A good example of the necessity of adjectives and the double-meaning of
οινος is in Jesus' discussion of both types of oinos found in
Matthew 9:17, where "new wine" clearly means unfermented juice, and "old wine" means fermented juice.
"Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst (from fermentation!), the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved (from damage due to fermentation!)."
"New wine" did not mean unfermented grape juice. Wine is wine, whether it is new or aged. The only difference between new wine and aged wine in the biblical context was its strength, but new wine was still capable of getting people drunk if they drank enough of it, as the book of Acts states:
Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. (Acts 2:13)
The fact that "new wine" was said to cause drunkenness is proof that it too was fermented to some degree.
Furthermore, new wine was not poured into new wineskins in order to keep the new wine from fermenting and bursting the skin, as you claim. New wine was put into new wineskins because new wineskins were elastic and would stretch, hence new wine was placed into new wineskins in order to
accommodate the fermentation process, not to prevent it from happening.
Everyone knows, fermentation naturally stops, because the yeast dies from alcohol poisoning (just like people do). New juice placed in a used wineskin will ferment because of the presence of yeast. In a new clean container, without yeast contamination, it will not ferment and burst the skin.
You seem to have a lack of understanding of both scripture and the science behind fermentation. The Israelites, like all ancient peoples, did not understand the process of fermentation. They simply pressed the grapes, allowing the juice to run off into cisterns. They allowed the juice to settle and eventually they stored the juice in bottles. Fermentation occurred naturally. They did not know that it was caused by yeast, and they did not add yeast to grape juice in order to cause it to ferment. The fermentation process was not understood until the late 19th century, when Louis Pasteur observed the fermentation process under a microscope.
Naturally-occuring amounts of yeast are invisible to the naked eye. (In fact, it is common for household dust to contain yeast spores.) It just so happens that there is enough invisible, naturally occurring yeast on the skins of grapes to cause fermentation. The moment the grape is crushed, fermentation begins as the juice comes in contact with the natural "wild" yeasts on the grape skin. The yeasts convert the sugar in the grape juice to alcohol and release carbon dioxide and water. Fermentation preserves the juice, allowing it to be stored for long periods without spoiling. (
Reference)
Keep in mind that the Israelites did not have refrigeration, pasteurization, or vacuum-sealed containers with which to store fresh grape juice for long periods of time. Grapes are perishable. Their skins are thin. Lacking refrigeration, they rot quickly once harvested in a hot climate. Grapes were not an item that could be easily transported, at least not until they were turned into wine or raisins. Farmers did the sensible thing: they crushed their grapes immediately after harvest and the juice naturally fermented into wine, which is what preserved it. In other words, fermentation was the only process by which the Israelites (and all other ancient peoples) could store the liquid for extended periods of time without spoilage.
Jesus drew a metaphor that every Israelite farmer understood: they knew that wineskins expand when new wine is poured in. They didn’t understand that the expansion was from carbon dioxide (a byproduct of fermentation), but they knew that a new wineskin was flexible and could expand. An old wineskin was already stretched, so pouring in new wine caused it to burst as the juice fermented. Jesus clearly knew a thing or two about wine.
You may be wondering how the Israelites knew about leavening bread if they didn't know about yeast. After all, didn't they have to add yeast to their bread in order to make it rise, or withhold yeast in order to make unleavened bread? The answer is no, they didn't use yeast--well, not directly, so far as they were aware. What they used was something called "leavening". And what was leavening? Leavening was nothing more than a small lump of aged dough. That's it! You see, as dough is left out to age, the fermentation process kicks in through the naturally occurring yeasts contained in the dough. A small lump of aged dough was enough to mix into a large batch of fresh dough and cause it to rise when heated.
Interestingly, no leavened foods are allowed at Passover, though alcoholic wine is. The ancient Jews had no understanding that leavened bread and wine are linked through yeasts. The difference is that leavening must be added to bread for it to rise; for wine, natural yeasts are already on the grape skins, and these start fermenting when the grape is crushed.
If you wish to insist that Jesus' wine at the Last Supper was somehow unfermented, consider this: the grape harvest was six months earlier. There was no possible way for grape juice to be available at Passover without fermentation getting in the way, as fresh grape juice won’t last that long. (Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch didn’t invent the pasteurization process to create “unfermented wine” until 1869. That’s when Welch’s Grape Juice was born, and he did it specifically so Protestants could have grape juice at communion.) Jesus’s wine was fermented wine.
