Intoxication is a significant theme in the Bible with various scriptures conveying messages about its implications. These messages not only illustrate the physical and spiritual dangers of intoxication but also seek to guide readers on how to incorporate moderation and self-control in their lives. The Bible does not entirely condemn the consumption of alcohol but cautions against the excessive indulgence that leads to drunkenness.
What The Bible Warns About Intoxication
The Bible vividly illustrates the negative side effects of intoxication, primarily the lack of judgment, morality, and a sense of decency. Through parables and narratives, it warns that intoxication colors individuals’ decision-making abilities. Consequently, it often leads to regrettable actions, causing physical, emotional, or spiritual harm to oneself or others. Notably, the Bible emphasizes that intoxication can lead to a spiritual fall, positing that it hampers individuals’ ability to maintain a steady focus on their spiritual lives and relationship with God.
Who Is Affected By Intoxication According To The Bible
The effects of intoxication, as portrayed in the Bible, ripple across all corners of society. These transcend individual boundaries, affecting families, communities, and entire nations. Additionally, the Bible underscores the spiritual implications for those who mismanage alcohol consumption. It warned that drunkenness held the potential to estrange individuals from God. Moreover, the amplification of reckless behavior owing to intoxication is seen as a deterrent to the practice of faith and the good treatment of others.
Why Intoxication Is Discouraged In The Bible
The Bible discourages intoxication because it hinders individuals from leading virtuous lives. It is seen as a barrier to fulfilling religious obligations and maintaining moral standards in society. It proposes that intoxication can stymie spiritual progress and diminish the potential to cultivate a closer relationship with God. Ultimately, readers are urged to cultivate self-discipline, demonstrate good judgment, and exercise restraint while partaking in alcohol to avoid the pitfalls of intoxication.
Where The Bible Teaches Moderation in Consumption
Moderation in consumption is a central teaching scattered throughout the Bible. While it does not wholly condemn alcohol, it encourages moderate consumption and advocates against overindulgence leading to intoxication. Several narratives emphasize the importance of self-restraint and self-control when consuming alcoholic beverages. Hence, the Bible’s teachings encourage balance, considering that overindulgence in anything, including alcohol, is discouraged.
When the Bible Suggests Self-Control
A recurring lesson from the Bible is the emphasis on the value of self-control, especially in the context of alcohol consumption. It teaches that the lack of self-control due to intoxication could easily lead to harmful choices that negatively impact individuals and their relationships with others. The wisdom offered in the scriptures thus presents self-control as an essential virtue to curb intoxication and prevent consequential errant behaviors.
Below is our full list of bible verses on intoxication (King James Version – KJV) provided in ranked order.
Most Popular Bible Verses About Intoxication
Proverbs 20:1
“1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”
Related Themes: Holiness Addiction Health Quitting Indulgence
Ephesians 5:18
“18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”
Related Themes: Holy Spirit Health Indulgence Drugs Self-Control
Galatians 5:21
“21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Related Themes: Morality Morals Self-Control Adultery Substance Abuse
Romans 13:13
“13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.”
Related Themes: Dating Lust Drugs Indulgence
1 Timothy 5:23
“23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.”
Related Themes: Health Moderation Alcoholism Healing
Proverbs 23:21
“21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.”
Related Themes: Gluttony Idleness Indulgence
1 Peter 5:8
“8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”
Related Themes: Lust Business Addiction Satan Self-Control
Isaiah 5:22
“22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:”
Related Themes: Alcoholism
Galatians 5:19-21
“19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Related Themes: Lust Abomination Lust Bitterness Adultery
Proverbs 23:29-35
“29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.”
Related Themes: Complaining Lust
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Related Themes: Holy Spirit Lust Health Holiness Omnipresence
1 Corinthians 5:11
“11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.”
Related Themes: Dating Acceptance Money Tolerance Reputation
Leviticus 10:9
“9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:”
Isaiah 5:11
“11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!”
Related Themes: Addiction Self-Control Alcoholism Drugs
Luke 21:34
“34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.”
Hosea 4:11
“11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.”
Related Themes: Adultery Self-Control Drugs
Ecclesiastes 9:7
“7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.”
Psalm 104:14-15
“14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;15 And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.”
1 Timothy 3:8
“8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;”
Related Themes: Reputation Leadership
Genesis 9:21
“21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.”
Isaiah 28:7
“7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.”
Related Themes: Repentance Self-Control
Habakkuk 2:15
“15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!”
Proverbs 23:20
“20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:”
Related Themes: Gluttony Indulgence Lust Health
1 Peter 4:3
“3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:”
Related Themes: Lust Abomination Indulgence Gluttony Idolatry
Proverbs 23:31
“31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.”
Luke 12:45
“45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;”
Related Themes: Gluttony
Numbers 6:3
“3 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.”
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
“9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
Related Themes: Lust Abomination Lust Abomination
Proverbs 31:6
“6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.”
Romans 14:21
“21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.”
