Is it a sin to drink alcohol? What does the Bible say about drinking?
The Bible condemns drunkenness, never moderate use. "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess" (Eph 5:18): drunkenness is sin, drinking in itself is not, and love will not cause a weaker brother to stumble (Rom 14:21).
What the text states
Scripture treats wine as a normal part of life, "maketh glad the heart of man" (Ps 104:15); Jesus made it at Cana and drank it (Matt 11:19). It forbids drunkenness: "wine is a mocker" (Prov 20:1), "be not drunk with wine" (Eph 5:18). The sin is the excess, not the substance. Two principles bear on it: love that won't cause a brother to stumble (Rom 14), and the wisdom that some, given weakness, do better to abstain.
Some hold total abstinence is required. We hold the Bible condemns drunkenness, permits moderate use, and lays the law of love and wisdom over both.
Go deeper
Checked 2026-09-29 by Darren. 50 Scripture citations verified against the KJV rows. Wave 4. 50 quoted fragments table-passed against the verses table, splitting every quotation at its ellipsis. 49 pass. ONE CORRECTION: the file quoted "Dead in sins" (Eph 2:1); the KJV reads "dead in trespasses and sins", and the quotation was corrected to the table. One exhibit does not resolve and ships omitted rather than guessed: what-does-dead-in-sin-mean listed 'is-faith-a-work', which is not a slug on this site (the nearest is is-believing-a-work); flagged for Darren.