Was Jesus a Bartender?

For many years there has been great debate within the church concerning the practice of  “social drinking”. Very simply, this practice is the occasional consumption of alcoholic beverages in the privacy of one’s home or out in public. In thinking about this subject, every Christian would certainly agree drunkenness is a sin based on what the New Testament has to say (Rom. 13:13; 1 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:18). That being said though, not all Christians agree when it comes to drinking a little here and there. No doubt, there are several reasons some Christians believe social drinking to be “ok” in the eyes of God, but perhaps one of the greatest is because Jesus turned water into wine (John 2:1-10). Unfortunately it is the view of many, both inside the church and out, that the water Jesus turned into wine was alcoholic. With that in mind, let us consider a couple reasons why the wine that Jesus made could not have been alcoholic.

First, the wine that Jesus made could not have been alcoholic because of how much He made. In John 2:6 the Bible says, “Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.” If the wine that Jesus made was alcoholic that would mean He made some 120 to 180 gallons of alcoholic wine. Considering all the Bible has to say about drunkenness and the sin that it is, do you really think Jesus enabled these people to get drunk? Now, you might say, “Well, the Bible does not tell us how many people were there. There could have been hundreds of people in attendance, and when the wine is spread out so much, you cannot get drunk.” Did you know the standard size for a glass of wine is 5 ounces, and even with such a small amount consumed there are side effects of drunkenness? For hypothetical purposes let’s just say everyone at the wedding drank one glass of wine at 5 ounces a piece. That would mean there were over 4,600 guests in attendance. Certainly, we do not know how many people were there, but it likely was not that many. When a Christian appeals to this account to advocate for social drinking they are claiming, without even realizing it, Jesus distributed enough wine to get people, as the old saying goes, drunker than a skunk (v. 10). For some reason, I have a hard time believing the Son of God would do such a thing!

Second, the wine that Jesus made could not have been alcoholic because how the people responded. In John 2:9, 10 the Bible says, “When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, ‘Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!’” There are a couple of details worth our consideration as we think about this passage. The first is that “the guests have well drunk”, and the second is the recognition of the master, “You have keep the good wine until now.” We can all agree, it does not take a genius to know the more you drink the more drunk you get. It is interesting the Bible says these guests have “well drunk”, yet they are still able to recognize how good Jesus’ wine was. If the wine that Jesus made was alcoholic, and these guests had been drinking for an extended period of time, they would not have been able to tell the difference between that which was bad and that which was good (Prov. 23:33).

When some Christians think about John 2, they come away thinking Jesus was a bartender so they can continue to partake of the devil’s favorite beverage. However, when we examine the context and think about all that Scripture has to say regarding alcohol, we know our Lord would never serve that which “bites like a serpent and stings like a viper” (Prov. 23:32).