Question #114

Are we guilty of picking and choosing the verses we will follow?

Hello, I have been a member of the Church of Christ for over 30 years now. I belonged to the same church from most of that time and just changed recently because I am late deafened and moved my membership to a Sign Language Church so I can understand the deaf preacher. I am taking sign language classes now.

Question: If the church of Christ is silent where the Bible is silent and worships like the first Christians did, then why don't we serve actual wine at the communion and not grape juice? I am content with using grape juice, but didn't Jesus and the disciples use real wine?

A friend of mine who is thinking about becoming a church member thinks we pick and choose. The examples he shows me are: turning the other cheek; give them your coat if they want your shirt. It seems Jesus never defended violence with violence? Did Jesus loose his temper with the money lenders? Early Christians were never in the army? So, should we do likewise?

The Answer:

This question is a actually a series of questions addressed to the concept of speaking where the Bible speaks and being silent where the Bible is silent. Let’s look first at the primary question; then we will address the remainder of them in the context of the concept and its application.

1. When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, he said, “17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” Luke 22:17-20. Jesus identified the content as the “fruit of the vine.” Both unfermented and fermented grape juice qualify as the “fruit of the vine” and thus superficially qualify to be used in the Lord’s Supper. However, further consideration dictates otherwise. Alcohol is not the “fruit of the vine.” It does not come from the grape. It comes from some outside source, a fermenting source. Thus, to the extent that alcohol is present, it is not “the fruit of the vine.” Louis Ginzberb (1873-1941), a distinguished Talmudic scholar, who for nearly forty years was chairman of the Talmudic and Rabbinic Department at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America writes in the Jewish Encyclopedia:

According to the synoptic gospels, it would appear that on the Thursday evening of the last week of His life Jesus with His disciples entered Jerusalem in order to eat the Passover meal with them in the sacred city; if so, the wafer and the wine of the mass or the communion service then instituted by Him as a memorial would be the unleavened bread and the unfermented wine of the Seder service. (Vol. 5. p. 165)

Jesus used unfermented grape juice in the last supper in obedience to the Mosaic law which required the absence of all fermented articles during the Passover feast.

The law forbade the use and presence in the house of seor (Ex. 12:15), which means leven, yeast, or any other matter capable of producing fermentation. For seven days the Jews were to partake of hametz, which is translated "unleavened bread" (Ex. 13:6-7). The word "bread" is not in the text, thus a more accurate translation would be "unfermented things."

The most important reason to believe that unfermented grape juice was used at the last supper is the symbolism of the wine of the new covenant. Could Christ have offered a cup of intoxicating, brain-numbing alcohol to symbolize His sinless, redeeming blood? Could the blood of Jesus, who had not one taint of corruption in Him (Acts 13:37; 1 Pet. 1:18,19), be rightly represented by wine which was corrupted by the decay of fermentation? Christ admonished all Christians to partake of the cup. According to the Talmud, each person at the Passover was supplied with at least four cups of wine. If this was alcoholic wine, this was a sufficient quantity to make anyone drunk. To imagine that Christ wanted men, women, and children to become intoxicated during the sacred communion service is blasphemy. Clearly, the weight of the evidence shows that the communion wine was unfermented grape juice.

Based on this it seems that the wine used in the institution of the Lord’s Supper was unfermented. But even if it is assumed that either fermented or unfermented may be used, one must still consider which of two possibilities is the wiser. In this day the purchased of alcoholic wine often takes a Christian where he should not be seen, e.g., the local liquor store. Moreover, the alcoholic wine of our day is much stronger than the alcoholic wine of Jesus’ day. Finally, converted and repented alcoholics may be unable to partake of the Lord’s Supper for fear that the taste will cause them to “fall off the wagon.” Given these considerations, it is wiser to choose the unfermented fruit of the vine. Thus, whichever argumentation road one travels, the same destination is reached.

2. The remaining charges of your friend that the church of Christ does not “speak where the Bible speaks” are really charges of hypocrisy – Christians don’t practice what the New Testament teaches. Christians aren’t sinless, but they are saved from sin as long as they walk in the light. 1 John 1:7. It ill becomes your friend to judge the church based on the failure of the few or the many. The sin of another does no justify his continuing to refused obedience to the commands of Christ. He cannot hide behind the hypocrisy of others (assuming that they are hypocrites and not weak, struggling Christians). The truth is that Christianity became known as the “religion of the second mile.” It gained that reputation because of the sacrificial, loving lives of the followers of Christ. If your friend really wants to find someone to follow, then let him follow those believers as they follow Christ. See, 1 Corinthians 11:1. By the way, the New Testament does not forbid one’s being in the military. Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, was a Centurion of the Band called the Italian Band. Acts 10.