Also, "old wine" (fully fermented juice) will not burst skins, since yeast cannot grow in a solution of 6-10% alcohol.
Your claim that yeast "cannot grow in a solution of 6-10% alcohol" is inaccurate. Yeasts can thrive and reproduce in a concentration of up to 14% alcohol by volume. It is only in the recent decades of our lifetime that strains of yeast have been developed that can reproduce in solutions of up to 25% alcohol by volume.
[Oinos] refers to grape juice. Paul specifically states "oinos", not modern alcoholic wines at 10-20% alcohol by volume, something unknown in Jesus' day.
As I've already noted, yeasts function normally in up to 14% alcohol by volume, so "old" wine with up to 14% alcohol would have been the norm even in Jesus' day.
Besides which, in Ephesians 5:18 Paul stated, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess". Referring to wine in the Greek, Paul used the word "oinos". It is hardly possible for one to get drunk on grape juice.
[In 1 Timothy 5:23,] Paul was recommending that Timothy relax his Nazarite vows in order to treat his stomach, probably an ulcer, now known to be caused by bacteria (from unclean foods).
Anyone familiar with ulcers knows that alcohol is devastating and sometimes fatal to those with serious ulcers. We know Timothy's illness was serious, because Paul was so concerned.
If Paul had prescribed alcohol for Timothy's ulcer, it would have been a horrific mistake. If you think he did, then you should concede it was bad advice, and not use this scripture to recommend alcohol, but rather to dis-recommend Paul.
Here's a link to an article on WebMD which states that moderate wine consumption is beneficial for combating ulcers:
"Moderate Wine, Beer Drinking May Kill Ulcer Bug"
http://www.webmd.com/heartburn-gerd/news/20021230/with-beer-wine-stomachs-fine
We don't know for certain the nature of Timothy's health problem. It may well have been an ulcer, or it may have been something else. Whatever Timothy's problem was, it is likely that moderate amounts of fermented wine would have been beneficial to Timothy's condition. The fact is that numerous health benefits can be derived from
moderate wine (and beer) consumption. For example, drinking moderate amounts of wine can help maintain heart health, reduce the likelihood of cancer, and even treat sore throats as well as diarrhea/dysentery. Additionally, a glass of red wine with a meal aids digestion. The list of scientifically proven health benefits from moderate wine consumption goes on.
Paul and most other early (Jewish) Christians continued to take Nazarite vows (Numbers 6) in support of the temple and Jewish practice (see Acts).
Total alcohol prohibitionists focus on the scriptures that condemn or show the results of wrong alcohol use, but neglect those scriptures that show there can be a proper moderate use. If someone today wants to claim that believers do not have the right to drink alcohol on the analogy of a Nazarite vow, they also should say that believers ought not to eat grapes or raisins, nor should they drink grape juice. However, even those who took the Nazarite vow were free to drink wine once their vow was complete:
Numbers 6:20
And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.
While it is true that drunkenness is condemned everywhere in scripture, there is no law in scripture forbidding the general population to produce, exchange, sell, or consume wine--even
strong wine. Aside from specific circumstances (e.g., the Nazarite vow), the consumption of fermented wine was normally permissible and even encouraged, so long as the consumption was moderate. For example, Deuteronomy 14:26 implies that it is a good thing to drink "wine" and "strong drink" to the Lord:
“And you may spend the money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household” (NASB).
Also, Isaiah 25:6 refers to "wines on the lees":
And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
I will refer you to the following link to see for yourself what "wine on the lees" means:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lees_(fermentation)
Strong wine was even poured out as a drink offering to the Lord:
Numbers 28:7
...in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the LORD for a drink offering.
Judges 9:13 references wine as "cheering God and man".
In describing the requirements for deacons, Paul wrote:
1 Timothy 3:8
Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine...
See also, Titus 2:3
The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine...
So the problem is not with moderate wine consumption, which is perfectly fine from the biblical and scientific perspective. The problem is only with drinking to excess.
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Additional References:
"The Bible and Alcohol", by Daniel B. Wallace;
http://bible.org/article/bible-and-alcohol
"Wine in Ancient Israel", By Garrett Peck;
http://www.prohibitionhangover.com/israelwine.html
