Alcohol, Marijuana, and other drugs 

What should the Christian’s practice be regarding drugs such as marijuana or alcohol? 

All the chemicals that exist in various drugs are part of the creation. God made them, so how can they be evil? The answer is they are not evil in and of themselves. However, does the fact that God made something mean it is impossible for it to be misused? God created the chemicals in arsenic, but does that mean it is OK to drink it – or give it to someone else to drink? No. It is wrong to murder or commit suicide. God made sticks, but does that mean it is impossible to misuse a stick. Of course not. If someone pokes you in the eye with one, or breaks one over your head – those sinful misuses of a created thing are not justified just because God created the stick. The question, then, is this – Are there improper uses of alcohol and other drugs? 

The Bible makes no mention of marijuana, cocaine, LSD, or any other drug except one – alcohol. To the degree that a drug has similarity to alcohol in its effect, the instruction about alcohol applies to that drug.

The most basic instruction in Scripture regarding alcohol is in Ephesians 5:19 – Do not get drunk. To obey that command we must understand what Paul’s definition of “drunk” was. Does it refer only to becoming so plastered that you can’t even stay conscious? Or would it include lesser states of drunkenness? 

That question can be answered by understanding the way Jesus taught us to interpret commands. The method we receive from Him is to pinpoint the principle behind the command, and to strive never to violate that principle to any degree.

Take for example the law against adultery. Jesus showed us that the principle behind that law is that lustful thoughts are adulterous. And so He said if you look at a woman in order to lust after her you have already committed adultery with her in your heart (Mt.5:28) So when we are seeking to live a godly life, we don’t just set the goal of never having intercourse with someone else’s spouse. We set the goal of having pure thoughts – so that we do not violate the principle behind the command to any degree.

Another example is murder. Jesus taught us that the principle behind the “no murder” command is that we are not to have anger in our hearts at all (Mt.5:21,22). So when you seek to live a holy life you don’t say, “OK, my goal is not to murder mass numbers of people.” You don’t merely look at the worst extreme of the sin and only try to avoid that. You strive to avoid anger and sinful, hostile thoughts.

Most Christians understand that principle. We try to avoid even the beginning stage of a sin, because we understand that the beginning stage is caused by the same sin in the heart as any other stage.

But when it comes to drunkenness, for some reason that principle seems to go out the window for many people. Whenever I’ve asked a group of Christians, “How would you define drunkenness?” I usually get answers that reflect only the farthest extreme of that sin. And when I ask, “Where is the beginning point?” I generally get a lot of blank stares. It’s as if as long as you aren’t like the drunk lying in the gutter begging for money to buy more wine, you’re OK.

But if we are serious about staying away from the sin altogether, it’s crucial that we pinpoint the principle and find the beginning point of the sin. When you are drinking, at what moment do you start to become drunk? (It’s important to know that now, because if you can’t figure out the answer to that question when you are sober, you for sure aren’t going to be able to when you are drinking.)

So back to the question – what was Paul’s definition of “drunk”? One clue from the context is the reason Paul gives for why drunkenness is to be avoided. 

The reason drunkenness is wrong: Debauchery

Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

Drunkenness is something that leads to debauchery. The word translated “debauchery” is the Greek word asotia, which refers to “behavior which shows lack of concern or thought for the consequences of an action - 'senseless deeds, reckless deeds, recklessness…it may be rendered as 'what one does when the mind is absent.” It’s the word used to describe the life of the Prodigal Son. Debauchery is abandonment to the flesh.

Our flesh is always pulling us toward sin and a life of folly and we are constantly resisting that. And debauchery is when you just “let go.” You just stop fighting and give in, and let the flesh just carry you away. You shut your mind off, you stop thinking about consequences or spiritual realities, and you just let yourself go and abandon yourself to the fulfillment of desires without restraint or concern about consequences.

So one of the reasons getting drunk is wrong is because it tends to lead toward debauchery. In other words, we are not to do that which makes us more susceptible to being governed by the flesh. 

Where does drunkenness begin? At whatever point you become more susceptible to the flesh as a result of the chemicals in a drug, you have crossed the line.

One problem, however, is when you drink, it is very difficult to discern when that line is crossed because of the way alcohol works. It affects the higher brain functions first, and then it works its way down to the more basic brain functions. So the very first part of your brain that is affected is the frontal lobes, which are the reasoning centers. That’s where the highest level of thinking occurs. After that stage, if you drink more alcohol, it begins to reach the cerebellum, and only then do your coordination and perception begin to be affected. Then as you drink more, the alcohol reaches your mid-brain, and only then are reflexes affected. 

That means your capacity for reasoning is diminished before there is any effect whatsoever on your coordination, perception, balance, or reflexes.

Think about what it is about drunkenness that this passage is warning against. What is God’s main concern? Is God mostly concerned about your balance? So you can walk a straight line? Is He mainly concerned about your reaction times when you drive? No. Those things aren’t the issue. The issue at hand has to do with debauchery – whether or not you are given over to the control of the flesh. And when your capacity of reasoning and abstract thought are impaired, that is when we tend to be more susceptible to the flesh.

The mind is the center of the spiritual battle. The weaker your mind is the more likely it is that you will be driven by the appetites and impulses of your body. So the thing about drunkenness that makes it bad is the effect it has on our struggle against the flesh.

This battle between the flesh and the Spirit is absolutely the most fundamental principle in Christian living.

Gal 5:16-6:10 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want... 
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery… drunkenness…. 
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace….
25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit… 
6:7 A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his flesh, from his flesh will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 

Whether you succeed or fail in any spiritual goal is totally dependent upon whether the flesh wins or the Spirit wins. And the role of the mind in that battle cannot be overstated.

