Did Jesus make or use intoxicating wine? Many believe that Jesus turned water into intoxicating wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2). See, one has to assert this with bias since “wine” from the Greek work oinos was grape juice that the farmer may or may not have leavened. [Read more about this here.]
Strangely, some would imply that Jesus would have aided a wedding into a drinking party that His Spirit condemned (1 Pet 4:3). Remember that John 2:10 used the Greek word methuo, which means drunk or filled, to describe the amount of wine consumed by the wedding guests. If the wine was intoxicating in the wedding of John 2, then the text is describing the guests as intoxicated and Jesus was giving them 120 to 150 gallons of intoxicating wine. Some have pointed out that Jesus made “new wine”, which is the description of nonalcoholic wine in the Scriptures (cf. Acts 2).
Those asserting that Jesus made intoxicating wine are also implying that Jesus was encouraging a drinking party, vain drinking, and drunkenness. In Wayne Jackson’s article, “What about Moderate Social Drinking?”,
“There is no proof that the ‘wine’ at the marriage feast in Cana was fermented. The Greek word for ‘wine’ in this text is oinos, which may refer to a fermented beverage (cf. Eph. 5:18), or it may denote freshly squeezed grape juice (cf. Isa. 16:10 – LXX). Since the word for ‘wine’ is generic, the student has no right to import the concept of an alcoholic beverage into this passage without contextual justification—of which there is none.”
To assume that Jesus made intoxicating drinks is to assume that after everyone had drunk all the other intoxicating wine, then they needed more of the best intoxicating wine and Jesus was the man to do it.
Many denominations have made wine a part of the “Eucharist”, the Lord’s Supper. Few churches use alcoholic wine with exception of the churches of Christ.
Did Jesus use intoxicating wine in the Lord’s Supper? No, He did not. Actually, wine has nothing to do with the Lord’s Supper. The word “wine” is never used in reference to the Lord’s Supper. People have invented the idea that Jesus used alcoholic wine in the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus mentions the specific content of the cup to drink is “fruit of the vine” or an even better translation “fruit of the grapevine”. There is no indication of its fermentation. Add to all of this that Jesus used unleavened bread because it was the time of the Passover when God commanded Israel to throw out all leaven. The grape juice would have been unleavened too at least in the sense of having additional yeast rather than wild yeast. What does that mean? The throwing out of leaven would have also included the throwing out of highly intoxicating wine that contained additional yeast.
Most do not know what is biblical wine. Most assume that all “wine” in the Bible is highly alcoholic and intoxicating like today’s wine. There are passages that clearly imply that wine can intoxicate (Eph 5:18, 1 Tim 3:8, Titus 2:3). Still, “wine” is often simply grape juice.
There are a number of examples of nonalcoholic wine. The Scriptures call the grape juice within the grapes of the field “wine” (Deut 11:14, 2 Chr 31:5). Isaiah also described the “wine” in the grape (Isa 65:8). These passages alone should convince all. The blood of the grape is “wine” (Deut 32:14). Isaiah also described the vineyard consisting of “red wine” (Isa 27:2). The grape juice of the winepress is also “wine” (Prov 3:10). Biblical “wine” may be alcoholic or not at all.
In reading the Old Testament, many would be surprised that there are six Hebrew words that the translators interpret as “wine”. Two of these words include the word asis, which means “sweet grape juice” or “new grape juice” and the other word, hemer, simply means “grape juice”. These words refer to non-alcoholic juice.
Biblical wine contains much alcohol than wine today. The sugar of grape juice can only ferment up to possibly 4% alcohol with wild yeast, which is nothing to the use of a drinker. For grape juice to exceed 4% alcohol, then the winemaker must add yeast. The yeast added to ancient wines produced between 5-10% alcohol. This alcohol would eventually kill yeast cells and prevent alcohol exceeding 10%. Wines today average 12-18% alcohol due to saccharomyces, a genetically modified yeast that scientist developed in the twentieth century.
Today’s wine is not biblical wine in regards to alcohol content. Due to distilling, strong drinks like liquor go over twenty percent. Study for yourself. See some of my sources for this info in the International Biblical Encyclopedia, Wine Makers Magazines, and Alcohol in Moderation Digest.
When reading the word “wine” in the Bible, remember that it may be grape juice or intoxicating. Yet, it is not like today’s wine that has a higher alcoholic content. The simple use of the word “wine” has become the means for many to justify their actions in vain drinking and drunkenness.
Seeing God's Breath 
Here are some key posts from a discussion on οἶνος in the b-Greek archives which some may wish to peruse (below). I agree that just because a person can look at cows grazing in the field and legitimately say, “Look at all that juicy steak,” and just as someone can look at a classroom of first graders and call them mathematicians and doctors, that does not mean that the word steak means a cow, and neither does it mean that the words mathematician and doctor mean first-grade children. The same is true for the words יין yayin and οἶνος OINOS in metaphorical statements that speak of grapes on the vine containing “wine” (יין/οἶνος) or of “wine” (יין/οἶνος) in a winepress. The finished product, “wine,” is the intended goal and purpose of the grapes hanging there in the vineyard and of the winepress, just like steak is the intended goal and purpose of the grazing cows on the rancher’s farm. That is why someone can refer to the juice in the grapes on the vine, or the juice coming from a winepress, as “wine.” Metaphorical usage of words does not change their meaning. Citing usages that are metaphorical or where the meaning is ambiguous doesn’t actually prove anything.
