Is Drinking Alcohol a Sin?
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Trying to answer a question like is drinking alcohol a sin comes with a few layers of complexity and caution. If you say no, it is not a sin, then you may be complicit in giving someone a license to drink. If you say yes, drinking alcohol is a sin, then you may place your own personal conviction on someone else. This can create another set of issues. This does not just happen with alcohol; it happens with other things as well, like dancing, listening to secular music, and other gray areas where there are varying opinions.
So, if you are expecting me to tell you that drinking alcohol is a sin, I won’t do that. If you are expecting me to tell you that you have the freedom to drink as you please. I won’t do that either. What I will do is give you some scriptural guidelines so that you can think biblically about this question. What you will soon discover is the answer to this question is not always cut and dried, and yet it is.
3 Reasons Christians Think Drinking Alcohol Is a Sin
Let’s first consider why many Christians believe drinking alcohol is a sin.
1. The Bible Talks about Drunkenness
Woe to those who rise early in the morning
to run after their drinks,
who stay up late at night
till they are inflamed with wine. - Isaiah 5:11
For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. - 1 Peter 4:3
When you read verses like these, the natural conclusion is to think that since drunkenness is a sin, then drinking alcohol is a sin, too. After all, it is the consumption of alcohol that causes drunkenness. If you don’t drink, you can’t get drunk. While it is logical to think that way, if we are going to be honest, these verses are not a declaration to you saying you can’t drink alcohol, even though they may cause you to rethink why you may want to.
If drinking alcohol was a sin, then Jesus would have been encouraging people to sin and he himself would have committed sin. Remember, he turned the water into wine at the wedding and he gave his disciples wine at the Last Supper. Here is where the slope gets slippery because saying this does not give someone free rein to drink alcohol whenever they want. However, it requires us to be clear about what the Bible says. Drunkenness is a sin. Having a drink of alcohol is not, and yet it could be. I know that sounds a little confusing, but I will clarify a little later.
2. You Can See the Effects of Someone Drinking Too Much Alcohol
Another reason people associate drinking alcohol with sin is because they see the effects of people who consume too much alcohol. If you have ever been around a drunk person, you know their behavior may change. Some get aggressive, others get more emboldened, some get talkative and share their genuine pain, and in the worst cases, some get behind the wheel of a car, which can lead to all kinds of dire consequences. If the behavior of a drunk person has influenced your life, then you are most likely going to conclude that drinking alcohol is a sin.
3. This Is What You Have Been Told Your Whole Life
It’s possible you grew up in a church tradition where they decried drinking alcohol. Most of the time, this was done with good intentions because alcohol can lead to drunkenness. As we established earlier, the easiest way to avoid that is simply not to drink it. I am not saying those who taught this were wrong. I am saying their intentions were good, but most times telling you not to drink alcohol was their personal conviction but not exactly what the Bible says.
When Is Drinking Alcohol a Sin?
I mentioned before that taking a drink of alcohol is not a sin, and yet it could be. Let’s clear up this statement. Regardless of how you feel about drinking alcohol, there will be people who have differing opinions. Despite that, there are moments when your opinion about this doesn’t matter and drinking alcohol will always be a sin. Consider this verse:
Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? - 1 Corinthians 8:9-10
Here is what you should think about the most when you consider the question of drinking alcohol. How does your decision to drink alcohol affect someone else? This is the one aspect of this conversation you cannot escape. While you may have the freedom to drink a beer, have a glass of wine, or have that non virgin pina colada, there are limits to this. The limit is not just about drunkenness; the limits are about offensiveness. If your actions are going to offend someone else, or worse, lead them to drinking themselves when they otherwise would not have, that, my friends, is sin.
Consider this scenario for a moment. How would you react if you saw your pastor, an elder, a leader, or any respected person in your church sitting at a bar having a drink? Is this action of drinking alcohol alone sinful? No. However, if you see this and you say well, if they can do it, then I can too, then their actions have become sinful. This is true if you influence another believer in this manner, or even if you influence an unbeliever in this manner, too.
As a follower of Christ, the choices you make reflect Jesus and influence others. While you have the freedom to drink alcohol, it is not an unlimited freedom where you don’t care what other people think about it. Because this is an area of weakness for some and because some Christians view drinking alcohol as a sin, then you cannot ignore these things when you are making your decision. In other words, think of someone else before yourself (where have you heard that before?). Ultimately, this decision is not just about you; it is also about those around you. Here is what Paul reminds us of.
Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. - 1 Corinthians 8:13
It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. - Romans 14:21
One More Scenario Where Drinking Alcohol Is a Sin
There is one more scenario where drinking alcohol is always a sin: if it violates your own conscience. There are things the Holy Spirit will steer you away from that may be perfectly okay for other Christians to do. This applies to things like drinking alcohol, but also to dancing or listening to secular music as we mentioned earlier. However, in your situation, the Holy Spirit may tell you not to do it. If he convicts you about drinking alcohol and you ignore that conviction, then for you drinking alcohol is a sin.
So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.
Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. - Romans 14:22-23
Is Drinking Alcohol a Sin: My Final Verdict
Honestly, I can’t tell you whether you should drink. For me, I choose not to drink. However, I enjoy cooking, and when I make Bolognese, I use red wine. When I make beer braised short ribs, I use beer, and when I make penne a la vodka, you guessed it, I use vodka. So, if you see me in the liquor store buying these things, it’s not because I am going home and tossing one back. My point is before we are quick to pass judgment, let’s be quicker to understand.
The question is drinking alcohol a sin will always have different conclusions because the Bible does not explicitly say do not drink. However, before you have that drink, ask yourself a few questions.
- Why do I want this drink?
- Is there anyone I will offend if I do this?
- Am I violating a personal conviction of the Holy Spirit?
If you understand your motives, if you desire to move in step with the Holy Spirit and you care about how you could influence others, that is a good place to guide you in answering this question. I still don’t know what your answer will be, but I can trust that the Holy Spirit will lead you to make the right decision.
Photo credit: Unsplash/Vinicius "amnx" Amano
