I AM A “TEETOTALER”

Hugo McCord

A question has come about drinking. I am a total abstainer from anything alcoholic, but not because the Lord has taught it. Neither the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 14:26) nor the New Testament (1 Timothy 5:23) teaches total abstinence.

John the Baptist was a total abstainer, but Jesus was not: John “came neither eating nor drinking,” while Jesus “came eating and drinking” (Matthew 11:18-19).

Though the biblical words for wine (yayin and oinos) occasionally refer to fresh grape juice (as in Isaiah 16:10; Joel 2:24; Matthew 9:17; Luke 5:37-38), they usually refer to fermented grape juice, to alcoholic wine (as in Genesis 9:21; 19:32; Ephesians 5:18; Revelation 17:2).

The context in which the word appears tells the reader which meaning is intended. For example, if Jesus turned water into grape juice at the wedding in Cana, it is difficult to understand why the steward thought that Jesus’ grape juice was better than the grape juice that the bridegroom had provided (John 2:10).

Since Jesus himself was not a total abstainer (Matthew 11:19), a Christian’s moderate use of wine would fall within what Paul called “lawful”: “All things are lawful for me but not all things are helpful” (1 Corinthians 6:12). If one decides that a moderate use of wine is helpful, he must then decide if he has the will power to keep his drinking under control, which decision Paul considered important: “I will not be brought under the power of any” lawful action (1 Corinthians 6:12).

As regards self-control, my father (a Georgia-Robertson Christian College student, and later a church pillar) thought he could control his drinking, but wound up an alcoholic and withdrawn from the church. “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1).

So you know why I am a total abstainer. If my well-intentioned father did not have enough self-control, I had better not be too confident: “Let the one who thinks he stands be on guard, so that he does not fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

Moreover, even if one should decide he has self-control, and can safely drink moderately, he must yet decide how his conduct will affect other people. If he loves people (the second greatest commandment, Matthew 22:39), he will not seek “what is his own” pleasure, “but what is another’s” (1 Corinthians 10:24). If he loves people, he will purposefully avoid indulging himself in anything that might be “a stumbling block or an obstacle” to a “weak brother for whom Christ died” (Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 8:11). For people lovers, it “is honorable not to eat flesh, or to drink wine, or to do anything that can cause your brother to stumble” (Romans 14:21).

Paul was not discussing moderation in drinking in Philippians 4:5: “Let your moderation be known unto all men” (KJV). But he was discussing moderation in drinking in 1 Timothy 5:23: “Do not drink water any longer, but use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.” In Timothy’s case, Paul thought that he was leaning back too far in trying to be a total abstainer.

The opposite of moderate drinking is often prohibited in Scripture. A man “given to wine” (1 Timothy 3:3) cannot be considered for the eldership. A man “given to much wine” (1 Timothy 3:8} cannot be considered for the diaconate. Ladies “given to much wine” cannot be “teachers of good things” (Titus 2:3).

It has been my privilege to know many church leaders in many countries, but I have never seen a moderate drinking Christian on his knees at a Wednesday night prayer service. Have you? As the world is today, is such a Christian the light of the world? Paul thought that all Christians should be

faultless and sincere, God’s blameless children, in the midst of a crooked and distorted generation, among whom you are shining as lights in the world (Philippians 2:15).

Also, even a semi-invalid needing “a little wine” because of “frequent illnesses” had better be on guard: “keep yourself pure” (1 Timothy 5:22). Actually, Paul was writing out a medical prescription for Timothy. Today, in drinking America (second only to France), a wise Christian in bad health will ask his doctor to prescribe something non-alcoholic.

But be sure of your doctor! My father’s doctor, even in the days of prohibition, when my father complained of a bad cold, would write out a prescription for a pint of bottled in bond whiskey!

The “fruit of the vine” (Matthew 26:29) used at Corinth in the Lord’s supper caused some to be drunk (1 Corinthians 11:20-21), which means wine. But since the phrase “the fruit of the vine” can also mean fresh grape juice, wise and cautious elders today use grape juice. (In one place where wine was used we were told that the elders keep the storeroom locked!)

Oh! How much better the world would be today if everybody was a total abstainer! Though we believe Noah has been forgiven of his drunkenness (Genesis 9:20-21), he has not forgotten it, and he never will! If the daughters of Lot had learned at home that their father would not take a drink, they would never have thought of their incestuous sin (Genesis 19:30-38).

BAR

The name of each saloon’s a bar,

The fittest of its names by far.

A bar to heaven, a door to hell.

Whoever named it, named it well.

A bar to manliness and wealth,

A door to want and broken health;

A bar to honor, pride, and fame,

A door to sin and grief and shame;

A bar to hope, a bar to prayer,

A door to darkness and despair.

A bar to honored, useful life,

A door to brawling, senseless strife;

A bar to all that’s true and brave,

A door to every drunkard’s grave;

A bar to joys that home imparts,

A door to tears and aching hearts;

A bar to heaven, a door to hell,

Whoever named it named it well.

(Anonymous, CHRISTIAN COURIER, December, 1982.)