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NASB | John 2:10 and *said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 2:10 and said to him, "Everyone else serves his best wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then he serves that which is not so good; but you have kept back the good wine until now." |
Subject: Was the wine alcoholic or not |
Bible Note: Kathy, opinions are somewhat divided on this one. I searched four study Bibles and one commentary for any light they might offer on John 2:10. Without exception, they grappled with the issue by skipping to the next verse! The wine may well have been alcoholic, inasmuch as wine diluted with three parts water was a common table beverage in Jesus' time. While drunkenness is roundly condemned in Scripture, Paul prescribed for Timothy "a little wine for the sake of your stomach" in 1 Tim. 5:23. (We don't know whether Dr. Luke concurred!) But earlier in the same letter (3:3) Paul in laying down the qualifications for overseers of the church says they be "not addicted to wine." God gives us some interesting vignettes in Scripture of foolish things people do while under the influence, e.g., Noah and Lot. So, what inference can we draw from John 2:10. That Jesus forbids using wine as a beverage? Hardly. That He condones drunkenness? No. That the choice is ours to make? This may be a viable option. However, we know today that alcohol, among other things, can be addictive. I discovered this early in life and, thanks be to God, found the strength to walk away from it. Others I have known have not been so fortunate. One would be hard pressed to cite chapter and verse in the Bible to prove that traveling 80 miles an hour in a 30-mile zone is foolish and outright hazardous, or that smoking a pack or two of cigarettes a day will sooner or later help the undertaker pay for his new Mercedes. God lays down eternal principles to guide us in our walk with Him. Many detais he leaves to our discretion. But in His goodness and infinite wisdom, He chose to equip us with sense and reason. Since He never does anything by caprice, I believe he expects us to use it not only for His glory, but also for our own good. I think the issue of whether a Christian should drink anything alcoholic may be likened to the issue of eating meat in Paul's time: Will it cause my brother to stumble? A good friend of mine happens to be a circuit court judge and a Christian. He told me one time that he chose not to drink because he was concerned that drink might dilute his Christian witness. "So," he added with a sly grin, "I remain sober as a judge." |