Wine or Grape Juice?

The Fundamentalist charge that Jesus drank non-alcoholic grape juice and not wine is one that simply cannot stand up to Biblical or scientific evidence.  Many times we hear that all drinking is sinful and certain Biblical verses are furnished as proof for this claim, such as, Prov. 23:20, Ephesians 5:18, I Tim. 3:8; Tit.2:3. These verses speak to the sin of drunkenness, not of drinking in general.

First of all, the first miracle performed by our Lord recorded in the Bible is at the Wedding at Cana, when he turned water into wine at the request of his Mother. Let’s examine what the Bible has to say about this miracle, as well as other references to wine and drinking:

John 2:10 states,  “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men havedrunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”.  Ps. 104:14-15 says, “You bring bread from the earth, and wine to gladden our hearts, Oil to make our faces gleam, food to build our strength”. 

In Luke 7:34, Jesus says, "The Son of Man has come eating and drinking; and you say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard’”  In 1 Tim. 5:23, St. Paul tells timothy, “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.” Whereas these verses do not condemn drinking in moderation, neither do they condone drunkenness.

The fact is that crushed grapes begin to ferment immediately the grapes are crushed.  Interestingly, the chemical process that halts fermentation was only invented in the 19th century by the Welch's Company. This means that grape juice as a product has only been around for less than 200 years.  Consequently, when wine is spoken of in Scripture – it is truly wine and not grape juice.

While the Scriptures do condemn drunkenness, drinking in moderation is not necessarily evil unless, of course, this is a source of sin for the individual, such as alcoholism, or losing one’s inhibitions or self- control.