75 Bible References on Drinking Alcohol
Should Christians really totally abstain from alcoholic drinks? Or does God tell us we can drink moderately?
I did not have to read all the Biblical facts to know this. I can remember when I was a child seeing most of my relatives (my grandfathers, uncles, and even my dad and mom) getting drunk. I personally almost went that way. I thank the Lord He opened my eyes to this fact even before I got saved. There are too many verses to put in this newsletter, but I have some references for you to look up and study.
In the 1800’s and early 1900’s the church in America took a bold stand for total abstinence. People researched the word “wine;” Bible studies showed the truth about alcohol. The result was the Prohibition with its great benefits. But the Prohibition Amendment was repealed, and the church began to weaken its conviction against alcohol. Today some pastors say, “What’s wrong with a six pack? Why get hung up on a little wine at a wedding?”
The Bible is the same “yesterday, today, and forever.” The use of wine in the Old Testament was never approved by God in any amount for the obedient Christian. Facts to know: The Bible does teach total abstinence from alcohol. Both the main Hebrew word for wine and the Greek word for wine can mean either unfermented grape juice or intoxicating wine. The English word wine originally had two meanings also – unfermented juice or alcoholic drink.
In the Bible, verses to show God approves of wine are speaking about unfermented juice. Verses that expose the evils of wine are speaking about intoxicating wine.
The Bible says alcoholic drink is evil. It is not just the amount one drinks that makes drinking a sin. God condemns the drink itself.
Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
God does not lead us into evil; He delivers us from it. He does not teach us to practice evil in moderation. Jesus did not make, use, approve, commend, or tell us to use intoxicating wine.
God made man to have fellowship with Him. Alcohol goes directly to the brain, the communication center of the body. It interferes with God’s purpose for mankind.
75 WARNINGS
There are more Scriptures condemning the use of alcoholic beverages than on the subjects of lying, adultery, swearing, cheating, hypocrisy, pride, or even blasphemy.
1) Genesis 9:20-26 – Noah became drunk; the result was immorality and family trouble. (“Cursed be Canaan.”)
2) Genesis 19:30-38 – Lot was so drunk he did not know what he was doing; this led to immorality.
3) Leviticus 10:9-11 – God commanded priests not to drink so that they could tell the difference between the holy and
the unholy. 10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;
4) Numbers 6:3 – The Nazarites were told to eat or drink nothing from the grape vine.
5) Deuteronomy 21:20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not
obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
6) Deuteronomy 29:5-6 – God gave no grape juice to Israel nor did they have intoxicating drink in the wilderness.
7) Deuteronomy 32:33 – Intoxicating wine is like the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
8) Judges 13:4, 7, 14 – Samson was to be a Nazarite for life. His mother was told not to
drink wine or strong drink.
9) 1 Samuel 1:14-15 – Accused, Hannah said she was not drunk but a woman of sorrow.
10) 1 Samuel 25:36-38 – Nabal died after a drunken spree.
11) 2 Samuel 11:12-13 – By getting Uriah drunk, David hoped to cover his sin.
12) 2 Samuel 13:28-29 – Amnon was drunk when he was killed.
13) 1 Kings 16:8-10 – The king was drinking himself into drunken-ness when he was assassinated.
14) 1 Kings 20:12-21 – Benhadad and 32 other kings were drinking when they were attacked and defeated by the
Israelites.
15) Esther 1:5-12 – The king gave everyone all the wine they wanted. The king was intoxicated when he commanded the
queen to come.
16) Psalm 75:8 – The Lord’s anger is pictured as mixed wine poured out and drunk by the wicked.
17) Proverbs 4:17 – Alcoholic drink is called the wine of violence.
18) Proverbs 20:1 – Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.
19) Proverbs 23:19-20 – A wise person will not be among the drinkers of alcoholic beverages.
20) Proverbs 23:21 – Drunkenness causes poverty.
21) Proverbs 23:29-30 – Drinking causes woe, sorrow, fighting, babbling, wounds without cause and red eyes.
22) Proverbs 23:31 – God instructs us not to look at intoxicating drinks.
23) Proverbs 23:32 – Alcoholic drinks bite like a serpent and sting like an adder.
24) Proverbs 23:33 – Alcohol causes the drinker to have strange and adulterous thoughts.
25) Proverbs 23:34 – Alcohol makes the drinker unstable.
26) Proverbs 23:35 – Alcohol makes the drinker insensitive to pain
so he does not perceive it as a warning. Alcohol is habit forming.
