Adventist Teaching: Grape Juice
Biblical Teaching: Wine
The Adventist Church teaches total abstinence of alcohol as a part of their Message of Health Reform which was supposedly given to Ellen G. White in a vision.
Because of this, they have to claim that the positive mentions of alcohol in the Bible, particularly wine, are speaking of non-fermented grape juice. This is what Ellen White taught regarding the Wedding at Cana miracle.
The problem is, this doesn’t stand up to the greek grammar or flow of the story. The master of the banquet was shocked that the wine Jesus made was better than the wine that was initially given to the guests (John 2:9-10). This is because the better tasting wine would be served first and, once the guests had thrown back a few drinks, the cheaper wine didn’t taste as poor. But Jesus did the opposite. This makes no sense if the passage was talking about grape juice.
The Greek word translated “wine” in this passage is oinos, which was the common Greek word for normal, fermented wine. Oinos is also what is used in Ephesians 5:18 where Paul says to not be drunk on it.
Furthermore, Psalm 104:14-15 says God has given wine to gladden the heart of man.
The Bible does not condemn or forbid the consumption of alcohol outright, but the act of being drunk and drunkenness.
