Replies

He never denied drinking.

Did he admit it?

I have heard some references to Jesus being a Nazarite. If so, then he, like his cousin John, would not have drunk wine. He might have made it out of water, but he would not have drunk it if he had taken a Nazarite vow.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD: He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. (Numbers 6:1-3 KJV)

Yes.

Ahem. Game point.

Gamecock, just for the sake of this thread, let's grant to P-Marlowe that maybe Jesus never touch anything fermented.

That still doesn't get us to its (limited) use being a sin.

After all, Jesus didn't ride roller coasters, either. And we all know too much roller coaster riding would be bad, right? And yet, Catholics and Protestants alike flock to Six Flags. Go figure.

I have heard some references to Jesus being a Nazarite. If so, then he, like his cousin John, would not have drunk wine. He might have made it out of water, but he would not have drunk it if he had taken a Nazarite vow.

Jesus was decidedly NOT a Nazarite.

Witness this following article:

According to the law in Num. (vi, 1-21) Nazarites might be of either sex. They were bound to abstain during the period of their consecration from wine and all intoxicating drink, and even from all products of the vineyard in any form. During the same period the hair must be allowed to grow as a mark of holiness. The Nazarite was forbidden to approach any corpse, even that of his nearest relatives, under pain of defilement and consequent forfeiture of his consecration. If through accident he finds himself defiled by the presence of a corpse, he must shave "the head of his consecration" and repeat the operation on the seventh day. On the eighth day he must present himself at the sanctuary with two turtle doves or young pigeons, one of which was offered as a holocaust and the other for sin, and furthermore, in order to renew the lost consecration, it was necessary to present a yearling lamb for a sin offering. At the expiration of the period determined by the vow the Nazarite brought to the sanctuary various offerings, and with symbolical ceremonies including the shaving of the head and the burning of the hair with the fire of the peace offering, he was restored by the priest to his former liberty (Numbers 6:13-21). The meaning symbolized by these different rites and regulations was in part negative, separation from things worldly, and partly positive, viz. a greater fulness of life and holiness indicated by the growth of the hair and the importance attached to ceremonial defilement.

Source: New Advent, a Catholic Publication

The particulars of the Nazarite are given in Numbers 6:1-21, and read as follows

1) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2) "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite,[a] to separate himself to the LORD, 3) he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. 4) All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.

5) "All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.

6) "All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body. 7) Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head. 8) All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.

9 "And if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. 10) On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 11) and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall consecrate his head that same day 12) and separate himself to the LORD for the days of his separation and bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering. But the previous period shall be void, because his separation was defiled.

13) "And this is the law for the Nazirite, when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 14) and he shall bring his gift to the LORD, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering, 15) and a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings. 16) And the priest shall bring them before the LORD and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering, 17) and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering. 18) And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering. 19) And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened loaf out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved the hair of his consecration, 20) and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. They are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine.

21) "This is the law of the Nazirite. But if he vows an offering to the LORD above his Nazirite vow, as he can afford, in exact accordance with the vow that he takes, then he shall do in addition to the law of the Nazirite."
Numbers 6:1-21, ESV, emphasis by CDL

You will notice that there are several particulars involved.

A Nazarite couldn't even tuch grapes, grape vines, seeds, or skins.
A Nazarite vow was usually temporary, and the only notable exceptions appear t have been Samuel, Sampson, and perhaps John the Baptist.
So AT BEST Jesus would have had only a temporary vow. He would have been plenty free to drink wine before and after the vow. The idea that Jesus was ever under an Nazarite vow at any time, let alone permenantly, is arguing from silence.
Nazarites could never have touched a dead body. Therefore Jesus touching the hand of the dead child would have been verbotten!, and it would have caused him to sin, according to Numbers 6:11.

Sorry Marlowe, but that one doesn't pass the smell test.

He never denied drinking.

Did he admit it?

I have heard some references to Jesus being a Nazarite...

There's no biblical evidence that Jesus was a Nazarite (not to be confused of course with "Nazarene")--and the references in the Last Supper clearly indicate He drank wine (another evidence He was not a Nazarite). I tend to agree with the Reformers that a Lord's Supper with just grape juice is indeed an innovation--the real one clearly used Passover wine (which is quite strong, btw).

The fact that Jesus was accused of being a drunkerd--and He or His disciples never defended that by saying He didn't drink wine at all is also evidence that He, like any self-respecting Jewish man of His day (except those under certain vows), did indeed drink wine.

Even in modern times there is no religious tradition at all (I don't know what's happened to Nazarites) in Judaism of teetotalism...

Scripture old and new never prohibits wine...only drunkeness. Why this is so hard of a concept to grasp--especially of those from the historically pietist denominations--I cannot understand.