What Does the Bible Say About Drinking Alcohol? Is It a Sin for a Christian to Drink Alcoholic Wine?
Direct answer:
The Bible does not call every drop of alcoholic wine a sin. But it clearly condemns drunkenness, impairment, addiction, and being ruled by drink as sin. The cleanest, safest walk for a Christian is abstinence—to keep a holy testimony, remain sober-minded, and be filled with the Spirit rather than influenced by wine.
Scriptural explanation:
- Real wine in Scripture:
- Jesus turned water into wine, and the ruler said, “when men have well drunk” (John 2:9-10). That is not mere juice.
- In Corinth some were drunken at the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:21). That shows literal wine could intoxicate.
- Sin and strict warnings:
- Drunkenness is a work of the flesh and those who practice it “shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21; see also 1 Corinthians 6:10; Romans 13:13; 1 Peter 4:3).
- “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
- “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging” (Proverbs 20:1). Read the sober warning in Proverbs 23:29-35—its bite, its deceit, its addiction.
- Leaders must be “not given to wine… not given to much wine” (1 Timothy 3:3,8; Titus 1:7). God links spiritual responsibility with strict sobriety.
- Priests were forbidden drink when serving (Leviticus 10:9); kings warned not to drink lest they forget judgment (Proverbs 31:4-5). God ties holy service and clear judgment to abstaining.
- Limited, medicinal allowance:
- “Use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake” (1 Timothy 5:23). That is medicinal, not social drinking.
- Stumbling and testimony:
- “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth” (Romans 14:21). Love chooses the higher road.
Simple clarifying logic:
- If wine itself were inherently sinful, Jesus would not have made it, and Paul would not have allowed a little for health. But the same Bible commands constant sobriety. Alcohol’s very design is to influence; how much before your judgment is dulled, your testimony is clouded, or a weaker brother is emboldened to fall?
- You can be filled with the Holy Spirit, or you can be under the influence of drink—you can’t be full of both. The Scripture points to a higher life: stay sober, stay separate, stay Spirit-filled (Ephesians 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8; 1 Peter 1:13).
- Ask yourself: Is this necessary for godliness? Does it edify? Could it open a door to bondage or cause another to stumble? If not, lay it aside.
Reinforcement:
- So, is it a sin for a Christian to drink alcoholic wine? The Bible shows wine existed and was used, but condemns drunkenness, impairment, and bondage as sin. The strongest Christian position is abstinence—a clean walk of holiness and a clear testimony. If you are bound by alcohol, repent and ask the Lord Jesus to deliver you; remove the access, seek prayer, and be filled with the Spirit. For Communion, Scripture shows literal wine was used, yet never for indulgence—only in reverence. The safest rule for daily life is simple: leave it alone and stay sober before God.
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.
How the Angel came to me
53-1109 §31
Well, the woman with the stomach trouble went home. She said, "Well, I believe that with all my heart." What is sin, friend? Sin... Smoking cigarettes is not sin. Drinking whiskey is not sin. Committing adultery is not sin. That's the attributes of sin. "He that believeth not is condemned already." Unbelief is sin. Is that right? You do those things because you don't believe. Jesus said, "He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me has everlasting life." See? The thing is your faith. And if you beli...
Hebrews, Chapter 7, part 1
57-0915E §36
See that Melchisedec? Hundreds of years before, when He met Abraham after the battle was over, He gave bread and wine. And here Jesus gives the disciples, after His hard battle was over, He gave them bread and wine. Watch! Watch the future coming: And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for sins ... the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until that day whe...
At Kadesh-Barnea
56-0527 §30
What I'm trying to get at is this: The greatest sin I find in the church today is unbelief. That's the only sin there is. There's no other sin but unbelief. How much of that is night out there? How much is dark? You couldn't say, "This much is dark," right from my hands. It's all dark. Now there is only one way to designate and to determine sin; that isn't by whether you drink or whether you smoke or whether you gamble. It's designated this way: because you are an unbeliever you do that. That's true. Because you ga...
Revelation, Chapter 4c Throne of mercy and judgement
61-0108 §16
See how narrow it is? They don't have spiritual understanding, that's all. See. Blind, dead in sin and trespasses! Sin means "unbelief." Anything in unbelief is sin. If a fellow's got a title that long (a DD, double L, PhD, LLD) and says there's no such a thing as divine healing or the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the man's dead in sin. He might be able to explain all kinds of mysteries in the Bible, but his very life (his testimony) proves that he's dead. He's dead in sin and trespasses because he's a sinner. Sin is...
Israel and the Church: Israel at the Red Sea, part 1
53-0326 §66
Sin! The reason you curse, smoke, drink, get angry and fly off of the handle, and things like that, is because you are a sinner. That's not sin; it's because you're a sinner. Jesus said, the Scripture says this: "He that believeth not is condemned already." If you believe, you don't do those things, because the life of Christ is in you. And if you do do them, it's because that you are a sinner and you're not a believer. Though you profess to be, yet you're not. The tree is known by its fruit. Now, that ... let that...