In my Assembly of God church that was pretty much tea totalling, one day the pastor was reading scripture on a subject that had nothing to do with alcohol, though in it there was a mention of drinking wine as a thing people do and is ok (I forget the scripture). In front of a congregation of about 800, the pastor closed the bible on his finger and said something like, “The greek word there means fermented wine, not grape juice.”
I commended him for his honesty.
I confess that, since becoming a Christian in 1981, I’ve never, EVER found a single scripture to support complete abstinance regarding alcohol. I did go alcohol free for about two years shortly after becoming a Christian because I was the drunkest guy at a party and, I believe, the only professing Christian there. I was seriously ashamed of that.
“Grape juice” is a rather new invention.
Grapes by their nature & environment tend to ferment, period. Squash a grape, leave it exposed to a non-disinfected atmosphere, and it will start producing alcohol.
It was a Mr. Welch of not long ago that figured out how to preserve grape squeezin’s without fermentation.
Wine. It’s what grapes do.