I have been studying about wine in the Bible. I am convinced that we should not be using fermented wine.\u00a0However, I was asked some questions for which I don’t have a good answer.<\/p>\n
To answer whether it is useful to know the original words behind our translations, I will direct your attention to “It’s Greek to Me<\/a>” and “Greek, How Should a Knowledge of It be Viewed?<\/a>“<\/p>\n The problem when translating a word from one language to another is that frequently, there isn’t just one word in a language that will cover the range of meanings possible with one word in another language. That is the problem we have with oinos<\/em>. This single Greek word covers all products made from the fruit of grapes, from the juice inside a grape to freshly squeezed grape juice, concentrated grape syrup, and fermented wine. English doesn’t have a single word that brings this range of meanings to the readers’ minds.<\/p>\n However, in the translation process, there is a general desire to be consistent in translating words from one language to the next. Not always-the King James Version, for instance, is known to be free with its selection of words-but generally, we find this to be true.<\/p>\n We also have to admit that translators are people. They make mistakes, and their biases show in their work. They are not inspired writers! Every translation has its problems. I’m not saying I or any other preacher could do a better job. But we ought to know where problem areas lie and why they are there.<\/p>\n Finally, there is also a matter of tradition. Writers of newer translations want people to buy their translations, so they tend to stick with the familiar so people will accept their work. A good example of this is with the word “baptize.” It is a transliteration of the Greek word. A perfectly good English word is equivalent to this word: “immerse.” So why was the transliteration used instead of the English word? By the time an English translation was done, most Christian denominations had stopped immersing people in it. Rather than rock the boat and have their translation rejected, they used “baptize” as was commonly expected.<\/p>\n For various reasons, oinos<\/em> is translated as “wine” even when the context is clear that it was an unfermented drink. However, there are also numerous cases where the context is unclear. For example, while I can make a good case that in John 2:11, Jesus turned water into an unfermented grape drink, people who support drinking will argue that it was fermented. The case is made by reason and not by the actual contextual words in the passage. Thus, translators prefer to stick with the traditional translation of “wine” since oinos<\/em> does include wine products as a possible translation. By knowing the Greek, we realize that this word selection isn’t as restrictive as it might first appear and allows us to consider whether it was actually fermented or not.<\/p>\n The Greek word\u00a0methuo<\/em> does have an equivalent work in English. It means “filled to the full” and typically refers to someone with too much fermented wine to drink. But it also can be used to say that someone’s thirst has been sated, and alcohol does not necessarily have to be involved. The English word “drunk” matches this definition well. We typically use “drunk” to refer to someone who has had too much alcohol to drink, but it can also be the past tense of drink and means someone had enough to satisfy them. The meaning to use has to come from the context, and it is clear that Paul is not telling the Corinthians that if they want to get drunk, they need to do it at home since drunkenness is a sin no matter where it is done. Even grammatically, in contrast to hunger, it is clear that Paul is saying some are finishing the Lord’s Supper before others have arrived. If someone is hungry, they should eat at home because the Lord’s Supper is not intended to be a meal.<\/p>\n Your friends have demonstrated that they have their minds made up. They don’t want to be confused with facts; they rather remain ignorant. It is sad, but plenty of other people will listen to the truth. Besides, they haven’t addressed the command to Christians to be sober.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I have been studying about wine in the Bible. I am convinced that we should not be using fermented wine.\u00a0However, I was asked some questions for which I don’t have a good answer. Why would the translators of the different versions of the Bible make a mistake when translating\u00a0oinos\u00a0with the word “wine,” such as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[371,311],"class_list":["post-18504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-alcohol","tag-translations"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2687,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-acts-213-15-infer-that-christians-drank-fermented-wine\/","url_meta":{"origin":18504,"position":0},"title":"Does Acts 2:13-15 infer that Christians drank fermented wine?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: There are lots of inferences in the Bible that Christians used fermented wine.\u00a0Acts 2:13-15\u00a0is a case in point. Answer: \"Others mocking said, \"They are full of new wine.\" But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, \"Men of Judea and all who dwell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23592,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-have-sources-showing-that-oinos-and-yayin-can-mean-both-fermented-and-unfermented-drinks\/","url_meta":{"origin":18504,"position":1},"title":"Do you have sources showing that oinos and yayin can mean both fermented and unfermented drinks?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Our Baptist church is considering the elimination of the statement in the church covenant that states, \u201cdo not use or sell any alcoholic beverage\u201d. Obviously, this is to condone moderate drinking.\u00a0 The basis for this is Romans 14:21.\u00a0 The pastor has a lexicon that shows all wine as written\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14621,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-ran-into-an-argument-that-every-lexicon-defines-oinos-as-a-fermented-drink-do-you-have-sources-to-disprove-this\/","url_meta":{"origin":18504,"position":2},"title":"I ran into an argument that “every lexicon” defines oinos as a fermented drink. Do you have sources to disprove this?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I really appreciate the work you do as a Gospel preacher and a brother in Christ. I am in the process of studying the subject of moderate drinking with a brother in Christ, and also for myself. I have no doubt the Bible condemns it and I agree with\u00a0your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18280,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-fermented-grape-juice-wine-be-used-in-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":18504,"position":3},"title":"Can fermented grape juice (wine) be used in the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please answer me with biblical texts the following questions or doubts I have: Which kind of wine (intoxicating fermented wine or non-fermented wine) should be used during Lord's Supper celebration? Can we commit sin by using fermented or alcoholic wine during the Lord's Supper celebration? It is alleged that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86675,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/much-wine\/","url_meta":{"origin":18504,"position":4},"title":"Much Wine?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Tracy Dugger In giving the qualifications of elders, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write that an elder is not to be, \"\u2026given to wine\u2026\" (I Timothy 3:3). Then in I Timothy 3:6, Paul stated of deacons, \"Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double tongued, not given to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8408,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-blessing-of-wine-outweigh-its-dangers\/","url_meta":{"origin":18504,"position":5},"title":"Does the blessing of wine outweigh its dangers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Generally, the Bible condemns drunkenness (in a variety of places) but nowhere condemns wine or alcoholic beverages in total. In fact, the mild exhilaration that comes from moderate imbibing of wine is seen as a blessing of God in several Old Testament passages. Health advisor says alcohol impairs the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}