WINE, AND THE LORD'S SUPPER by Joseph Harvey Waggoner

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 8, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 26.

WINE, AND THE LORD'S SUPPER.

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

[This excellent article is from the pen of the late Elder J. H. Waggoner, and, like the one published two weeks ago, was found among his papers after his death.]

MANY years ago we took our position on the ground that intoxicating wine should not be used at the Lord's Supper; and with all that we have known to be urged in favor of its use, we have seen no reason to change our opinion. At this time we wish to examine what is urged on 1 Cor. 11:20, 21, in favor of fermented wine.

1. It is not denied that intoxicating wine was known and used even from very early times; and, further, that it was used by the church of Corinth on the occasions referred to by the apostle.

2. We claim, also, that they knew how to preserve the juice of the grape, pure and free from intoxicating properties. Of this we have the most indisputable evidence. But we do not enter upon this field of argument at this time, because it is not material to an examination of 1 Cor. 11.

3. It is urged that the word "drunken," in 1 Cor. 11:21, signifies intoxicated, which is proof that intoxicating wine was used, in apostolic times, at the Lord's Supper. We do not accept this conclusion, because there are important considerations brought to view in the text which are not noticed in that argument.

4. It is further argued that the apostle is opposing, not the use of wine, which was allowed, but the abuse of it. And such, they say, was the intention of all those Scripture expressions where the use of wine is spoken against.

5. But this statement has not in it the least semblance of the truth, according to the words of the apostle. He was not trying to correct the abuse of wine; he was denouncing the perversion and abuse of the Lord's Supper. Our question here is not, What kind of wine were they using? but, Whose supper were they eating? And to this question Paul attends in this letter. He emphatically stated that, in their practice, when they came together, IT WAS NOT TO EAT THE LORD'S SUPPER. We may appeal to all, if there was any likeness to a proper preparation for the Lord's Supper in preparing for an occasion of drunkenness and gross feeding.

6. It is evident that there were very wide divisions in the Corinthian church; this the apostle directly declares and deplores. While part of the

church was worthy of high commendation, for he highly commended them, another part had fallen into great depravity, and carried on the greatest abuses under the Christian name. And this latter part was not a small part, as is proved by the chapter under consideration, and by chapter 5, where Paul speaks of the most shameful practices, which had not only entered the church, but were practiced openly and without shame, which would not have been the case if the wrong were confined to a few. From all this we must conclude that we may draw nothing concerning our duty, or what is permissible in the church, from the practice of the church of Corinth; but we must learn all from the sacred word.

7. In explaining the true intention of the Lord's Supper, Paul simply said that the Lord Jesus "took the cup," saying, "This cup is the new testament in my blood." Verse 25. And the evangelists used the same language. He does not here inform us what the cup contained; for that we must look to the institution of the Supper.

8. Three evangelists give the explanation in the same words. Matt. 26:29, Mark 14:25, and Luke 22:18, all record that Jesus said he would no more "drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come." And now the query arises, What is the fruit of the vine? The fruit of the vine is simply and only grapes; and to drink of the fruit of the vine is to drink of the juice of grapes. But we affirm with all confidence that there is no wine in the market, either in Europe or America, that can truthfully be called the fruit of the vine. The wine of the markets is a mixture of grape juice, or some other vegetable juice, with certain proportions of water and sugar, converted, in part, into alcohol by fermentation. Alcohol is not the fruit of the vine. It is a dangerous, a deadly evil, that is every year destroying the human family by hundreds of thousands, producing more misery than any other cause; misery not only to those who use it, and are often thereby sunk below the ordinary level of the brute creation, but misery, untold and indescribable suffering, to multitudes of helpless women and innocent children. And, horrible thought! alcoholic wine, at what was called the Lord's Supper, has proved the ruin of many souls, by arousing their appetites beyond their power to control them. "This is not the Lord's Supper."

9. We affirm that it is no more just to call alcoholic wine "the fruit of the vine" than it is to call whisky the fruit of the corn-field. Brandy, as well as wine, is made from grapes; shall we therefore call it the fruit of the vine? Shall it be used at the Lord's Supper because it is made of grapes? And if not, why not? The alcohol in brandy is exactly like the alcohol in wine. True, there is about four times as much alcohol in brandy as there is in wine, of the same quantity of each; but what of that? There is more alcohol in some kinds of wine than there is in others. If alcohol is to be taken in mixture at the Lord's Supper, who is to prescribe what the quantity shall be? If one chooses 14 per cent., about the proportion in what would be called "good wine," who shall deny another the privilege of choosing 50 per cent., the average quantity in brandy? Both are made from grapes.

We might go further and notice that much that passes for wine in the markets is made of the juices of other fruits besides grapes; and the shocking idea of taking an alcoholic mixture, that is bringing multitudes to destruction, preparing them for the hopeless graves of drunkards, and making it represent the sacred blood of the everlasting covenant of peace and good-will to man! But we think that we have presented enough to lead anyone to pause before he brings such an element to the holy communion; before he presents to the lips of a brother that which may prove a snare to his soul. Let "no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." Rom. 14:13.