men with trembling hands and tears running down their cheeks saying they wished they had never taken the first drink. I have heard Christians who have been enslaved to alcohol, as well as drugs, plead with our young people never to make the mistake of taking the first drink. Do you really believe that Jesus ever approved of something so enslaving and so dangerous?

Solomon said: "Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper" (Proverbs 23:31, 32). There is no question about the kind of wine he speaks of in this verse. Do you believe what he said? Why try to make Jesus and the Bible contradict such plain statements?

As noted in the article above the suggestion is made the wine of John 2 was fermented wine. The conclusive argument made to deny this is found in the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. The prophet writes: "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pressing him to your bottle, even to make him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness! You are filled with shame instead of glory. You also—drink! And be exposed as uncircumcised! The cup of the Lord's right hand will be turned against you, and utter shame will be on your glory” (Habakkuk 2:15-16). If Jesus made nearly 180 gallons of fermented wine and gave it to a crowd of people who were already “well drunk” (v10); then Jesus would have been making opportunity for someone to be further elevated to a drunken state. This would be in violation of Galatians 5:21 and deny the Sonship of Jesus as declared by Peter in 1 Peter 2:22 – “Who committed no sin.”

The proponents of “social drinking” are not seeking to be holy but rather to enjoy the pleasure of the world in a hypocritical state of denial of Jesus Christ. “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear” (1 Peter 1:13-17).

Social drinking is as valid for the Christian as social fornication or social lying. If social drinking is acceptable for the child of God then anything attached to the word “social” will be approved. People of God are not seeking to be like the world around them but to “keep back from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Beer, wine or alcohol should never pass the lips of those who are seeking to “drink into one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13). As Paul said, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and a cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and a table of demons” (1 Corinthians 10:21).