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The Elements of
the Lord’s Supper
What Kind of Bread and Fruit of the Vine Are We
to Use?part 3
Peter DitzelThe Fruit of the Vine
Paul’s
account of Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper in 1
Corinthians 11 gives no indication of what is in the cup. But Mark and Luke
note that Jesus called it the fruit of the vine. Mark Obviously,
the fruit of the vine Jesus referred to was liquid, but was it grape juice or
wine?
The Questions
There
are several questions that must be answered to determine whether the fruit of
the vine Jesus used was wine or grape juice. These are:
1.
Is wine inherently evil?
There
are many who believe that wine that contains alcohol is evil, and Jesus would
never have used it. They say that positive references to wine in the Bible
are actually referring to non-alcoholic wine, or grape juice. If the Bible
contains an exception to what these people say, their argument falls apart. In
Numbers 28 we find such an exception. Here is a positive reference to wine
that, without any doubt, must contain alcohol. It is called “strong
wine.” In verses 2-8 we read, “And thou shalt say unto them, This
is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer unto the LORD; two lambs of
the first year without spot day by day, for a continual burnt offering. The
one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer
at even; And a tenth part of an ephah of flour for a meat offering, mingled
with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil. It is a continual burnt
offering, which was ordained in mount Sinai for a sweet savour, a sacrifice
made by fire unto the LORD. And the drink offering thereof shall be the
fourth part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou cause
the strong wine to be poured unto the LORD for a drink offering. And the
other lamb shalt thou offer at even: as the meat offering of the morning, and
as the drink offering thereof, thou shalt offer it, a sacrifice made by fire,
of a sweet savour unto the LORD.” The
Hebrew word translated “strong wine” here is shekar. The Brown, Driver,
Briggs, Gesenius Lexicon says this word means, “strong drink,
intoxicating drink, fermented or intoxicating liquor.” Yet, it was
wine. We know this because this sacrifice is referring to the same sacrifice
described in Exodus 29:38-41. But in that text, the word used for wine is the
ordinary Hebrew word for wine, yayin.
This is the same word that so many advocates for grape juice say means
unfermented, nonalcoholic wine when used in a positive sense. But, obviously,
it cannot mean this in this text because its parallel text calls it
“strong wine.” The word yayin
comes from a root word meaning to effervesce because of the bubbling that
takes place during fermentation. So, even the word yayin implies fermented wine, not unfermented grape juice. By
the way, this sacrifice was not just occasional. It was the continual burnt
offering, offered every day in the morning and again in the evening. As
should be obvious, the lamb pictured the Lamb of God, slain from the
foundation of the world, Jesus Christ. And the wine poured out—the
strong, fermented, alcoholic wine—pictured His blood shed for us. Here
is proof from the Bible that alcoholic, fermented wine pictured the blood of
Jesus Christ. And think about this: God did not give the Israelites a choice
about the liquid that was to be poured out in the sacrifice. It had to be
strong wine. If the priests performing the sacrifice had chosen to use grape
juice instead, they would have been guilty of disobeying God. God would have
rejected the offering, and He may have punished them for their innovation as
He had Nadab and Abihu. It
is significant that, when Jesus, referring to the contents of the cup at the
Lord’s Supper, said it was “shed for many,” all three
synoptic Gospels use the Greek word ekchunō
for the word translated in the King James Version as “shed.” This
word can also be translated “poured out,” just as the strong wine
in the daily sacrifice was poured out. This
example devastates the position that the Bible never mentions alcoholic wine
positively. It also shows that there is good reason to believe that other
positive references to wine (Heb. yayin),
including those where it is used in other offerings picturing Jesus’
sacrifice, also refer to fermented, alcoholic wine. Wine is not inherently
evil; only its misuse is a sin. Copyright
© 2006 wordofhisgrace.org |
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