We began weekly communion a few years ago, after having thought through what we believed were the most poignant issues regarding communion. But one aspect of our weekly communion that we did not predict would raise as many questions as it did, was our use of wine in place of grape juice. After all, for over eighteen centuries of the church’s history, wine had always been used to represent Jesus’ blood. Relatively speaking, grape juice has been a recent replacement, and one could make the case, a very American replacement at that. So why have we chosen to use wine during communion rather than grape juice?
1. Scripture uses wine as a symbol of God’s blessing.
Wine best represents “the fruit of the vine” in Luke 22:18.
On something as substantial as communion, one of two sacraments Jesus gave to the church, we see the necessity to attempt to faithfully replicate what Scripture describes what took place at the Lord’s Supper. The “fruit of the vine” seems to be an obvious phrase to describe wine, one of the few fruits of a vine made into drink. And considering that watered down wine was representative of one’s unfaithfulness to God (Isaiah 1:21-22), there is no reason to think that this fruit of the vine would have been anything less than what wine was in Jesus’ day.
Scripture uses wine metaphorically to display the abundant blessings of God.
In the Bible, wine is often referred to as a means of God’s blessings. To prepare the Israelites entrance into the Promised Land, Moses tells the people that they will receive blessings from the Lord as long as they obey God’s commandments. Listen to how Moses describes these blessings in Deuteronomy 7:13:
He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.
God will bless the wine they have and will increase it.
Proverbs 3:9-10 tells us that when we honor God, the result of such faithfulness is as follows:
Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.
Wine describes God’s eschatological blessing of His people
We see this especially in Jeremiah 31:12, an obvious reference to God’s new covenant promises with His people both now and forever:
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall be like a watered garden,
and they shall languish no more.
In Joel’s references to the coming Day of the Lord, he says in 2:19:
The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
And then in 2:24:
The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
Amos 9:14 speaks of the restoration of God’s people in the last days this way:
I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
And then the prophet Zechariah 9:16-17 proclaims that the Lord will save God’s people in the last days by noting wine’s significance once again:
On that day the Lord their God will save them,
as the flock of his people;
for like the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!
Grain shall make the young men flourish,
and new wine the young women.
If wine were nothing more than a stumbling block and a cause to sin, it seems quite odd that Scripture would be so replete with references to wine in the last days as a means of God’s blessings and abundant grace.
Jesus changed water into “good wine.” (John 2:10)
Jesus’ first miraculous sign was changing water into wine at the wedding at Cana. If wine was considered to be anything less than a blessing of the Lord, it would have been strange for Jesus to make this his first public sign. But instead, it makes sense that this was Jesus’ first miracle, especially in view of the Old Testament’s view of wine. If wine was truly a symbol of God’s abundant blessings and a sign of the last days and coming of the Lord’s judgment and blessing, then Jesus’ miracle at Cana would be used to symbolize such ideas: the last days, the coming of the Savior, the preparation for judgment, and the proclamation of God’s abundant grace. All of this is expressed in the very cup of wrath filled with wine that Jesus passed around at the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus also created the good wine (the best wine really) from water. Obviously, good wine would not have been watered down wine (see Isaiah 1:22-23). The good wine would have been properly fermented and aged. And Jesus creating twenty to thirty gallons of the best wine would have lasted far beyond the wedding feast, again representing the overflow of God’s abundant kindness and mercy.
Jesus referenced wine and things regarding wine throughout his teaching.
Jesus’ referenced wine in his parables in speaking of new wine and old wine (Matt 9:16; Mark 2:21-22; Luke 5:36-39). He called Himself the true vine and his Father the vinedresser. (John 15:1). His references to the fruit and the branches throughout this text (John 15) most likely is a reference to grapes producing wine. And once again, given the regular positive use of wine in the Old and New Testaments, this seems to be a probable assumption.
Paul tells Timothy to drink wine for his stomach.
The apostle Paul recognizes that there is also a positive medicinal benefit of wine, hence his suggestion to Timothy (1 Tim 5:23)
1. Scripture uses wine as a symbol of God’s blessing.
Wine best represents “the fruit of the vine” in Luke 22:18.
