Did Jesus drink wine while He was on Earth, or was the “fruit of the vine” just fresh grape juice?
Did Jesus drink wine? Yes, He did. It is recorded in the Bible. We all understand that Jesus was God, the Son, and He was perfect God and perfect man. He was sinless while he lived as a man on Earth, so whatever Jesus drank was not sinful. Jesus said He came eating and drinking unlike John the Baptist (Luke 7:34), so we can assume He drank whatever was served. The question then becomes, was the “wine” or “fruit of the vine” spoken of in the Bible alcoholic or not?
If we are familiar at all with Jewish customs and traditions of the first century, we would assume that both grape juice and fermented wine were consumed. At harvest time, fresh grape juice would have almost surely been preferred, but fresh juice would not have stayed good very long. Without fermentation, they would not have been able to drink fruit of the vine except for about one month each year.
Did Jesus drink wine at weddings?
Did Jesus drink wine at the wedding in Cana? At weddings, such as in Cana where Jesus performed His first miracle of turning water into wine, surely fermentation would have been present. Weddings were huge parties, lasting for several days. However, the alcohol level would probably not have been over 10% for the “best” wine. This is significantly lower than the alcohol level of our wine today. The question that comes to mind here is why, if drunkenness is a sin, would Jesus encourage more wine drinking when the people had already been drinking?
Did Jesus drink wine with His meals?
Did Jesus drink wine that was alcoholic?
Did Jesus drink wine at the Last Supper? At the Passover meal (Last Supper), it is likely that they would have drunk fresh grape juice if they had it. Along with the unleavened bread (without yeast), they would have also wanted unleavened drink (without yeast). The only question in our minds would then be where would they find fresh juice with no refrigeration when the harvest had been over for 6 to 7 months? Wine could be made with as little as 0-3% alcohol content, so perhaps this is the wine that was used.
If we think that Jesus did at times drink wine with as least some alcohol content, then we must realize that God is not the author of confusion. Did Jesus drink wine? If He did, and He never drank to the point of sinning, then it must not be sinful for us to partake as well. Does this mean that we must drink wine to be a follower of Jesus? Jesus said all food and drink is good, but does that mean we have to eat and drink it all? He set us free from following the Law, and told us to live for Him!
There are many references in Scripture that warn against drinking too much wine, so we can conclude that excess is certainly a sin and should be avoided (Proverbs 20:1, Isaiah 5:11). Many people think it is better to be safe and stay away from alcohol altogether.
Did Jesus drink wine? Yes, He did. Does that mean we have to drink it, too? No, it doesn’t! Philippians 4:5 says, ” Let your moderation be known unto all men.” If we drink wine, it should definitely be in strict moderation so that we do not fall into sin.
