Dogma of the Two Wines.

Below is an article my wife found on the net. I found the arguments within misleading and thought they deserved a proper refutation. The author is Pastor John Hamel and the article is The “Jesus Drank Wine” Lie: The Bible Exposé You Need to Read. The article is presented just as it appears here. All black text is Pastor Hamel’s, all red text is my own.

The “Jesus Drank Wine” Lie
The Bible Exposé You Need to Read
by Pastor John Hamel

One Sunday morning while preparing for a service, a young man who had previously attended our services approached me.  He explained that he wouldn’t be in Church because he’d been “drinking” the night before.  He then tried to justify himself by explaining, “Jesus didn’t have a problem with wine.  He drank it Himself.”  He claimed he could prove it from the Bible.  Half hung-over, he stood there dumfounded as I corrected this lie using the same Bible he referred to. 

For the sake of argument, let’s assume that a hung over man actually got up and went to church to tell you he wouldn’t be at church. Now it would be agreeable to address that this person was drinking in excess, but the author is claiming that alcohol is evil in itself. Let’s see what support can be mustered for this position.

I took him immediately to the following Scripture in Isaiah 65:8.  “Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.”

In this passage, Isaiah is using an analogy to show the sinful Israelites that they were a bad batch of wine, but new wine was growing on the vine. Within the analogy comes a sense that the new wine has not yet matured. This passage is out of context and does not support the author’s position.

I shared with this Brother that when the juice of the grape is still “in the cluster” God calls it “wine.”  “Grape juice still in the cluster is not ‘fermented’ wine,” I explained.  “It is un-fermented wine.  It is grape juice.  There are two kinds of ‘wine’ in the Bible.  Fermented and un-fermented.” 

What many don’t realize about the teaching that there are “two kinds of wine” in the bible is that it is a dogma. Having a dogma is not a bad thing. In fact it is a necessary thing. However, one must consider where a dogma originates. Has it been a position of the Church from the beginning? Is there any support in the Hebrew tradition? The answer is “no” to both questions. Temperance is a Protestant movement.

I then explained that Jesus neither drank nor created fermented wine.  That would have been disobedience to His Father’s Word.  Disobedience is sin and He never sinned. (Hebrews 4:15) 

This is a method often employed in propaganda. The Pastor has presented a specific axiom to be self-evident or already proven when neither is true. He has not yet shown that drinking or creating wine is against the Father’s will. The Pastor and Orthodox Christianity agree that the Son never sinned as supported by Hebrews 4:15

I then took him to the following passage of Scripture that Jesus, our High Priest, would have obeyed or He was just a sinner man, like everyone else. 

“Do not drink wine nor strong drink, …when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;” (Leviticus 10:9, 10)

This is the Pastor’s most powerful proof-text. It is also dependent on a certain level of ignorance. It is, of course, a matter of respect to not enter the Lord’s house intoxicated. Conversely, it is also a matter of duty to receive all who come in repentance. When comparing the traditions of both the Church and Judaism, there is simply no room in this passage for understanding it as a prohibition of imbibing alcohol.

I explained to my hung-over Brother in the Lord that unfermented “wine” or grape juice is “Holy” or “clean” while fermented wine is “unholy” and “unclean.”  All alcoholic beverages are unholy and unclean! 

As I have already demonstrated, this is a dogma. There is more on this later.

I proceeded to explain how ignorant, immature Believers use Jesus’ Miracle of “turning water into wine” as an excuse to drink alcohol without stopping to acknowledge the following. 

Jesus did not disobey Leviticus 10:9-10 by “creating” alcoholic wine to be consumed against His Father’s will.  He created unfermented “wine” or high quality grape juice. 

As has already been demonstrated, the author has failed to prove that Lev 10:9-10 is a prohibition of creating or imbibing alcohol, except on the basis of a recently created dogma. Still more to come on that.

Not to mention that fermentation is an aging process that happens over a long period of time.  It’s a process of decay.  Decay is death.  Jesus created that high quality grape juice instantly, not over time, without decay and without death!  All of Jesus’ miracles are rooted in Life and Love.  God’s Life.  God’s Love.   

Actually, fermentation is a result of life! Yeast reacts with the sugars in the juice to create Alcohol. Yeast, as most people know, is a living organism. The analogy is understood, but the good pastor should also recognize that wine is traditionally served at celebrations of life.

