If a Believer Takes Wine Moderately, Does Not Get Drunk and Does Not Weaken His Brothers Conscience nor Hurt His Testimony, Has He Sinned?
1) Direct answer
No—if he truly remains sober, is not under its power, does not wound a weaker conscience, and his own heart is clear before God, he has not sinned. But the higher, cleaner way is abstinence.
2) Scriptural explanation
- The Bible shows real wine existed and could be used without sin in proper measure: Jesus made wine at Cana (John 2:10), and Timothy was told, “use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake” (1 Timothy 5:23).
- Drunkenness and being influenced by drink are condemned: “Be not drunk with wine” (Ephesians 5:18); drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:10; Galatians 5:21).
- Liberty is judged by love and conscience: “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth” (Romans 14:21). “Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth… whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:22–23).
- Wisdom warns of its snare: “Wine is a mocker” (Proverbs 20:1); “Look not thou upon the wine… at the last it biteth like a serpent” (Proverbs 23:31–32).
3) Simple clarifying logic
- The sin is not in the mere existence of wine, but in loss of sobriety, bondage, and harmful influence.
- If there is no drunkenness, no offense, and no self-condemnation, there is no sin in that act. Yet the safest testimony and the strongest walk is to abstain, to avoid the snare, and to be filled with the Spirit rather than influenced by wine (Ephesians 5:18).
4) Reinforcing statement
You see, the Bible does not command drunkenness; it commands sobriety. But love chooses the higher road. Abstinence keeps the vessel clean and the witness bright.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The Rejected King
60-0610 §47
...n't change your spirit; it only changes your dwelling place. And whatever type of spirit you got in you, that's the place it will go to. And sin can never enter heaven. So, if you..." You say, "Well, I confess mine every night. We got a prayer book, and when we go to church, we confess all of our sins." And turn right back around and do them again? Turn right back the next day, "God, forgive me for drinking, forgive me for committing adultery, forgive me for lying, forgive me for stealing." Turn right back and do t...
Questions and Answers
59-1223 §91
...him, he said, "You men of Judea, and you that dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known unto you and hearken to me. (Amen!) I'm boss now. Let this be known unto you; these are not drunk. (Taking up for his church.) These are not drunk as you suppose, seeing it is the third hour of the day, but this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: 'It will come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh...'" Um-m-m, what a difference! Whew! My, I know you might think this is a terribl...
Thirsting for Life
60-0304 §50
Listen, you'll never satisfy that longing. You go out and get drunk tonight and paint the town red, tomorrow morning you got a headache and a dread. You'll break up your home, you'll ruin your life, you'll throw it to the dogs, as it was, but there's only one way to ever satisfy that. And I'll tell you now, you listen to this, you the people, young or old, how dare you to try to take the things of the devil to hush that blessed holy thirst that's in you? How can you ever take pleasure of the world, or whiskey, or d...
Letting off the pressure
62-0609E §12
We find people drink. Get out, run around, carouse around, and then try to drink it off. I guess they think that's the thing they should do. That don't let off the pressure; that builds up the pressure, going at the wrong thing, wrong way. Then they'll go out, and do everything they can to ... whether it's right or wrong, and sin and try to hide from it, and think you're doing something great. What you trying to do? You're trying to hide from something. You know you're wrong. No man can do wrong but what he knows h...
A Super Sign
62-0708 §42
Now notice again, a super, all these things. Hitler tried to make a super race. Pharaoh tried to make a super race. I stood in Egypt, to try to see the thrones where Pharaoh set. You'd dig twenty feet beneath the earth to find their thrones. I've stood in Rome where the Caesars, it's all... You can't even find the place unless you dig way down, the sunken walls and so forth, where the Caesars was. Why? It shows that anything that man does is corruptible. What is it all? All those things has fell to history and dust...