Rom 8:5-9 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the mind of the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God. 

The war is between the flesh and the Spirit, and the theater where the battle takes place is the mind. Weaken your mind and you lose the battle. That’s why Ro.12:2 says transformation only comes by the renewing of your mind. And in Rom 13:14 clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

This is why drunkenness bothers God. It’s not that it makes you slur your words, or laugh at dumb jokes or talk too loud. That’s not what makes it so evil. What makes it evil is the fact that it weakens the mind, and cripples you in the life and death war you are in with the flesh. 

Another clue from the context of why getting drunk is so ungodly is the command in v.15 to be wise and not foolish. Drunkenness is the epitome of foolishness. Beyond the fact that drunkenness tends to cause people to behave foolishly, it is a foolish risk. If you have a blood alcohol level of .15, you are 380 times more likely to be in an accident. If your husband abuses alcohol you have a 360% higher chance of being assaulted by him. Twenty-eight percent of suicides by children ages nine to 15 were attributable to alcohol. Six out of 10 drownings are linked to alcohol. When people get drunk they crash their cars, they beat up their wives, they kill themselves, they drown…
And that’s to say nothing of the health problems. Women who drink alcohol are at a higher risk of breast cancer and other gynaecological problems and babies who are smaller and born premature and with abnormalities. In men and women it can cause:
- blood sugar problems, reduced fertility
- malnutrition (alcohol displaces nutrients from your body) and obesity.
- raised blood pressure, heart damage, stroke
- brain damage, tremors, dementia and nerve damage. 
- stomach inflammation and bleeding.
- cancer, hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver failure.

In other words, getting drunk is dumb. It’s the greatest example of what undisguised foolishness looks like. And so when Paul is calling us to live as wise and not as foolish, it’s no surprise at all that he would use drunkenness as the greatest illustration of foolishness.
The Contrast

And in contrast to that, the second half of the verse gives the greatest illustration of wisdom.

Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit. 

The greatest description of living wisely is to be filled by the Holy Spirit. So subjecting oneself to the effects of alcohol and subjecting oneself to the effects of the Holy Spirit are opposites. 

To be filled by the Spirit, means to have as the dominating characteristic of your life that which characterizes the Holy Spirit - things like power, enablement, the fruit of the Spirit, and, especially in this context, wisdom. Everything that the Holy Spirit does, and everything that the Holy Spirit offers, let your life be filled - topped off to the brim with that.

Think for a moment about why drunkenness is connected to debauchery. When a drunk sins, where did that sin come from? The wine? If a person gets drunk and commits a sexual sin, did the sexual sin come out of the bottle? No. All sin originates in the heart. The heart is a sin factory, and it is the source of all sin. (Mt.15:19).

But if the sin is already there in the heart, what role does alcohol play? How does it bring about debauchery? Remember what debauchery is – the abandonment of oneself to sin. The alcohol doesn’t create the sin. But what it does do is lower your resistance against it. It handicaps the mind, and intensifies the strength of the flesh until the flesh totally dominates.

And fulfilling the desires of the flesh is the same thing as fulfilling the will of the devil. (Eph.2:2-3) If you put the flesh in the driver’s seat, you fulfill Satan’s will, and the reason he brings up drunkenness is because it’s the supreme example of putting the flesh in the driver’s seat. And the reason the filling by the Spirit is on the other end of the continuum is because that’s the supreme example of putting the renewed mind in the driver’s seat.

Chemicals or the Spirit?

Another general principle we can extract from this passage is that we are not to seek from chemicals what we should be seeking from the Holy Spirit.

In the verses that follow in Ephesians 5 Paul describes the kinds of things that result from being filled by the Spirit. And the very first thing that comes up is singing and merriment. 

The pagan worship of Paul’s day that involved drunkenness also involved singing and dancing. And that’s one reason why people drink. They drink to feel better. Everyone desires to feel happy, and carefree, and uninhibited and relaxed. And alcohol produces those kinds of feelings.

This passage, however, teaches us that joy and merriment in our lives should come not from alcohol but from the Holy Spirit. You cannot cause sanctification with chemicals. They will produce effects that feel similar, but it is a counterfeit. And that goes not just for alcohol, but for any chemical.

If you struggle with depression or anxiety or worry or fear and you decide you need to pursue virtues like joy, trust, contentment, faith, and courage, there is no chemical in the world that will generate those virtues in your heart. We are not to look to drugs for anything that we should look to the Holy Spirit to get. No drug can sanctify you.

The Seriousness of Drunkenness 

Drunkenness is a very serious sin. In fact, The prophets show that there was a major drinking problem in pre-exilic Israel that was a significant part of their downfall.

Isaiah 5:11  Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine.

Isaiah 5:22   Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, 

Isaiah 24:8-11   The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent.  9 No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers.  10 The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred.  11 In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all gaiety is banished from the earth.

Isaiah 28:1 Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley-- to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine! 2 See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong. Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind, like a driving rain and a flooding downpour, he will throw it forcefully to the ground. 3 That wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, will be trampled underfoot.

Isaiah 28:7 And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer: Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions. 8 All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.

Isaiah 56:11-12  They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain.  12 "Come," each one cries, "let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better."

Micah 2:11 If a liar and deceiver comes and says, 'I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,' he would be just the prophet for this people!

Joel 1:5  Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine;

Habakkuk 2:15 "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies.

Conclusion

The use of alcohol or any other drug is wrong as soon as it begins diminish the ability of your mind to fight against the flesh. And since it is impossible for the user to be able to detect precisely when that moment is, it is foolish to come anywhere near that point.