{"id":22449,"date":"2020-05-16T14:09:58","date_gmt":"2020-05-16T19:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=22449"},"modified":"2020-05-16T16:31:34","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T21:31:34","slug":"was-timothy-a-nazirite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-timothy-a-nazirite\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Timothy a Nazirite?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Was Timothy a Nazirite? It appeared that he was reluctant to take the wine ( grape juice) so I know that if he was a Nazirite he would not take even grapes or grape juice for medicine. I was told that it had to be alcohol because he could drink grape juice if he wasn\u2019t a Nazirite.<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

“No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments<\/em>” (I Timothy 5:23).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a Christian, Timothy would partake in the weekly memorial of Christ’s death. This included grape juice. “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes<\/em>” (I Corinthians 11:23-26). Therefore, Timothy could not be a Nazirite, which forbade the use of anything made from grapes.<\/p>\n

Since it is clearly implied that Timothy was avoiding oinos<\/em>, which is a generic word for any beverage made from grapes, and we know Timothy would be consuming grape juice for the Lord’s Supper, we must conclude that Paul is referring to a fermented beverage. Wine is known to help with some digestive problems:<\/p>\n

“A new Spanish study suggests that sipping about 9 ounces of Merlot or a low-alcohol red wine changed the mix of good and bad bacteria typically found in the\u00a0colon in ways that can benefit your health. … researchers suspect it’s not due to the alcohol but to the polyphenol compounds found in the wine.” [Cari Nierenberg, “Drinking Red Wine Is Good for Gut Bacteria<\/a>,” WebMD, 25 May 2012].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interestingly, abuse of alcohol will cause stomach issues [https:\/\/www.alcohol.org\/comorbid\/gastritis\/<\/a>], thus, Paul’s suggestion of a\u00a0little<\/em> wine for stomach ailments makes sense scientifically.<\/p>\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Thank you, Jeffrey, that makes sense.<\/p>\n

I wonder if the same qualities that were in alcohol, in this case, would have been present in grape juice but they didn\u2019t know it at that time so used a small amount of alcohol. I\u2019m sure that, given the same diagnosis today, no medical doctor would even suggest alcohol as a treatment for any internal ailment.<\/p>\n

I am debating my Anglican minister on what should be used in the communion cup at the Lord\u2019s Supper and he\u2019s using every argument in the book to defend his understanding of it being alcohol. The Timothy treatment came up as a general item of discussion so I wanted to get that one settled as well. I personally don\u2019t think that there\u2019s any place in a good Christian church for alcohol in any capacity and my pastor sees otherwise.<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

Yes, there are far better medications for intestinal ailments today than they had access to back then, but we have to acknowledge that what they did have did work in some cases. Alcohol is still used in some medications today simply because some chemicals dissolve better in alcohol than in water.<\/p>\n

In regards to the Lord’s Supper, it must be noted that oinos<\/em> is not used to speak of the contents of the cup for the Lord’s Supper. It is only referred to as the fruit of the vine. See\u00a0Can fermented\u00a0grape juice (wine) be used in the Lord’s Supper?<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead of trying to force the Anglican Church into the New Testament model of Christianity, have you considered worshiping with a church that follows the Bible more strictly?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Was Timothy a Nazirite? It appeared that he was reluctant to take the wine ( grape juice) so I know that if he was a Nazirite he would not take even grapes or grape juice for medicine. I was told that it had to be alcohol because he could drink grape juice if he…<\/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":[371,146,645,882,331],"class_list":["post-22449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-alcohol","tag-lords-supper","tag-medication","tag-nazirite","tag-timothy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16812,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-think-you-considered-all-the-passages-regarding-the-use-of-alcohol-in-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":22449,"position":0},"title":"I don’t think you considered all the passages regarding the use of alcohol in the Old Testament","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello. After reading\u00a0your information about wine and the comment about biblical definitions and applications being subjected to a person's individual bias it seems somewhat misleading that you offered no comments at all about Deut. 14:26 and placed it under the heading that there were only two places where wine\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":54866,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-paul-thought-long-hair-was-bad-why-did-he-take-a-nazirite-vow\/","url_meta":{"origin":22449,"position":1},"title":"If Paul thought long hair was bad, why did he take a Nazirite vow?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thanks for the website. I read it all the time. I have a question concerning men and long hair. I know that I Corinthians 11 talks about that. The first part of the chapter is written off by many as cultural, but I disagree with that view; however, in\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":28364,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-paul-have-told-timothy-to-drink-grape-juice-for-his-stomachs-sake\/","url_meta":{"origin":22449,"position":2},"title":"Could Paul have told Timothy to drink grape juice for his stomach’s sake?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read your article online about alcohol and the Bible,\u00a0New Testament Beverages, and wanted to say it is magnificent. I do want to point out something about a loophole you left for the drinker concerning Paul's advice to Timothy about drinking wine. In the Greek book, The Learned\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":11859,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-the-significance-of-samson-killing-the-lion-and-eating-honey-from-its-carcass\/","url_meta":{"origin":22449,"position":3},"title":"What was the significance of Samson killing the lion and eating honey from its carcass?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the symbolism of Samson killing the lion and\u00a0what was bad about Samson\u00a0giving his parents the honey that the bees had made in the lion's dead carcass? Answer: I don't recall God stating that Samson killing the lion symbolized anything in particular. It did illustrate the strength of\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":21027,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-paul-be-under-a-nazirite-vow-since-he-shaved-his-head\/","url_meta":{"origin":22449,"position":4},"title":"How could Paul be under a Nazirite vow since he shaved his head?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, You had mentioned in your answer to the question as to why Paul shaved his head in Cenchrea recorded in Acts 18:18, that it was because of the Nazarite Vow (Numbers 6:2-21)? The Nazarite Vow does require that \"no razor touch your head\" (Numbers 6:5). 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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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22449","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=22449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}