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/test-archives/html4/1998-04/24801.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/test-archives/html4/1998-04/24991.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/test-archives/html4/1998-04/24978.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/test-archives/html4/1998-04/24981.html
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Here is a post from the b-Hebrew archives which gives some clarity from a linguist and biblical Hebrew scholar, with an interesting tidbit on the Jewish context of פרי הגפן pri ha-gefen ‘fruit of the vine’ which some may wish to follow up on.
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-hebrew/2002-January/012189.html
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Thank you. This is worth considering.
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It is very easy for one to go on and on about was there or wasn’t there alcohol in the wine Jesus made yet still missing the point and scriptures that speaks against it. In Leviticus 10; 8-11 he spoke to Aaron, saying
Drink NO WINE or strong drink
The key word here that we are not seeing is, NO,
He did not say not much or you can drink just a little but he said NO
NO WINE, NO strong drink
Whey did he tell them this? Well, the word say’s this was told to them because
They was to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and they where to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord had spoken to them by Moses.
What do I get out of this, HMMMM
Well, For the common man, you can drink whatever you want to and how ever much you would like because you are a typical common unclean man, You are not the Lords because if you was his sheep you will hear his voice and stop finding excuses to do what it is you want to do and hear his voice.
But for any man that wants or is holding a position in God’s name and claims to be a child of God’s, hard not your heart and hear what the word of the Lord is telling you,
He said NO and NO means NO,
final answer…
Stop listening to the common, allowing them to drench you with their common understandings,
come from amongst them and be ye separated say the Lord…
You can’t talk like them, dress like them, gather like them, look like them, pray like them, worship like them, live like them or even desirer like them…
There must be a difference be the two…What you did in the world can be no more now that you have been washed in the blood of the lamb, reborn in Christ, for you are a new creature for the old things has passed away and behold all things has become new.
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Mary, Leviticus 10:8–11 is in reference to priests only, and only when they entered the tent of meeting. It doesn’t prohibit priests from drinking “wine and beer” (יין ושכר yayin ve-shexar) at other times. Deuteronomy 14:26, in fact, allows for Israelites to drink “wine or beer or whatever you desire” and feast before the Lord. As a side note, שכר shexar shouldn’t be understood as hard liquor or “strong drink.” It was a family drink. But yes, it was fermented/alcoholic.
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It is rather amusing when I see people using grape juice as a picture of our Lord’s precious blood at the church, and then go home and eat lemon pie or lemon cake made with lemon extract that contains more than four times as much alcohol as does wine.
Take two containers and put grape juice in one and wine in the other, then put them in some place where nothing but air could. get to them, leaving the containers open in order that air could get to both the grape juice and the wine. After three months the wine would not be affected, but that the grape juice would be stagnant and not fit to drink. If you doubt this, I urge you to try it.
It is true that God’s Word condemns wine alone with all other intoxicants as an intoxicant. But let us remember, it is not the use of wine that is condemned, but rather the misuse of it. In Eph. 5:18 Paul says, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is EXCESS.” In I Tim. 3:8, he says of the deacon, “not given to MUCH wine.” In I Tim. 5:23, Paul tells Timothy to “use a LITTLE wine for thy stomach’s ‘sake and thine often infirmities.” And in Tit. 2:3, the aged women are not to he “given too MUCH wine.” In Mt. 11:19, and in Luke 7:34, our Lord’s enemies called Him a winebibber, and they were not accusing Him of being a grape juice drinker. The Greek word is OINOPOTES which means a wine drinker.
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We are in agreement. These are good thought. I personally have no reason to reject wine in the Lord’s Supper except there is no reference to its use. The Scriptures are clear about vain drinking, drunkenness, and drinking parties (1 Peter 4:3).
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That’s great info Heath, but you present nothing new and disregard the truth presented in the article to assume that Jesus drank because He was slandered as a drunk is an assertion. That is not a rational conclusion.
Before 1869, show me where they did use alcoholic wine? You must know. Silence on this matter does not mean that they did or did not.
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Linguistically your assertions are incorrect.
Furthermore using your own logic and points, it is still just as equally possible that it was alcoholic wine.
There is no word in the Hebrew or Greek that means ONLY unfermented wine. While some words can refer to wine in the early stages of the fermentation process, it is still fermented wine.
In Hebrew the words used discussing alcohol:
yayin, tirosh, shekar, chemer, asis, chomets, shemar, sobhe, mamsak, mezeg
In Greek:
oinos, gleukos, sikera, oxos, methusma.
Oinos being the only word in Greek which “may not” refer to an alcoholic beverage. However there has always been a broad consensus that the default meaning of oinos is an alcoholic beverage.
All of these words either can or do refer to alcoholic beverages.
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Jesus himself said im Mark 2:22 and Matt.9:17 and a third time in Luke 5:37-38
“…And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.”
Why would they burst the skins? Because of the yeast applied to the juice, the catalyst of fermentation.
Jesus continues in Luke 5:39
“And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”
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Jesus also apparently drank enough wine to be called a winebibber. If he was drinking grape juice why then the accusation of being drunk? And even if that was the case, would not Jesus have simply said so?
Luke 7:1-34
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”
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I challenge you, if you still stand by your position, to show me some record of the church of Christ using grape juice and not wine prior to 1869.
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Good point. Jesus’ juice is from the first gleaning and the highest quality of nobles and kings rather than sour grapes mixed with water.
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Hey man. I only have one question. Why were the people so impressed that Jesus saved the good stuff until later?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but usually you’d serve that first and follow it up with cheap stuff. By that time they couldn’t tell the difference I guess.
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