Is drinking alcohol a sin?
Short answer
The Bible condemns drunkenness directly and repeatedly, but it does not forbid drinking. Jesus turned water into wine at Cana, and Paul recommended a little wine to Timothy for his stomach. Total abstinence is a possible reading, held by many churches, resting on prudence and on not making another person stumble.
- Written by
- Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt
- Reviewed by
- Raphael Navarro Schmitt
- Published on
- Reading time
- 5 min read
It helps to separate two claims that usually arrive glued together. The first is that the Bible condemns drunkenness: that is in the text, unambiguously, in Proverbs, in the prophets and in Paul’s letters, and it comes described with concrete consequences — quarrels, wounds, loss of judgment, ruin. The second is that the Bible forbids drinking: that is written nowhere, and whoever holds it does so by inference from other principles, which is a legitimate operation but a different one from quoting.
What the text actually does is describe wine in two opposite ways, without trying to reconcile them. The Psalms list it among the things God provides that cheer the human heart; Proverbs describes it as a deceiver and narrates in detail the damage done to whoever lingers over it. Jesus is criticised by his opponents precisely for eating and drinking, in contrast with the asceticism of John the Baptist, and the first sign recorded in John happens at a party where the wine had run out.
Abstinence also appears in the Bible, and that is where the prohibitionist reading finds real support. The Nazirite vow includes abstaining from wine and from everything that comes from the vine; priests on duty and certain leaders receive instructions about sobriety. Note the shape: these are situations of special dedication or of responsibility, not a general rule extended to the whole people. That is what the total-abstinence reading has to carry across — and carrying across is interpreting, not reading.
There is a second argument for abstinence, and it is the stronger of the two: Paul writes that it is better not to drink wine if doing so makes a brother stumble. The criterion there is not the drink itself, it is the effect on another person. Someone who lives with a person in recovery, or who has a family history of dependency, is applying an explicit biblical principle in deciding not to drink — not a cultural preference.
A necessary note, because some of the people typing this question are not arguing doctrine. Alcohol dependency is a health condition, with its own treatment, and no honest reading of the Bible turns it into a question of willpower or insufficient faith. Support groups and professional care exist, they work, and they compete with nobody’s faith.
What the passages say
18And do not choose to be inebriated by wine, for this is self-indulgence. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,
The clearest New Testament instruction on the subject, and it is precise in its target: it forbids inebriation, not drink. The structure of the sentence sets being ruled by alcohol against being filled with the Spirit — the problem named is the ruling, not the liquid.
1It is a luxurious thing, wine, and inebriation is tumultuous. Anyone who is delighted by this will not be wise.
The shortest and most quoted warning. In the edition published here it calls wine a luxurious thing and inebriation tumultuous, closing with the judgement that whoever is delighted by it will not be wise. Read carefully, it condemns being taken in by drink rather than tasting it — while still being the text that best supports caution.
29Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?
30Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?
31Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,
32but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes.
A clinical portrait of excess, built as a riddle: a list of symptoms followed by the identification of who has them. It is the passage the abstinence reading usually invokes, and it describes dependency with a precision uncomfortable for any era.
2“Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: A man or a woman, when they have made a vow so that they may be sanctified, and when they are willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord,
3shall abstain from wine and from anything which is able to inebriate. They shall not drink vinegar made from wine or from any other drink, nor anything pressed from the grape. They shall not eat grapes, neither fresh nor dried.
4During all the days that they are consecrated to the Lord by vow, they shall not eat whatever may be from the vineyard, from raisins, even to grape seeds.
The Nazirite vow, which includes total abstinence from wine and from anything derived from the grape. It records abstinence as a legitimate biblical practice — and, at the same time, as a voluntary and temporary vow rather than a general rule given to the whole people.
15and wine, in order to cheer the heart of man. Then he may gladden his face with oil, and bread will confirm the heart of man.
It appears in a list of what God provides for creation, next to bread and oil, and it credits wine with cheering the heart. It is the hardest text to accommodate for anyone reading the Bible as forbidding consumption. (This is the psalm numbered 104 in most Bibles.)
9Then, when the chief steward had tasted the water made into wine, since he did not know where it was from, for only the servants who had drawn the water knew, the chief steward called the groom,
10and he said to him: “Every man offers the good wine first, and then, when they have become inebriated, he offers what is worse. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
The close of the Cana episode, with the chief steward praising the quality of what was served. The detail relevant to this question is the volume and the timing: the party was already well along, and the text records no reservation from Jesus.
23Do not continue to drink only water, but make use of a little wine, for the sake of your stomach and your frequent infirmities.
A personal direction from Paul to a colleague, recommending a little wine for reasons of health. Short and specific, but hard to square with the idea that any consumption would be sin — the recommendation comes from the man who wrote against drunkenness.
21It is good to refrain from eating meat and from drinking wine, and from anything by which your brother is offended, or led astray, or weakened.
It moves the question from what is permitted to the effect on the other person. Paul treats abstinence as a choice of love in a concrete situation, not as a universal rule — which makes it a decision that can change depending on who is at the table.