If a Believer Takes Wine Moderately, Does Not Get Drunk and Does Not Weaken His Brothers Conscience nor Hurt His Testimony, Has He Sinned?
1) Direct answer
No—if he truly remains sober, is not under its power, does not wound a weaker conscience, and his own heart is clear before God, he has not sinned. But the higher, cleaner way is abstinence.
2) Scriptural explanation
- The Bible shows real wine existed and could be used without sin in proper measure: Jesus made wine at Cana (John 2:10), and Timothy was told, “use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake” (1 Timothy 5:23).
- Drunkenness and being influenced by drink are condemned: “Be not drunk with wine” (Ephesians 5:18); drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:10; Galatians 5:21).
- Liberty is judged by love and conscience: “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth” (Romans 14:21). “Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth… whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:22–23).
- Wisdom warns of its snare: “Wine is a mocker” (Proverbs 20:1); “Look not thou upon the wine… at the last it biteth like a serpent” (Proverbs 23:31–32).
3) Simple clarifying logic
- The sin is not in the mere existence of wine, but in loss of sobriety, bondage, and harmful influence.
- If there is no drunkenness, no offense, and no self-condemnation, there is no sin in that act. Yet the safest testimony and the strongest walk is to abstain, to avoid the snare, and to be filled with the Spirit rather than influenced by wine (Ephesians 5:18).
4) Reinforcing statement
You see, the Bible does not command drunkenness; it commands sobriety. But love chooses the higher road. Abstinence keeps the vessel clean and the witness bright.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Law or Grace
54-1006 §42
...eir head, insane, they give them a shot of opium, and that settles it. They quieten. That's in the natural. Jesus, in the spiritual, is the Lily of the valley. And when you get to such a place you can't stand yourself no more, and life means nothing to you, God has got a shot of opium for you from the Lily of the Valley that eases all your troubles, all of them is gone away. You don't have to get drunk on whiskey to ease your trouble---they come right back again---but come and get a drink of opium from the Lily of...
Led by the Spirit
59-0407 §46
Now, here's what you do then. Say, "Lord Jesus, the great High Priest of the covenant, I most humbly come to Thee in confession of my sin." Now, sin is unbelief. Smoking's not a sin. Drinking's not a sin. Committing adultery is not sin. That's the attributes of unbelief. If you believed, you wouldn't do those things, see. There's only one sin, and that's unbelief: "He that believeth not is condemned already," see. You smoke, lie, steal, drink, commit adultery, because you're not a believer. A believer doesn't do th...
Presuming
62-0408 §25
See, sin is horrible. What is sin? Smoking? Nope. Drinking? Nope. Lying? Nope. Committing adultery? No. That's not sin. No sin about that at all, see. No. Telling a lie is not sin. Cursing, using God's name, that's not sin. Uh-uh. Unbelief is sin. Yeah. Why do you do that? It's because you don't believe. That's it. Get back to the cause, see. You lie, steal, commit adultery because you don't believe. But he that believeth not is condemned already. Before he even starts he's condemned, because he don't believe. Now...
Ordination
62-1104E §29
...ow forth the Lord's death till he come." I hold in my hand the fruit of the vine that represents the blood of the Lord Jesus. It's been said by many that they wouldn't take wine, regular wine, because that it was an alcoholic, that it was a beverage, and they should not take the wine. They take grape juice. The reason we take wine is because the Bible said "wine." All translations gives it "wine." Another reason: the older wine gets, the better and stronger it becomes. Grape juice sours within a few hours. The bloo...
Have faith in God
54-0900 §28
What is sin? Sin is unbelief. Drinking, smoking, gambling, committing adultery: that isn't sin. That's the attributes of sin. You do that because you're not a believer. And peace, and joy, and love, and goodness: That isn't salvation. You do that because you are a believer, see, see. That's... The whole thing hangs on whether you are a believer or not a believer. If you're not a believer, you're a doubter. You say it isn't right and you do things that you oughtn't to do; that's because you're an unbeliever. And so...