{"id":87021,"date":"2025-05-06T21:29:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T02:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=87021"},"modified":"2025-05-06T21:29:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T02:29:07","slug":"was-noah-sinning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-noah-sinning\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Noah Sinning?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Perry Hall<\/p>\n

In Genesis 9, Noah gets drunk. Ham’s actions follow, leading to a curse. Noah was not cursed. Was drunkenness, therefore, not a sin?<\/p>\n

This is a good example of allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture, specifically showing how Genesis Narratives help explain other Genesis Narratives. The Bible keeps telling the same stories, just with different settings.<\/p>\n

So, back to Genesis 9. Was drunkenness a sin? Notice these sequential events:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Action – Noah gets drunk.<\/li>\n
  2. Effect – Noah gets naked.<\/li>\n
  3. Consequence – A curse is placed on Ham and his descendants for his shameful actions toward his father.<\/li>\n
  4. Grace – The sons cover their father’s nakedness.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Now go back to Genesis 3.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Action – Eve and Adam eat from the forbidden tree.<\/li>\n
    2. Effect – They now notice their nakedness and are ashamed.<\/li>\n
    3. Consequence – Curses are placed on the serpent, Eve, and Adam.<\/li>\n
    4. Grace – God makes coverings out of animal skins.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The similarities show that if Adam and Eve’s actions were sinful, Noah’s getting drunk was also sinful.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      by Perry Hall In Genesis 9, Noah gets drunk. Ham’s actions follow, leading to a curse. Noah was not cursed. Was drunkenness, therefore, not a sin? This is a good example of allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture, specifically showing how Genesis Narratives help explain other Genesis Narratives. The Bible keeps telling the same stories, just…<\/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":[371,1104,964],"class_list":["post-87021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-alcohol","tag-drunkenness","tag-understanding-the-bible"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36026,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-noah-curse-hams-child-just-because-ham-saw-noah-naked\/","url_meta":{"origin":87021,"position":0},"title":"Why did Noah curse Ham’s child just because Ham saw Noah naked?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I could not understand why Noah issued a curse on Ham just because Ham saw Noah naked in Genesis 9:22-27. Q1. Was there a law of the land regarding seeing someone naked and Ham did not follow it? Q2. What's wrong with Ham telling his brothers? (If I\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":26940,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-wasnt-noah-condemned-for-getting-drunk\/","url_meta":{"origin":87021,"position":1},"title":"Why wasn’t Noah condemned for getting drunk?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why was Noah never condemned by God for becoming drunk and committing the sin of incest?\u00a0 And God used him to build the ark. Answer: You're mixing events. Noah was a righteous man (Genesis 7:1). He was saved when he obeyed God and built an ark. But it wasn't\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":58832,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-pride-of-the-drunkard\/","url_meta":{"origin":87021,"position":2},"title":"The Pride of the Drunkard","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton Basil said, \"Drunkenness is the ruin of reason. It is premature old age. It is temporary death\" (Homilies, c. 375). There are few things engaged in by men that are as self-defeating and destructive as drunkenness. Quite frankly it is stupid beyond reason. A radio commentator recently\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/drunkard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":52620,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-christian-school-use-an-art-textbook-depicting-nakedness\/","url_meta":{"origin":87021,"position":3},"title":"Should a Christian school use an art textbook depicting nakedness?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A university attended by many Christians currently uses an art textbook containing photography of nudity, photos glorifying homosexuality, sculptures of female genitalia, and multiple sculptures of nude human bodies. The administration and many brethren are defending such content because it is \"Art\" and not intended to be viewed as\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":85191,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/evil-continually-genesis-6\/","url_meta":{"origin":87021,"position":4},"title":"Evil Continually (Genesis 6)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chuck Richardson via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 1, January 2015 Genesis chapter 6 opens with the revelation that man was desperately evil, and God responded with a complete destruction of all living persons and things, save Noah and his household. The reason: Noah found grace in the eyes of\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":8568,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-ham-have-sex-with-his-mother\/","url_meta":{"origin":87021,"position":5},"title":"Did Ham have sex with his mother?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read your answer to the question about whether boys should see one another naked as in locker rooms, etc. In the Bible, when Ham \"saw his father's nakedness,\" that does not mean he literally saw his father without clothing on. It literally meant that he had sex\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\/87021","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=87021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}