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NASB | 1 Timothy 5:23 ¶ No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Timothy 5:23 ¶ No longer continue drinking [only] water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. |
Bible Question:
Many Christians argue that one should not drink. The Bible talks about not becoming drunk but does not say one should not consume alcohol (with the exception of Sampson's mother while she was carrying him). Also, Matt 11:19 says: "The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebiber... Given the period in which the Bible was written, where wine was a staple as milk is today and the above passage, is it safe to make the assumption that Jesus drank wine (alcohol). |
Bible Answer: Because of the trouble alcoholic beverages can cause, some have labeled all drinking as 'evil.' Others say or imply that all strong drink is condemned by God. But that is not a balanced view. And it simply is not the truth, for it is not God's view. Do you remember reading about the first miracle that Jesus Christ performed? It was the turning of water into wine. (John 2:1-11) How reasonable would it be for him to make wine and then forbid people to drink it? And if God disapproved of all drinking, would he tell us in his own Word that he "will certainly make for all the peoples . . . a banquet of well-oiled dishes, a banquet of wine kept on the dregs"? (Isa. 25:6) Then, too, the apostle Paul advised Timothy: "Do not drink water any longer, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent cases of sickness."-1 Tim. 5:23. So, of itself, drinking is not wrong. It is like many other things God created for man's enjoyment. They can be used for good or for bad. For instance, is eating food bad? No, but you can make it bad if you habitually overeat to the point of becoming a glutton. Is your hand bad? Of course not. It is a marvelous instrument for man's use. But you can make it bad if you use it to commit a crime, such as strangling someone with it. Yes, you can take things that are 'good' and make them 'bad' by the way you use them. It is the same with alcoholic beverages. It is not the drinking of alcoholic beverages that God's Word condemns. It is their excessive use: "Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards . . . will inherit God's kingdom."-1 Cor. 6:9, 10. |