Is Wine today Different than in Bible Times (Eph. 5:18a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/1/2019 9:07 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Guidelines for Christians

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 5:18a

 

            Message of the verse:  “Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life” (Message).

 

            In today’s SD we begin to look at the last main point from John MacArthur’s commentary which is entitled “Guidelines for Christians.”  In this last main section we will be briefly going over different sub-sections each day until we are done.  In today’s SD we will be looking at “Is Today’s Wine the Same as That in Bible Times?”

 

            First we have to determine what kind of wine was used in both the Old Testament and New Testament times, and then look at what we have today as far as what kind of wine is being drunk.  Believer’s today justify the drinking of wine because of what the Bible says about what was being drunk in Bible Times.  I had a Pastor who said about Paul telling Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach.  He said that if you have Timothy’s stomach problems then you drink Timothy’s wine, inferring that if you don’t have his problem don’t drink the wine.

 

            MacArthur talks about the different kinds of wine in the Bible and the first is called sikera in the Greek and found in Luke 1:15.  The word is shekar in Hebrew (Pr. 20:1), and this is a strong drink.  Next is called gleukos and we get our English word glucose from it.  This is “new wine” and is sweet.  A third kind of wine, however, is the one most often referred to in both Testaments.  Hebrew word is yayin, the root word for bubbling “and this did not come from the pouring of the wine but the boiling of the fresh grape juice to reduce it to a heavy syrup, sometimes even a thick paste, that made it suitable for storage without spoiling.”  People would mix the past in water to drink it, “even when the reconstituted mixture was allowed to ferment, its alcohol content was quite low.

 

            I will conclude this SD by giving a quote from MacArthur’s commentary:  “It is clear, therefore, that whether the yayin or oinos mentioned in Scripture refers to the thick syrup itself, to a mixture of water and syrup, or a mixture of water and pure wine, the wine was either nonalcoholic or only slightly alcoholic.  To ‘get drunk with mixture wine’ (oinos) would have required consuming a large quantity—as is suggested in other New Testament passages.  ‘Addicted to wine’ (1 Tim. 3:3; Titus 1:7) translates one Greek word (paroinos) and literally means ‘at, or beside, wine,’ and carries the idea of sitting beside the wine cup for an extended period of time.

 

            “The answer to the first question is clearly no.  The wine of Bible times was not the same as the unmixed wine of our own day.  Even the more civilized pagans of Bible times would have considered the drinking of modern wines to be barbaric and irresponsible.”

 

            I have expressed my opinion in earlier SD’s and I stress it is my opinion, that because of our Church covenant that I do not drink wine or any other product with alcohol in it, but I will not argue with people who do, as the Bible tells us not to get drunk, but does not tell us not to drink wine. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have to look at wine drinking is a similar way that Paul wrote about other things that people can get upset about.  The most important thing is to live a life pleasing to the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Being humble, I believe, helps me to get along with others.

 

Today’s quotation is from missionary J. Hudson Taylor who stated “All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.”

 

7/1/2019 9:37 AM