Jesus and Social Drinking

Social drinkers often point out that Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana (Jn. 2:1-11). Their argument is that He made alcoholic wine, and He would not have done so if social drinking was prohibited by God.

Leaving aside other considerations for the moment, let’s test the proposition that Jesus miraculously conjured up a batch of alcoholic wine in Cana. See if you can follow my logic:

1. There are numerous prohibitions against drunkenness in scripture. “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise” (Prov. 20:1; cf. 23:29-35). “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness…” (Lk. 21:34). “Now the works of the flesh are evident: …drunkenness…and things like these” (Gal. 5:19-21). “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).

2. Since sin is “lawlessness” (1 Jn. 3:4), and Jesus never sinned (Heb. 4:15), we can deduce that He never became drunk, nor did He encourage others to become drunk.

3. At the wedding feast in Cana, Jesus produced six stone jars full of wine, each holding twenty or thirty gallons (Jn. 2:6).

4. Cana was a small village in Galilee, four miles from Nazareth. Guests attended the wedding in John 2 by invitation only (v. 2). Also, the hosts had to have been poor, for they ran out of wine before the celebrations concluded (v. 3). We cannot know for certain how many were there, but it could not have been many.

5. Normally Jewish weddings were celebrated for a week, sometimes even two weeks. By the time Jesus turned the water into wine, the guests had been celebrating long enough for the wine supply to be depleted. If the beverages had been alcoholic, they would have been pretty inebriated by now.

6. There is no doubt that by manufacturing around 180 gallons of alcoholic wine, Jesus would have encouraged drunkenness. Since we have already established His innocence concerning all scriptural matters, we know the beverage He produced on this occasion had to have been nonalcoholic.

7. “Wine” is not used exclusively in the Bible to refer to intoxicating beverages. For example, in Isaiah 16:10 the prophet says, “No treader treads out wine in the presses.” It doesn’t take a wine expert to realize that a lengthy fermentation process must occur before alcoholic wine can reach its final stages. When it is tread in the presses, it is simply pure grape juice.

This study does not answer all the questions regarding social drinking, but it does rule out Jesus’ miracle in Cana as a possible affirmative argument. Jesus made grape juice on that occasion, a popular beverage enjoyed at the wedding feasts of His day.