Wine and Strong Drink

4/2 Reading Portions: Leviticus 5; Psalm 3-4; Proverbs 20; Colossians 3

Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)

4/2 Reading Portions: Leviticus 5; Psalm 3-4; Proverbs 20; Colossians 3

Proverbs 20:1

Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler,
and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

BRAWLER

Since Adam’s disobedience in the garden, our fallen nature tends to cast the blame upon others— “The woman whom You gave to be with me,” said man defiantly to God, “she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” First, Adam blamed God for giving him the woman, and then he blamed the woman. Even though we are saved by God’s grace, the corruption remaining in our mortal flesh contains that same propensity to cast blame. Wine and strong drink is a case in point. We will accuse the fermented stuff as a sinful evil, when in fact it is fallen man who is the sinner. We do the same with other things in the world to lighten judgment’s blow upon our sin and sinfulness. Ancient monasticism blamed fellowship, environment, and even physical intimacy for the corruptions of our minds and the lusts of our flesh and then separated themselves in an unhealthy and unbiblical way, which actually opposed the gospel. Others have shaken an accusatory finger at food as evil because of gluttony and our own weak wills. Money has been blamed as evil by many, misquoting the Scripture which says that…

…the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. 1 Timothy 6:10

It’s in us as sinners, not in the thing which we erroneously refer to as evil or sinful. Where then is the wisdom in today’s proverbial statement? The sage who penned the proverb applies an anthropomorphic description to it; that is, he expresses it with man’s character attributes so we can understand the saying and glean wisdom from it. Though wine and strong drink are just things, and not evil or wicked in and of themselves, when we ingest massive quantities or overindulge ourselves with it, its fermented properties can affect our physical and mental capacities. It can cause our flesh to mock the Spirit within (Gal 5:17) and it can create turmoil in us like a brawler (Gal 5:20-21). There are many more things we can say concerning this issue, but the bottom line is, as I’ve said often in teaching and preaching, alcohol isn’t the sin; we are the sinners, and overindulgence, or for some, even imbibing, will just make us sin faster.

Beware of wine and strong drink’s brew,
It affects our flesh to blame;
We’ll lust against the Spirit too
And soil our Savior’s name.