Title: Alcohol and the Gospel

Text: 1 Timothy 5:23

Title: Alcohol and the Gospel

Date/Location: Sunday September 30, 2012

I. Paul’s Instruction to Timothy

A. Paul commands Timothy to drink a little wine in addition to the water that he normally drinks. He uses two imperative verb forms—do not drink and use to make his exhortation clear. Paul is obviously not telling Timothy to omit all water from his diet and replace it with all wine.

Note that Paul shows real concern for the young minister’s health.

B. Following Paul’s prescription would help Timothy’s stomach and reduce the frequency of his illnesses. Timothy had been sick numerous times. The pattern was going to continue if he remained in the same behavior. Some adjustment had to be made to address the problem that was happening.

The reason for the improvement from wine is supposedly that the alcohol would tend to kill some of the offending organisms in the water, thus purifying it. Wikipedia’s article on the disinfectant properties of alcohol notes this: “A mixture of 70% ethanol or isopropanol diluted in water is effective against a wide spectrum of bacteria, though higher concentrations are often needed to disinfect wet surfaces.”

It is highly doubtful that Paul had in mind some long-term “heart healthy” benefits of the wine, since he is concerned with the short-term, often-recurring problem of Timothy’s stomach!

C. Paul was not averse to making such changes in order to alleviate suffering in this world in which suffering runs rampant. Suffering can occur because of external forces, or our own foolishness in persisting in a course of action. If eating such-and-such or at such-and-such a place makes you sick, you would naturally make some changes, wouldn’t you?

II. Thinking Carefully about Paul’s Instruction on Alcohol

A. Timothy was an alcohol abstainer up to this point. Apparently he desired to be circumspect in this area of alcohol, as per 1 Timothy 3:3 and 8. He stayed away from it entirely so no one could say he was a winebibber.

B. Timothy would have continued to be an abstainer without Paul’s instruction. This is the case even though it meant a continuation of stomach problems and frequent illness. Timothy was serious about staying away from alcohol, and showed it by the price he paid in health.

C. Paul commands a little amount of alcohol, not a large amount or even a moderate amount. Paul uses ‘oligos’ in Greek, meaning a small quantity. No one can mistake this. If wine is used on the basis of this verse, it has to be in a very small quantity.

Paul must have in mind the juice of the grape that has some level of fermentation, even if only a mild level of fermentation. We should note that the level of fermentation for ‘new wine’ was very low, and for other preparations would likely be low as well. Sometimes a concentrate or paste form of grape juice was mixed with water to bring it back to drinkable form.

D. This passage speaks of a medicinal use (Luke 10:34), not a social use of alcohol. So, to properly apply this verse, we have to be in a medicinal context. That rules out most of the uses of this verse in our own day.

E. This is a personal instruction to Timothy, not to the whole church. In other words, you cannot use Timothy’s weak stomach as an excuse or support for your drinking alcohol today. The most someone could think is this: “If I have frequent stomach issues, maybe I should try some wine as an application of what Paul has told Timothy.” But the folly of this is evident, because if a person has frequent stomach problems, they would, in our culture, ask a doctor to give them some insight as to what is happening, and then act in accordance with that information. Pushback against this might come in this form: “Are you saying that Paul’s advice is not relevant today? After all, it is in the Bible!” Questioning the validity of personal application of this verses doesn’t say anything negative about Biblical inerrancy. The text indicates that the alcohol remedy was the best available to Timothy at that time for his particular problem. It does not teach that this prescription is infallible for all stomach issues for all time for all people.

F. We have a wide range of clean beverages available to us today. We have pure water sources and purification chemicals such as chlorine and methods of transport, etc.

G. Paul did support the use of medicinal things to heal ailments that could be healed. He did not subscribe to the view that you could not use doctors, medicines, etc. There is no warrant for shunning good and helpful medicine in the name of faith. Nor did Paul say to Timothy, “You just need more faith and you will be well!” No, he said he needed a medicine!