On something as substantial as communion, one of two sacraments Jesus gave to the church, we see the necessity to attempt to faithfully replicate what Scripture describes what took place at the Lord’s Supper. The “fruit of the vine” seems to be an obvious phrase to describe wine, one of the few fruits of a vine made into drink. And considering that watered down wine was representative of one’s unfaithfulness to God (Isaiah 1:21-22), there is no reason to think that this fruit of the vine would have been anything less than what wine was in Jesus’ day.
Scripture uses wine metaphorically to display the abundant blessings of God.
In the Bible, wine is often referred to as a means of God’s blessings. To prepare the Israelites entrance into the Promised Land, Moses tells the people that they will receive blessings from the Lord as long as they obey God’s commandments. Listen to how Moses describes these blessings in Deuteronomy 7:13:
He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.
God will bless the wine they have and will increase it.
Proverbs 3:9-10 tells us that when we honor God, the result of such faithfulness is as follows:
Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.
Wine describes God’s eschatological blessing of His people
We see this especially in Jeremiah 31:12, an obvious reference to God’s new covenant promises with His people both now and forever:
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall be like a watered garden,
and they shall languish no more.
In Joel’s references to the coming Day of the Lord, he says in 2:19:
The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
And then in 2:24:
The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
Amos 9:14 speaks of the restoration of God’s people in the last days this way:
I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
And then the prophet Zechariah 9:16-17 proclaims that the Lord will save God’s people in the last days by noting wine’s significance once again:
On that day the Lord their God will save them,
as the flock of his people;
for like the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!
Grain shall make the young men flourish,
and new wine the young women.
If wine were nothing more than a stumbling block and a cause to sin, it seems quite odd that Scripture would be so replete with references to wine in the last days as a means of God’s blessings and abundant grace.
Jesus changed water into “good wine.” (John 2:10)
Jesus’ first miraculous sign was changing water into wine at the wedding at Cana. If wine was considered to be anything less than a blessing of the Lord, it would have been strange for Jesus to make this his first public sign. But instead, it makes sense that this was Jesus’ first miracle, especially in view of the Old Testament’s view of wine. If wine was truly a symbol of God’s abundant blessings and a sign of the last days and coming of the Lord’s judgment and blessing, then Jesus’ miracle at Cana would be used to symbolize such ideas: the last days, the coming of the Savior, the preparation for judgment, and the proclamation of God’s abundant grace. All of this is expressed in the very cup of wrath filled with wine that Jesus passed around at the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus also created the good wine (the best wine really) from water. Obviously, good wine would not have been watered down wine (see Isaiah 1:22-23). The good wine would have been properly fermented and aged. And Jesus creating twenty to thirty gallons of the best wine would have lasted far beyond the wedding feast, again representing the overflow of God’s abundant kindness and mercy.
Jesus referenced wine and things regarding wine throughout his teaching.
Jesus’ referenced wine in his parables in speaking of new wine and old wine (Matt 9:16; Mark 2:21-22; Luke 5:36-39). He called Himself the true vine and his Father the vinedresser. (John 15:1). His references to the fruit and the branches throughout this text (John 15) most likely is a reference to grapes producing wine. And once again, given the regular positive use of wine in the Old and New Testaments, this seems to be a probable assumption.
Paul tells Timothy to drink wine for his stomach.
The apostle Paul recognizes that there is also a positive medicinal benefit of wine, hence his suggestion to Timothy (1 Tim 5:23)
2. The church has utilized wine for communion for most of its long history.
There have been many debates in the church about communion. What has been debated, however, is not the use of alcoholic wine, but the substance of the communion itself. No one argues against the sinfulness of drunkenness. But somehow, alcohol itself has become sinful in the eyes of many well-intentioned Christians.
