{"id":59741,"date":"2015-03-07T19:52:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T01:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=59741"},"modified":"2025-09-09T19:46:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:46:55","slug":"social-drinking-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/social-drinking-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Drinking (Thompson)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\tby Floyd Thompson\n

Many times in trying to justify social drinking people will use as a defense Paul’s admonition to Timothy in I Timothy 5:23, which says, “use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake, and thine often infirmities.<\/em>“<\/p>\n

I think this passage has not been thoroughly discussed until we recognize that Timothy was a total abstainer, even to the point of hurting his health. Then the question would be, “why did Timothy totally abstain?” I think I can answer that with one word – “influence.”<\/p>\n

Another expression in this verse is “use a little wine.<\/em>” To me, the connotation is “use, as you would a medication.” I get a totally different picture from the two words “use” and “drink.” Most translations bear out this concept. Wine, used to relieve stomach disorders, would be good for Timothy. As a beverage for feeling “high,” it is not recommended at all.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Floyd Thompson Many times in trying to justify social drinking people will use as a defense Paul’s admonition to Timothy in I Timothy 5:23, which says, “use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake, and thine often infirmities.“ I think this passage has not been thoroughly discussed until we recognize that Timothy was a…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[371],"class_list":["post-59741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-alcohol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86675,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/much-wine\/","url_meta":{"origin":59741,"position":0},"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":41456,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/elders-deacons-timothy-and-wine\/","url_meta":{"origin":59741,"position":1},"title":"Elders, Deacons, Timothy, and Wine","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dave Miller, Ph.D. via Apologetics Press Paul's instructions pertaining to the qualifications of elders and deacons have created misunderstandings regarding the use of alcoholic beverages. Elders are not to be \"given to wine\" (I Timothy 3:3), while deacons are not to be \"given to much wine\" (I Timothy 3:8).\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":57933,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-little-wine-for-your-stomachs-sake\/","url_meta":{"origin":59741,"position":2},"title":"A Little Wine for Your Stomach’s Sake","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bryan Matthew Dockens Paul advised Timothy, \"No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities\" (I Timothy 5:23). \"No longer drink only water ...\" By this statement, we learn that Timothy's habit had been one of total abstinence from wine\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":1670,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-wrong-with-drinking-so-long-as-it-is-done-in-moderation\/","url_meta":{"origin":59741,"position":3},"title":"What is wrong with drinking, so long as it is done in moderation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 4, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What's wrong with drinking, so long as it is done in moderation? After all Jesus turned water into wine in John 2. The disciples were accused of being drunk in Acts 2, so alcohol must have been in use. Older women were only told not to be given to\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":22449,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-timothy-a-nazirite\/","url_meta":{"origin":59741,"position":4},"title":"Was Timothy a Nazirite?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":59741,"position":5},"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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59741","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=59741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}