H. Paul did not view suffering as a virtue that was to be done at any cost. As Kent says, “asceticism at the expense of physical health does not keep one [morally] pure.”

I. The Bible, and Paul particularly, attach great caution to wine. Consider:

Romans 14:21 - better to abstain than cause a brother to stumble

Ephesians 5:18 - drunkenness is forbidden; the influence of the Spirit is commended

1 Timothy 3:8 - much wine is something to stay away from

Titus 2:3 - older women not to be hooked on much wine

Proverbs 20:1 – foolishness of being led astray by wine

Proverbs 23:29-35 – the terrible effects of alcohol

About the Ephesians passage, might I ask believers who partake: do you seek more for the influence of alcohol or of the Holy Spirit? Do you keep extra Spirit on hand or extra spirits? Do you make special arrangements to get alcohol at the store and not so much special effort to be influenced by the Holy Spirit?

J. Please note that much more can be studied and said about the issue of alcohol and the Christian. We have made a good start in these notes, but there is more work we could do in this area.

III. Other Harmful Things Similar to Alcohol

A. Food and gluttony – Proverbs 25:16 about honey. A glutton is an excessively greedy eater. This sin is often associated in the Bible with drunkenness (Deut. 21:20; Prov. 23:20-21; Matt. 11:19; Luke 7:34). Lack of self-control in the area of food goes along with lack of self-control in the area of drinking.

B. Laziness – inactivity when it is feasible to be active is condemned in the Bible, Titus 1:12, 2 Thess. 3:6, 10.

C. Smoking – Of course there is no straight-out prohibition of smoking a cigarette or cigar. In this sense it is like the alcohol issue. We have to think deeper as to the physical and spiritual dependency that is formed on “Uncle Nic” as opposed to our Savior; as well as the known physical harm that comes from such activity.

D. Drugs – Whatever you think about prohibition for these substances, hard drugs are illegal in our country. Disobeying the governing authorities is a clear-cut sin. The abuse of prescription medications is slightly more difficult because the substance itself is legal. The mis-use may or may not be illegal, depending on how the substance is obtained. The dependency or addiction to a substance can be just as life damaging, however, as smoking or alcoholism.

E. Gambling – Can you really say, as the wheel goes around, “I’m trusting in the Lord for this one!”? Whatever is not from faith is sin.

Hopefully if you are into one or more of these, you recognize you have some problems. As a pastor, what can I offer as remedy to these things?

IV. The Gospel

A. The gospel of Jesus Christ can help you with these problems. You know you want to get control of them lest they get (or already have) control of you! But the problem is that before we come to Christ, we are under the control of sin and we cannot simply brush it off. It has a stranglehold on us. Sin is a dreadful master. Eventually it will kill us. It manifests itself in a myriad of ways. You might stop to think right now what kinds of sin have their claws in you right now…maybe it is a few different things.

B. Jesus said, “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). Sin leads the unbeliever around like it has a rope attached to a nose ring in the person—and there is not much he can do about it. It tries to do the same thing to a believer in Jesus, although he has a choice in the matter, with God’s help.

C. Jesus also said, “If you do not believe that I am He [the Messiah, the Son of God, the substitutionary lamb] you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).

D. Take the Lord as your master. Turn away from sin (genuinely desire a new direction) and believe in Jesus Christ to be clean from the guilt of sin. Note: I am not saying that you need to quit your particular addiction first, and then come to Jesus to get saved. I am saying that you come to Jesus first, then you will have a real hope to overcome the particular sins you are dealing with.

E. But even after we come to Christ we can have very difficult and stubborn sins to get rid of. The gospel is the foundation for you to deal with them, because in it you not only receive forgiveness of sin, but also you are freed from the mastery of sin and placed under the mastery of Jesus. Carefully read Romans 6:15-23. Note each verse.

Conclusion

It is decision time. What will you do with Jesus? What are you going to do about your sins?

MAP

3