27) Proverb 31:4-5 – Kings, princes, and others who rule and
judge must not drink alcohol. Alcohol perverts good judgment.
28) Proverbs 31:6-7 – Strong drink could be given to those about
to perish or those in pain. *Better anesthetics are available today.*
29) Ecclesiastes 2:3 – The king tried everything, including
intoxicating drink, to see if it satisfied. It did not.
30) Ecclesiastes 10:17 – A land is blessed when its leaders do not
drink.
31) Isaiah 5:11 – Woe to those who get up early to drink and stay up late at night to get drunk.
32) Isaiah 5:22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine,
and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
33) Isaiah 19:14 – “as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.”
34) Isaiah 22:12-13 – The Israelites choose to drink; their future
looks hopeless to them.
35) Isaiah 24:9 – Drinkers cannot escape the consequences when
God judges.
36) Isaiah 28:1 – God pronounces “Woe to the crown of pride, to
the drunkards of Ephraim,”
37) Isaiah 28:3 – Proud drunkards shall be trodden down.
38) Isaiah 28:7 – Priests and prophets stagger and reel from
strong drink and wine, err in vision, and stumble in judgment.
39) Isaiah 28:8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
40) Isaiah 56:9-12 – Drinkers seek their own gain and expect tomorrow to be just like today.
41) Jeremiah 35:2-19 – The Rechabites drank no grape juice or
intoxicating wine and were blessed.
42) Ezekiel 44:21 – Again God instructed the priests not to drink
wine.
43) Daniel 1:5-17 – Daniel, along with his abstaining friends, refused the king’s intoxicating wine and was blessed for it.
44) Daniel 5:1 – Belshazzar, ruler of Babylon, led his people
drinking.
45) Daniel 5:2-3 – The king, along with his nobles, wives, and
concubines, drank from the goblets which had been taken from God’s temple.
46) Daniel 5:4 – Drinking wine was combined with praising false
gods.
47) Daniel 5:23 – God sent word to Belshazzar that punishment
would be swift for the evil he had committed.
48) Hosea 4:11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away
the heart.
49) Hosea 7:5 – Drinking alcohol makes you sick and brings you into bad company.
50) Joel 1:5 – Drunkards awake to see God’s judgment.
51) Joel 3:3 – The enemy is judged for selling girls for wine.
52) Amos 2:8 – This verse describes the unrighteous acts of Israel – included the drinking of wine which had been taken
for the payment of fines.
53) Amos 2:12 – Israel is condemned for giving Nazarites wine to drink.
54) Micah 2:11 – Israelites are eager to follow false teachers who
prophesy of intoxicating drinks.
55) Nahum 1:10 – The drunkards of Nineveh will be destroyed by
God.
56) Habakkuk 2:5 – A man is betrayed by wine.
57) Habakkuk 2:15 – Woe to him that gives his neighbor drink.
58) Habakkuk 2:16 – Drinking leads to shame.
59) Matthew 24:48-51 – A drinking servant is unprepared for his
Lord’s return.
60) Luke 1:15 – John the Baptist drank neither grape juice nor wine.
61) Luke 12:45-46 – Christ warned against drunkenness.
62) Luke 21:34 – Drunkenness will cause a person not to be ready
for the Lord’s return.
63) Romans 13:13 – Do not walk in drunkenness or immorality.
64) Romans 14:21 – Do not do anything that will hurt your
testimony as a believer.
65) 1 Corinthians 5:11 – If a Christian brother is a drinker, do not
associate with him.
66) 1 Corinthians 6:10 – Drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God
67) Galatians 5:21 – Acts of the sinful nature, such as drunkenness, will prohibit a person from inheriting the kingdom of
God.
68) Ephesians 5:18 – In contrast to being drunk with wine, the believer is to be filled with the Spirit.
69) 1 Thessalonians 5:6-7 – Christians are to be alert and self- controlled, belonging to the day. Drunkards belong to the
night and darkness.
70) 1 Timothy 3:2-3 – Bishops (elders) are to be temperate, sober, and not near any wine.
71) 1 Timothy 3:8 – Deacons are to be worthy of respect and not drinkers.
72) 1 Timothy 3:11 – Deacons’ wives are to be temperate and sober.
73) Titus 1:7-8 – An overseer is to be disciplined.
74) Titus 2:2-3 – The older men and older women of the church are to be temperate and not addicted to wine.
75) 1 Peter 4:3-4 – The past life of drunkenness and carousing has no place in the Christian’s life.