This topic of abstinence toward alcohol is a highly controversial one. For anyone who reads this, I first hope that there would not be any preconceived or a post-conceived notion that I am against those who drink and those who discerned it well to consume alcohol. But the word of God is my source of hope. My source of salvation. And it is all I trust in. So when God speaks through the word and reveals to me the part of the attributes of being holy I will hold fast to those words for God has told his children to “Be Holy, For I am Holy” (1 Peter 1:16, Lev. 11:44)
My hope now is not to give anyone a rational-personal argument, but a biblical argument that garners authority past rational, traditional, and charismatic. Therefore I will present passages from the Bible and whoever my audience is or it can just be me to remind myself… ahha. can take what they want, but I have faith that the selected passages will be read and though at the utmost integrity to not be trapped in a miopic view of the text, but a clear sight seeking the context of the passage and even the book.
The Nazirite
Numbers 6:1-21
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the LORD as a Nazirite, 3 he must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or from other fermented drink. He must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. 4 As long as he is a Nazirite, he must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.
5 ” ‘During the entire period of his vow of separation no razor may be used on his head. He must be holy until the period of his separation to the LORD is over; he must let the hair of his head grow long. 6 Throughout the period of his separation to the LORD he must not go near a dead body. 7 Even if his own father or mother or brother or sister dies, he must not make himself ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of his separation to God is on his head. 8 Throughout the period of his separation he is consecrated to the LORD.
9 ” ‘If someone dies suddenly in his presence, thus defiling the hair he has dedicated, he must shave his head on the day of his cleansing—the seventh day. 10 Then on the eighth day he must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 11 The priest is to offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to make atonement for him because he sinned by being in the presence of the dead body. That same day he is to consecrate his head. 12 He must dedicate himself to the LORD for the period of his separation and must bring a year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. The previous days do not count, because he became defiled during his separation.
13 ” ‘Now this is the law for the Nazirite when the period of his separation is over. He is to be brought to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 14 There he is to present his offerings to the LORD : a year-old male lamb without defect for a burnt offering, a year-old ewe lamb without defect for a sin offering, a ram without defect for a fellowship offering, [a] 15 together with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and a basket of bread made without yeast—cakes made of fine flour mixed with oil, and wafers spread with oil.
16 ” ‘The priest is to present them before the LORD and make the sin offering and the burnt offering. 17 He is to present the basket of unleavened bread and is to sacrifice the ram as a fellowship offering to the LORD, together with its grain offering and drink offering.
18 ” ‘Then at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the Nazirite must shave off the hair that he dedicated. He is to take the hair and put it in the fire that is under the sacrifice of the fellowship offering.
19 ” ‘After the Nazirite has shaved off the hair of his dedication, the priest is to place in his hands a boiled shoulder of the ram, and a cake and a wafer from the basket, both made without yeast. 20 The priest shall then wave them before the LORD as a wave offering; they are holy and belong to the priest, together with the breast that was waved and the thigh that was presented. After that, the Nazirite may drink wine.
21 ” ‘This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the LORD in accordance with his separation, in addition to whatever else he can afford. He must fulfill the vow he has made, according to the law of the Nazirite.’ “
Jesus did not drink.
Luke 1:15
15for he will be(A) great before the Lord. And(B) he must not drink wine or strong(C) drink, and(D) he will be(E) filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
The high priests did not drink before the presence of the Lord.
Leviticus 10:6-11
6Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “(A)Do not [a]uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die and that He will not (B)become wrathful against all the congregation. But your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall bewail the burning which the LORD has brought about.
7“You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, or you will die; for (C)the LORD’S anointing oil is upon you.” So they did according to the word of Moses.
8The LORD then spoke to Aaron, saying,
9“(D)Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die–it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations–
10and (E)so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean,
11and (F)so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the LORD has spoken to them through Moses.”
The Rechabite’s Obedience
Jeremiah 35:1-19
1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of (A)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
2“Go to the house of the (B)Rechabites and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the (C)chambers, and give them wine to drink.”
3Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites,
4and I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the (D)man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, (E)the doorkeeper.
