Of Wine and Drunkenness: A Biblical Perspective

Abstract

Early Seventh-day Adventists joined other Protestants to support the nineteenth century temperance movement that came to advocate total abstinence from alcohol on the basis of interpreting biblical references to wine and drinking using the “two kinds of wine in the Bible” approach. This article examines this approach to the Bible, and argues that it inadequately deals with the biblical data, and that the role of wine and drinking in the Bible is more complex. It goes on to suggest there is an alternate biblical support for total abstinence by Christians, which draws on the “weaker brother” principle of Romans 14, and the clear and frequent New Testament prohibitions of drunkenness. This revised approach in support of biblical total abstinence is especially relevant today when alcohol is so widely available, heavily promoted, and socially approved.