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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: What are your views on Christians drinking alcohol and smoking? I have heard that some say it is okay as long as you do it in moderation (drinking) but isn't it too easy to go over that fine line? Is there anything Biblical on the issue - I know there are things on drunkeness. But then people argue that they won't let it get that far! |
Bible Answer: Another aspect of this question is this: Both alcohol and nicotine are physically addictive. Paul lays down a good principle in Rom 6:16. He says that whatever you present your body to, you become a servant of. Granted, he is talking of sins here, and whether drinking and smoking are sins is debatable (Charis' answer was very good). But I think the principle still applies. Paul said that everything was permissable but not everything was profitable or beneficial. So, regardless of whether drinking and smoking is a sin or not, we still run the risk of not only death, but physical addition. This principle exist whether the issue is smoking, drinking, drugs, overeating, pornography, etc. Some things, if we practice them, will enslave us. As Bob Dylan says, 'Ya gotta serve somebody :). That is why Paul says to first present your body as a living sacrifice to God so that He can live in and live out of it - Rom 12:1. Paul urges us in Rom 7 that we have been set free from sin so we don't need to serve it anymore. We still can sin and there is still consequences that we reap if we do so. I hope this helps. In Christ, Bill Mc |