Expert: Dr. Ronald E. Shultz - 3/20/2006

Question
Was the wine that Jesus made from water fermented? and how exactaly do you come to your conclusion?

Answer
I was asked about wine by someone else so here is what I replied to them.

Good men have debated this question for many years. Our forefathers drank ale and other stronger drinks until the Temperance movement started. Oddly, while they used the term temperance, which means self-control, they
wanted total abstinence. I read in a Baptist History book where a pastor inherited a brewery and he did not sell it.

Most of us abuse food because of our cultural traditions and the like but we don't like to call that sin. Sex is fine within marriage but the abuse or perversion of it is sin.  In Germany, Baptists have no problem with it
as long as you don't get drunk.  Get drunk and you are kicked out of church.  Most Europeans drink wine at their meal and C. S. Lewis drank whiskey.  The key factor is abuse.  Many Christians believe that as long as you do not abuse it then it is fine.  Doctors have said that two
glasses of wine a day actually raises your HDLs and is good for you heart whereas many other people would denounce it as killing brains cells.

Here is an interesting quote,

Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object, which is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we then prohibit and abolish women? - Martin Luther

I believe that we often take the wrong position by saying that every time wine is mentioned in the Bible it means grape juice.  The reason you don't put new wine in old bottles is because the gases formed by fermentation
will burst the bottle.  Ever see anyone drunk on grape juice?  Yet the Apostles were accused of being drunk on new wine in Acts 1.  So, to say that it always means grape juice is not true to the text or even logical. Even apple cider left in a refrigerator too long "turns" or ferments and they did not have refrigeration. Therefore it would ferment even quicker. Depeding on how you handled grape juice it either becomes sweet wine or vinegar. Vinegar is actually sour wine.  That is what vinegar means.  So many Baptists put sour wine on their salad but wouldn't touch a drop of sweet wine.  Fermentation has taken place in both.

Fermentation is an act of decay or the process of death working in the grape juice that transforms it into something else that only gets better with age and is nearly indestructible.  They have founds casks of wine from the time of Christ that they believe are still drinkable.  Two hundred year old wine is very expensive but they say it is very very good.  Wouldn't this be a good picture of the Blood of Christ?  In death, His human blood transformed into a sacrifice that is sufficent for all eternity? Thus using wine as a symbol of His blood shows the death, burial and resurrection and eternal efficacy of His blood.  You can't really get that symbol from fresh grape juice.  

I don't think that your taste buds would be "numbed" sufficently by drinking enough grape juice so that you wouldn't be able to tell good from bad.  Wine testers only take a sip and then rinse their mouths with water to prevent the numbing of the taste buds so that they cantell the differences between wine.  At the wedding what did the lad say?  The best wassaved for last and they were able to tell the difference even though they had consumed some quantity of wine.  

Now, they often mixed or watered down the wine by making a bottle half wine and half water, which would cut down the alcohol content. Yet, scholars believe that the water was bad where Timothy was and that he most likely had some wine full strength since mixing it with bad water might or
might not have solved the stomach problem.  The alcohol might have killed the bacteria in the water or the water would have diluted the benefit of the wine.

Our alcohol content is larger because we make it in a way that boosts the effect of fermentation.  Normally, we are looking at 11% by volume.  Their wine might have only been 3 or 4 % and then when you mix it you have between 1.5% and 2%.  That means you would have to drink about six classes to ge the same "buzz" that you would get from one of our glasses.  That issue may never be resolved until Christ returns.

Even for a pastor and deacon, the requirements are not to be given to wine, which indicates a strong desire to drink it like a wino and the deacons are not to be given to much wine.  If the standard was total abstinence you would think the language would have been much clearer as Paul was not one to mince words.

Still, the benefits of abstinence are

1.  You will never get drunk.
2.  No one will question your Christianity.
3.  No one will ever become an alcoholic because of your liberty.
4.  You will not cause discord among the brethren.

Even if you feel at liberty to drink a little wine for your stomach or heart's sake then you must keep it to yourself according to Romans 14 and 15 so that others do not stumble.

Rom 14:22-23
22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
(KJV)

So I am not advocating social drinking but I think we must be honest in dealing with the text and admit that in some places we aren't talkng about grape juice but then we aren't talking about the same kind of fermented wine we have today.

I pray that God will give you wisdom and peace as you seek His will through His Word and His Spirit.