Whether you have never drank alcohol in your life, or you are worried that you might be an alcoholic, you may wonder what the Bible says about drinking.

In this post, you’ll learn 6 ways to know whether your drinking is a sin.

How can you know whether drinking is OK? How can we know when it is not OK?

Using Christian wisdom, I believe there are two main criteria we can use to determine if drinking is a sin: quantity and context.

Quantity:

The first way to make sense of the Bible’s stance on drinking is to think about quantity.

Too much alcohol is bad for our health.

The author of the book of Proverbs tells us, “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.”

There is certainly danger to our health from drinking. The prudent will see this danger and stop or cut back. The simple may keep drinking until it kills them.

But how much is enough to harm our health?

There doesn’t seem to be a cutoff point for alcohol. Instead, it is more accurate to say there is a continuum of risk.

CLICK HERE for a great website about drinking levels and risks.

Too much alcohol causes us to make risky decisions.

Alcohol interferes with our judgment. It appears that people who are drunk don’t lose the ability to accurately state the risk of certain behaviors. However, alcohol makes people disregard the risk. Thus, drinking can lead to risky, immoral, or unwise behavior.

Too much alcohol can cause tolerance and dependence.

When we consume too much alcohol our body adapts to the presence of alcohol. This can mean that we develop a tolerance. Tolerance means that we need more alcohol to achieve the same effect. We can also develop dependence. Dependence means that our body needs alcohol to stay within normal operating limits. If we remove alcohol too quickly our body objects. Anxiety, racing heart, shakes, and even seizures can take place when a body dependent on alcohol goes cold turkey.

Context

Within the category of context, there are 5 ways to know when drinking is a sin.

1. First, if you are not of age to drink, you shouldn’t. The Bible urges us to follow the laws of our nation and not to make a practice out of breaking laws.

2. Second, If you have been addicted to alcohol or another substance, it is super unlikely that you are ever going to be able to drink in moderation. So, sobriety is the best policy.

3. Third, your reason for drinking matters. A generally well-adjusted person who has an extra drink or two at a wedding probably isn’t sinning. But, if you are drinking to escape emotional discomfort you could be at risk of letting alcohol lead you astray.

4. Fourth, where’s your heart? If God is your rock and you can take it or leave it when it comes to alcohol—things are probably as they should be. But, if your heart desires pleasure and reveling, God is no longer on the throne of your heart. Alcohol is.

5. Finally, if your drinking bothers the conscience of another—just leave it. Paul makes this principle clear. He knows better than most that he has freedom in Christ. Yet he says,

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. [1 Corinthians 9:19]

It’s this verse that I think makes the most compelling argument against drinking too much. The principle that Paul puts forth is this: “Love is most important. I won’t do anything that is unloving to other people.”

We aren’t loving when we

1. break rules meant to keep us safe

2. drink despite knowing we are or have been addicted to alcohol or another substance

3. drink to escape emotional discomfort instead of working through it

4. lose control and don’t put the gospel first

5. our drinking bothers another’s conscience

6. [Bonus] Sometimes the sheer quantity of alcohol lets us know that our drinking is sinful because it is unhealthy, leads to poor decisions, and the body develops tolerance and dependence.

I hope these guidelines made the decision (not) to drink a little clearer.

If you are interested in attending an online meeting where you can discuss your drinking, sign up here www.restinjesus.org

Below is a short video on this topic.