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NASB | John 2:1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 2:1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; |
Subject: water into wine |
Bible Note: Tim - This is really interesting - thanks for posting it. On your comment "Even in English, the word "wine" didn’t come to mean an alcoholic beverage until about the mid 20th century", that doesn't sound right to me. 19th century English literature is rife with references to wine, and it's pretty clear in context that the references are to an alcoholic beverage. Can you elaborate? I'll admit I'm no expert on either 1st century culture, or winemaking (g), but there are a couple of things I wanted to mention, and get your thoughts on here: 1. In Matthew 9:17, the reference to not putting new wine in old wineskins most likely has nothing to do with preventing fermentation. In fact, short of cooking (pasteurizing) or freezing grape juice, it's just about impossible to stop it from fermenting. If you purchase unpasteurized grape juice, and let it sit in your refrigerator, you will slow down the process somewhat, but you will ultimately end up with wine or vinegar. I visited the website for Welch's, arguably the "grape juice gurus", and found this interesting little factoid: "1869 - Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch, a physician and dentist by profession, successfully pasteurizes Concord grape juice to produce an "unfermented sacramental wine" for fellow parishioners at his church in Vineland, N.J., where he is communion steward. His achievement marks the beginning of the processed fruit juice industry." 2. The reason that ancient winemakers didn't like to put new wine into old wineskins is that the fermentation process generates gases, which increase the pressure inside the wineskin, causing it to stretch and become brittle. If you reused a wineskin, there was a good chance the pressure buildup would cause the skin to split, ruining both wine and container. (Once fermentation was completed, old skins could be used as containers for the now stable beverage.) I don't claim this as an original to me - I swiped it out of Expositors Bible Commentary. 3. It's a common misconception that grapes are harvested, pressed into juice, and then some kind of fermentation agent is added to cause the transformation from juice to wine. It doesn't usually happen that way. The fermentation process generally starts while the grapes are still on the vine, and it's completely natural and unpreventable. "Table" grapes are intentionally harvested before this can happen, although it will still happen to them even after harvesting, if they're left too long. I really want to understand your point of view better. I certainly don't encourage alcohol consumption for anyone today, but I don't discourage it except when it's taken to excess. But I can't figure out how anyone in biblical times could avoid it. If you press ANY fruit into juice, you will very quickly get alcohol. I really do want to understand this better - help me out! Yours in Christ, Jim D. |