Is It Okay for Christians to Drink?
It's a wisdom call, and each person must make their own decision.
This is the question I get from time to time. Considering there are over 200 references to this topic in Scripture, the answer is worth consideration.
According to Gallup, the number of Americans who drink alcohol has dropped to 54 percent, the lowest number ever recorded in ninety years of tracking.
In certain cultures, the idea of getting drunk is very shameful. Temperance is important. You drink in moderation, use alcohol for cooking purposes, and consume a small shot glass after closing a business deal.
Unfortunately, that is not the culture in North America. According to the CDC, “One in six US adults binge drinks, with 25% doing so at least weekly.” This is highly problematic given the reality that “According to a 2022 national survey, about 1 in 7 men, 1 in 11 women, and 1 in 33 adolescents (aged 12-17) meet the diagnostic criteria for [alcohol use disorder]”—making them much more prone to become alcoholics if they take their first sip.
While there are some benefits to moderate alcohol consumption, there is a lengthy list of adverse side effects that include liver disease, cancers of the mouth, and cirrhosis. Also, it should be noted that there is a pretty good case to be made that much of the alcohol drunk today is significantly worse than that consumed in Biblical times.
What Does Scripture Say?
To offer some context from Scripture, John Walton and Craig Keener write:
Beer and strong drinks are ancient beverages. We know that both Egyptians and Mesopotamians produced alcohol. Indeed, we have beer recipes and even a hymn to the beer god from the latter. In Israel wine was the beverage of choice. Beer was not popular perhaps due to the lack of natural resources to make it readily available. Wisdom literature urges against over-consumption. To exercise wisdom, one must be in possession of all one’s faculties and alcohol tends to blur one’s senses and one’s judgment.[1]
Scripture does not forbid the use of alcohol and sometimes talks about it in a positive sense. Examples include John 2, where Jesus turns water into wine; 1 Timothy 5:23, which says a little wine is good for the stomach; Ecclesiastes 9:7, which instructs us to drink wine with a merry heart; and Psalm 104:15, which says God gives wine that makes the hearts of men glad.
That said, Scripture also offers many stronger warnings. Our passage today, Proverbs 20:1, says, “Wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler; whoever goes astray because of them is not wise.” Verses like Ephesians 5:18, 1 Corinthians 6:12, and roughly 75 others all warn against the danger of drinking wine in excess.
This is why I believe the choice to drink or not to drink is not a black-and-white choice, but a "wisdom decision" each believer must make.
A Personal Wisdom Choice
Eight years ago, I wrote out eight reasons I choose not to drink, and I still stand by those reasons today. I agree with the words of Allen Ross that, “Given the ease with which one may make a habit of drinking too much, it is wise to avoid alcohol entirely.”[2]
What's interesting to me is that in 2018, when I wrote these words, not drinking was an unpopular idea. Now, it's trendy, and many secular social media influencers I follow have opted to cut alcohol out of their lives and have credited this decision with aiding in their success.
All that said, I'm not here to be anyone's judge, and the reason I choose not to drink is, again, a "wisdom call" rather than a command for all believers in all places.
After all, Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine. And while some have gone to great exegetical lengths to say the kind he produced was non-alcoholic, we have no overwhelming evidence to suggest this was the case. Presumably, Jesus drank and made alcoholic beverages.
So if you are someone who enjoys a nice glass of wine and can drink in moderation, praise God. But just use discernment, and don’t allow your liberty in Christ to serve as an impediment for others.
[1]John H. Walton and Craig S. Keener, eds. NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), paragraph 6961.
[2]Allen P. Ross, “Proverbs,” in Proverbs-Isaiah, vol. 6 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary Revised Edition. eds. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland; Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 172.
