What Does the Bible say About Alcohol?

In the Bible, wine is often a positive thing that brings joy and is a sign of blessing. However, for those who want to draw closer to the Lord, the Bible urges abstaining from wine and other strong drinks. Jesus himself drank wine, miraculously turned water into wine, instituted the Lord’s Supper with wine as a reminder of his death until the day when we will celebrate a feast with Jesus in heaven. However, it should be added that wine did not have the same amount of alcohol as today and that drinking water was often so bad that it was better for health to drink wine together with the food. So wine or alcohol is not in itself sinful, but if abused can lead to drunkenness and alcohol dependency, something the Bible warns against because it leads to disregarding God, sinning and doing foolish things. But while the Bible is not against alcohol as long as you can handle it without getting drunk or addicted, as a Christian you should not drink alcohol if there is a risk that you will lead your brother or sister down the road of alcoholism. It is better to abstain for someone else’s sake than to stubbornly assert one’s right.

Bible Verses

“⁹“Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.” (Le 10:9)

“¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, ³he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried.” (Nu 6:1–3)

“⁵I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. ⁶You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.” (Dt 29:5–6)

“⁷but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”” (Jdg 13:7)

“⁷Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.” (Ec 9:7)

“¹⁴You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth ¹⁵and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart.” (Ps 104:14–15)

“¹⁴I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.” (Am 9:14)

“¹“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (Is 55:1)

“¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.” (Pr 20:1)

“⁴It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, ⁵lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. ⁶Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; ⁷let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.” (Pr 31:4–7)

“¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them! ¹²They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord, or see the work of his hands.” (Is 5:11–12)

“²²Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, ²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!” (Is 5:22–23)

“⁹No more do they drink wine with singing; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.” (Is 24:9)

“⁷These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed by wine, they stagger with strong drink, they reel in vision, they stumble in giving judgment.” (Is 28:7)

“²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? ³⁰Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. ³¹Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. ³²In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. ³³Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. ³⁴You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. ³⁵“They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”” (Pr 23:29–35)

“¹⁸And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,” (Eph 5:18)

“¹²“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.” (1 Co 6:12)

“¹⁹They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” (2 Pe 2:19)

“⁹But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? ¹¹And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. ¹²Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” (1 Co 8:9–13)

“¹On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ²Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. ³When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” ⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” ⁶Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. ⁹When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom ¹⁰and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” ¹¹This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” (Jn 2:1–11)

“³³For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ ³⁴The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” (Lk 7:33–34)

“²⁶Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” ²⁷And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, ²⁸for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”” (Mt 26:26–29)

Study Questions

1. Is alcohol a positive or negative thing?
2. Should a Christian drink alcohol?
3. How do you know if you are abusing alcohol?
4. How do we create a church environment where people don’t fall because of alcohol?
5. Is it okay to drink alcohol moderately as a Christian?
6. How should we as a church respond to members who have problems with alcohol?
7. Is it wrong to drink non-alcoholic beer and wine as a Christian?
8. Why does the Bible call for abstaining from alcohol when we want to draw near to the Lord?
9. Should Christians work where alcohol is served?

Read this in Swedish: Vad säger Bibeln om alkohol?