5Then I set before the men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine and cups; and I said to them, “(F)Drink wine!”
6But they said, “We will not drink wine, for (G)Jonadab the son of (H)Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall (I)not drink wine, you or your sons, forever.
7‘You shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but in (J)tents you shall dwell all your days, that you may live (K)many days in the land where you (L)sojourn.’
8“We have (M)obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons or our daughters,
9nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; and we (N)do not have vineyard or field or seed.
10“We have only (O)dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and have done according to all that (P)Jonadab our father commanded us.
11“But when (Q)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come and let us (R)go to Jerusalem before the army of the Chaldeans and before the army of the Arameans.’ So we have dwelt in Jerusalem.”
12Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
13“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “(S)Will you not receive instruction by listening to My words?” declares the LORD.
14“The (T)words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are observed So they do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command But I have spoken to you (U)again and again; yet you have (V)not listened to Me.
15“Also I have sent to you all My (W)servants the prophets, sending them again and again, saying: ‘(X)Turn now every man from his evil way and amend your deeds, and (Y)do not go after other gods to worship them Then you will (Z)dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your forefathers; but you have not (AA)inclined your ear or listened to Me.
16‘Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have (AB)observed the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to Me.’”‘
17“Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, (AC)I am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I (AD)spoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer.’”
18Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have (AE)obeyed the command of Jonadab your father, kept all his commands and done according to all that he commanded you;
19therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Jonadab the son of Rechab (AF)shall not lack a man to (AG)stand before Me always.”‘”
All Scripture cited is from the ESV translation of the Bible collected from Biblegateway.com
I hope these selected passages helped as it certainly opened my eyes to see a clearer picture of how I present myself to the Lord. It’s not that alcohol itself is the root of sin, but as scripture points out, it is in association with uncleanness and joyous recklessness. It is foolhardy to seek holiness yet being caught in the rifts of impetuous behavior.
One prevalent argument I hear today is that Christians want to be culturally relevant to those who drink. Christians say they want to be a witness to those who are “in sin.” But the Bible never EVER teaches us to be culturally involved to that extent where we might have to play with fire and conform. Instead 1 John 2:15-17 says
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
We are called to reach out in a way of being witnesses (see Acts 1:8). As in bearing a genuine witness of the character and the life of Christ by abiding in his words (see John 8:31-32).
My goal out of this blog post is not for people to hate on alcohol. I see it acceptable at a joyous occasion such as a wedding to celebrate with toast of wine. But on doing it with “moderation” to be culturally relevant such as drinking with friends and in bars for the sake of “witnessing” through what Christians think is “fellowship” I am not one to judge, but one who is pursuing holiness, but playing with fire is dangerously close to being burned and caught in flames.
Lastly Jesus himself did not come to bring salvation under the strategy of being relevant with culture. Rather He was one to proclaim the good news that the Father has sent him to save the world of gentiles and Jews to salvation through grace in order so that the Father may receive glory, honor, and praise.
The Devil’s temptation for Christ to become relevant.
And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:3-4
What is bread used for? Even in the ancient days I’m assuming is was a source of substenance; a source of food. If Christ was to turn stones into food he would be able to feed the entire population of Jerusalem let alone the world. Why didn’t he? I mean people would surely have come to him then and seek him out for he is one who does miracles and provides all provisions needed… right? Well surely Christ answers to the temptation by giving glory back to the Father. Jesus responds in an intricate way that is pertinent to all heard this message. It is not important for him to adhere to every beings humanistic needs as it is pivotal to manifest the reality of the truth of the Gospel which is understanding the the word of God is the only source of substenance that will ever matter.
So why. Why try to be so relevant. With alcohol, smoking, or cussing. Are you willing to reach out at the cost of discrediting or setting back your pursuit of holiness. Are you willing to “evangelize” or “witness” at the cost that the good news given by Jesus Christ is spin-doctored.
The world does not need Christians who are friends who do the same things they do.
The world needs Christians who are friends that adore God and live the life in pursuit of holiness.
The world needs Christians who continually reveal the beautiful truth of the Gospel.
-Alex Yi