Despite wine’s regular use in church history, the temperance movement of the mid-1800s in America has usurped Scripture as the filter upon which all alcohol use is viewed. In 1869, Thomas Welch discovered pasteurization for Concord grapes and used it to produce non-fermented grape juice for the purpose of communion. Today, churches regularly use his grape juice for communion as a means of protecting the consciences of its members.
However, this practice is refuted by many of the confessions and practices of leading denominations. Marion Lovett makes the following observations:
Martin Luther certainly felt strongly about the use of wine.. Luther was so adamant about using wine in the Lord’s Supper that he said in his Table Talk that “if a person can’t tolerate wine, omit it [the Sacrament] altogether in order that no innovation may be made or introduced.” The Anglican Church taught the use of wine in its Confession (Thirty Nine Articles, Article 28). Even the Anabaptists required the use of wine in communion (Dordrecht Confession of 1632, Article 10). All of the great reformed confessions of the 16th Century call for the administering of wine in communion (Belgic Confession; The Heidelburg Catechism; 2nd Helvic Confession). The Westminster Confession of Faith prescribes the use of wine (29, 6). The modern Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) manual of Church order designates the partaking of bread and wine. The London Baptist Confession of 1689 calls for the use of wine (30:5). Even the Southern Baptist Abstract of Principles of 1859 decrees that bread and wine is to be used in the Lord’s Supper. The Baptist Faith and Message written in 1925, long after the temperance movement, and long after Welch developed pasteurization for grape juice in 1868, called for bread and wine. The Church always believed the element in the communion cup was real fermented wine and never anything less. Renown Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote a verse in a communion hymn that our church occasionally sings, “What food luxurious loads the board, When at His table sits the Lord! The wine how rich, the bread how sweet, When Jesus deigns the guests to meet!”
Conclusion
I am not a wine drinker. I have an allergy to red wine especially. If I drink too much, I have trouble breathing. But when Jesus raised that cup containing what I believe to be fermented wine, saying that the cup contained His blood and to commanding us to do the same act in remembrance of His loving and atoning work, I want to do all that I can to replicate that act faithfully. I am not saying that those who use grape juice are sinning, any more than I, as a credobaptist, would say that a paedobaptist is sinning when they baptize infants. But in my study of Scripture, and as a pastor of a local church, I believe that the most faithful expression of the work of Christ through communion, is to use wine.
Also, pregnant women, alcoholics, children, all have been in the church for these past eighteen centuries. Alcohol abuse has been around since the very early days of human beings (remember Lot?). Paul even dealt with alcohol abuse in the church, possibly during communion (1 Cor 11). And yet, not once did he ban wine from the communion table. Many denominations still continue to serve wine without any evidence of birth defects, alcoholic treatment regression, or age minor drunkenness as a result of wine at the communion table. So we do not believe serving wine at the communion table is an inherent stumbling block to such groups, any more than the beat of the drums is the direct cause of a person’s recollection of past sinful behaviors. As for allergies, it begs the question, should wine be exchanged for grape juice on this basis, then what of bread or wafers for a person with a gluten allergy? Should the bread be substituted with broccoli to serve the allergies of the few? Ultimately, do the symbols of the actual elements really matter? We believe it does.
Out of our love and concern for some, for the sake of the “weak” and out of love (Romans 14), we will continue to offer a small section of grape juice. But our hope is that the weak will not remain weak. The gospel frees us in so many ways so that we can enjoy the full breadth of the gospel, of Christ. But so long as we live in a broken world, we are also reminded that our weakness (which we all have) can give glory to our Savior. As Jesus stated in 2 Corinthians 12:8: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” And so Paul’s response was that his weakness, regardless of the nature of that weakness, would be his boasting since it pointed to the realization that only Jesus overcomes our every weakness, our ever need: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) Our hope is that people might perhaps one day experience the freedom of taking wine at communion, as a symbol of not only one’s freedom, but as a sign of the abundant and lavished grace the Lord has given to us.
There have been many debates in the church about communion. What has been debated, however, is not the use of alcoholic wine, but the substance of the communion itself. No one argues against the sinfulness of drunkenness. But somehow, alcohol itself has become sinful in the eyes of many well-intentioned Christians.