People who use the “water into wine” excuse are simply being deceived by one verse of Scripture taken completely out of Biblical context.  They need to be delivered.  This is why Jesus said we must have two or three confirming passages of Scripture, in context, to verify all doctrine or behavior.  Otherwise, we shouldn’t accept it at all. (Matthew 18:16)

It is unknown whether the author understands what he has done here. He begins the paragraph by asserting that a verse has been taken out of context, but finishes it by taking a verse out of context. I invite the reader to read Matt 18:16, in context, as a rebuttal to this argument.

Often, after sharing this revelation with shocked, “wine bibbing” Believers, they almost always respond, “Well, Paul told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach.  I’m just doing it for my stomach.” (1Timothy 5:23) 

Pay special attention to the next paragraph.

I then explain that Paul knew the difference between fermented and unfermented “wine” and obeyed the Bible, too.  It was common in his day to put grape juice in water to kill water-borne bacteria, which caused stomach ailments such as Timothy’s.  This is what Paul told Timothy to do.  He was not telling Timothy that it was acceptable to “catch a holy buzz in the Name of the Lord.” 

Grape juice does not kill waterborne bacteria. Perhaps the good pastor is mistaken in his history and ignorant in chemistry, or he has accepted this from one of his teachers. Regardless, I must insist that he is mistaken. Wine, on the other hand, contains alcohol which kills waterborne bacteria. And this is where Pastor Hamel's "dogma of two wines" falls apart. Paul could not possibly be referring to a non-alcoholic wine if it is intended to kill microbes.

The Bible calls fermented wine and all strong drink a “mocker.”  It calls those who use it “deceived” and “unwise.” (Proverbs 20:1) 

It leads to poverty. (Proverbs 21:17) 

It will bite you like a serpent. (Proverbs 23:32) 

The Bible also calls God’s children “Kings” (Revelation 1:5,6) and says, “Wine is not for Kings.” (Proverbs 31:4) 

All of the above passages have traditionally been recognized as warnings against the dangers of over indulgence. Proverbs 31:4, especially, recognizes the importance of a sober mind when one possesses great responsibility. One wonders whether the good pastor read the rest of Chapter 31.Only a few verses later, it seems the Proverbs are recommending alcohol.

Say, “Jesus, I choose You and Your Word.” (Romans 10:13)  He’ll forgive you for what you didn’t know.  However, now you do know!

Oh, yes, my intoxicated friend who insisted that Jesus was a wine drinker, which makes it okay for everyone.  Within weeks of rejecting my Scriptural, loving correction, he raped a 13 year old child while intoxicated.  He’ll pay for that for the rest of his life.  He was bitten by the mocking serpent of strong drink.

This is a most unfortunate turn of events, to be sure. My prayers are with this young girl as well as the “imbiber”. Indeed, this is where one must recognize that excess is an evil to be avoided. I hope that the good pastor has made this up for the sake of making a point.

Regardless, there is a difference between correlation and causation. Alcohol lowers one’s inhibitions. All well and good when one is dancing at a wedding. Excessive alcohol lowers ones inhibitions excessively. If this gentleman was struggling with a perverse sexual appetite, excessive alcohol may have eroded his judgment and self-control. It did not, however, create that appetite within him.

Someone always says, “Something like that would never happen to me.  I can handle it.”  Interesting.  That’s what my young friend said, too.

It doesn’t happen to exponentially more people than it does happen to.

A Catholic friend of mine once told me a joke:

“When fishing with a Baptist, how do you keep them from drinking all your beer?”

Answer:

“Bring another Baptist.”

As a former Baptist, I almost fell out of my chair laughing because I knew it was true. The truth of the matter is people drink. If Prohibition showed us anything, it showed that the criminalization of a normal human behavior brought far worse consequences than the acceptance and normalization of the behavior in a healthy social environment. I must disagree with Pastor John Hamel in the entirety of his essay. Jesus did drink wine.

On the other hand, Jesus was not known for getting falling down drunk either. It is doubtful that He ever had a hangover.

Be blessed and be strong!  ... John and Barbara Hamel.

John Hamel Ministries is based in Nashville, TN and his website can be found at www.johnhamelministries.org