Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 6/8/2005

Question
My pastor recently said, "When Jesus turned water into wine, the wine really was cider. It could have been sweet cider or hard cider."
I cannot find the word cider in my concordance nor can I find anything to support his comment.
Was the wine really cider? Please support your answer.
Thank you.


Answer
Hi Kay,

THanks for this question.  I think that it would be better directed at your pastor.  I have never heard such a thing.  I believe that Jesus made wine...but not strong dring, or fermented wine.  The greek word for wine refers to the fruit of the grape fermented or not.  New wine is fresh grape juice before it ferments.  I believe that this is what Jesus made....because God's word warns us about strong drink.

Proverbs 23:29-35
29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? (8675) who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.  33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. 34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.  35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.  

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Habakkuk 2:15
15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

I hope that I have helped you.

In Christ,
Pastor Don