Christ Church's Policy on Wine & Communion

            Over the last one hundred and fifty years of church history there has been great debate about the use of wine at the Lord’s Supper. Some argue that to drink wine, including at the Lord’s Supper, is sin. Others argue that there should be wine and grape juice present at the Lord’s Supper so that those who do and do not consider that drinking wine is Biblical can partake of the cup. Finally, there are those who think wine and only wine should be used. Christ Church falls into this last category. While we acknowledge these other positions, we believe that they do injustice to the plain teaching of Scripture. Because this is a controversial topic among Christians, we think it is important for Christ Church to state the reasons for our position. What follows is our official church position on using wine in communion. We have tried to be gracious and biblical. 

I am sure someone will ask, "Isn't it inconsistent to use wine and not unleavened bread?"  I hope to address unleavened bread at some future date. 

The Bible Says that Wine is Good

            The Scriptural teaching concerning wine is uniform. Wine has always been considered one of God’s good gifts to man. Melchizedek gave wine to Abraham after he returned from the slaughter of the kings.  (Genesis 14:18)  God commanded that wine be offered to Him as part of the Levitical sacrificial system. (Exodus 29:40, Leviticus 23:13)  At King David’s coronation banquet in I Chronicles 12:38-40, the men drank wine. In Psalm 104:15, wine is said to be a gift from God to gladden man’s heart.  The great coming kingdom and the gospel are often envisioned by the prophets as having an abundance of wine.  (Is. 25:6, 55:1, Hosea 14:7, Joel 3:18) The loss of wine is considered a great tragedy and a sign of God’s curse upon Israel. (Isaiah 16:10, 24:7, Lamentations 2:12).

            The New Testament teaching is the same. Wine is a good thing when rightly used. In 1Timothy 3:3, the elder of a church is not forbidden wine, but is told to not be addicted to it (New American Standard Version) or a drunkard (English Standard Version).  Wine is a picture of the Gospel. (Luke 5:36-39)  Jesus drank wine. (Luke 7:34)  Paul instructs Timothy to drink wine for medicinal purposes. (I Timothy 5:23)

            There is some debate about whether or not Jesus used wine at the Last Supper.  Here are the reasons why we know that He did use wine during the Last Supper. First, the Passover was celebrated in the spring. Grapes were harvested in the fall. Without refrigeration there is no way the wine would not ferment. Second, the term “the fruit of the vine,” which Jesus uses throughout the Last Supper accounts, was a term the Jews used during their Passover celebrations. They drank wine during Passover. There is no doubt that “fruit of the vine” equals wine, not grape juice.  For a first century Jew that is all it could have referred to. Third, it is clear from Paul’s account in I Corinthians that people were getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper. This means they were drinking wine. When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper he used wine. 

            There are multiple reasons not to substitute grape juice for wine in the Lord’s Supper. Wine is a gift from God symbolizing the gospel and the glorious Kingdom of God. Christ used wine at the Last Supper. The apostolic church used wine in their Communion meals. We should use wine during our Communion services. This is what Christ commanded.