Despite wine’s regular use in church history, the temperance movement of the mid-1800s in America has usurped Scripture as the filter upon which all alcohol use is viewed. In 1869, Thomas Welch discovered pasteurization for Concord grapes and used it to produce non-fermented grape juice for the purpose of communion. Today, churches regularly use his grape juice for communion as a means of protecting the consciences of its members.
However, this practice is refuted by many of the confessions and practices of leading denominations. Marion Lovett makes the following observations:
Martin Luther certainly felt strongly about the use of wine.. Luther was so adamant about using wine in the Lord’s Supper that he said in his Table Talk that “if a person can’t tolerate wine, omit it [the Sacrament] altogether in order that no innovation may be made or introduced.” The Anglican Church taught the use of wine in its Confession (Thirty Nine Articles, Article 28). Even the Anabaptists required the use of wine in communion (Dordrecht Confession of 1632, Article 10). All of the great reformed confessions of the 16th Century call for the administering of wine in communion (Belgic Confession; The Heidelburg Catechism; 2nd Helvic Confession). The Westminster Confession of Faith prescribes the use of wine (29, 6). The modern Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) manual of Church order designates the partaking of bread and wine. The London Baptist Confession of 1689 calls for the use of wine (30:5). Even the Southern Baptist Abstract of Principles of 1859 decrees that bread and wine is to be used in the Lord’s Supper. The Baptist Faith and Message written in 1925, long after the temperance movement, and long after Welch developed pasteurization for grape juice in 1868, called for bread and wine. The Church always believed the element in the communion cup was real fermented wine and never anything less. Renown Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote a verse in a communion hymn that our church occasionally sings, “What food luxurious loads the board, When at His table sits the Lord! The wine how rich, the bread how sweet, When Jesus deigns the guests to meet!”
Conclusion
I am not a wine drinker. I have an allergy to red wine especially. If I drink too much, I have trouble breathing. But when Jesus raised that cup containing what I believe to be fermented wine, saying that the cup contained His blood and to commanding us to do the same act in remembrance of His loving and atoning work, I want to do all that I can to replicate that act faithfully. I am not saying that those who use grape juice are sinning, any more than I, as a credobaptist, would say that a paedobaptist is sinning when they baptize infants. But in my study of Scripture, and as a pastor of a local church, I believe that the most faithful expression of the work of Christ through communion, is to use wine.
Also, pregnant women, alcoholics, children, all have been in the church for these past eighteen centuries. Alcohol abuse has been around since the very early days of human beings (remember Lot?). Paul even dealt with alcohol abuse in the church, possibly during communion (1 Cor 11). And yet, not once did he ban wine from the communion table. Many denominations still continue to serve wine without any evidence of birth defects, alcoholic treatment regression, or age minor drunkenness as a result of wine at the communion table. So we do not believe serving wine at the communion table is an inherent stumbling block to such groups, any more than the beat of the drums is the direct cause of a person’s recollection of past sinful behaviors. As for allergies, it begs the question, should wine be exchanged for grape juice on this basis, then what of bread or wafers for a person with a gluten allergy? Should the bread be substituted with broccoli to serve the allergies of the few? Ultimately, do the symbols of the actual elements really matter? We believe it does.
Out of our love and concern for some, for the sake of the “weak” and out of love (Romans 14), we will continue to offer a small section of grape juice. But our hope is that the weak will not remain weak. The gospel frees us in so many ways so that we can enjoy the full breadth of the gospel, of Christ. But so long as we live in a broken world, we are also reminded that our weakness (which we all have) can give glory to our Savior. As Jesus stated in 2 Corinthians 12:8: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” And so Paul’s response was that his weakness, regardless of the nature of that weakness, would be his boasting since it pointed to the realization that only Jesus overcomes our every weakness, our ever need: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) Our hope is that people might perhaps one day experience the freedom of taking wine at communion, as a symbol of not only one’s freedom, but as a sign of the abundant and lavished grace the Lord has given to us.