Bread and wine are symbols which represent the body and blood of Jesus the Savior. The partaking of these symbols as the eucharist or communion in the early New Testament (NT) church is addressed in the topic “Bread and Wine in the Church”. Little of the material covered in that topic is repeated here.
At Jesus’ Last Supper before His crucifixion, He instructed His disciples in the symbolic ceremony. Mt.26:26-28 “Jesus took some bread…and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body’. And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the [new] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” This became the eucharist.
Accordingly, after Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection, in the 30s AD a communal sharing of consecrated bread and wine became a regular practice or sacramental rite at church gatherings.
However, there is controversy among church denominations (mostly since the 1800s AD) about what form of beverage should be in the communion “cup”. This topic addresses the contents of Jesus’ “cup”.
Wikipedia: Sacramental Wine “The majority of mainstream liturgical churches require that sacramental wine be pure grape wine. In most liturgical rites, a small quantity of water is added to the wine when the chalice [cup] is prepared. However, some Christian churches disapprove of the consumption of alcohol, especially by children, and hold that it is acceptable to substitute grape juice for wine. These denominations include Pentecostals, Baptists, Methodists, some Churches of Christ, and other evangelical groups. In this case, generally only pasteurized grape juice is used. In some Protestant churches each communicant drinks from a small individual cup.” Well-known liturgical churches using wine for communion are the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic.
What is wine? Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s present definition of wine: “The alcoholic fermented juice of fresh grapes used as a beverage. From Latin vinum.” If it’s unfermented, it’s not actual wine.
Steve Shirley Should Wine or Grape Juice Be Used For Communion? “Juice becomes fermented when yeast is added to it and it begins to break down the sugars that are present in the juice, producing carbon dioxide and alcohol. However, grape juice does contain small amounts of naturally occurring yeast, and can ferment naturally over time.”
In our Greek NT, “cup” is potáyreeon, Strongs g4221. It occurs 33 times. In the NT, cup g4221 refers to: a drinking vessel; or metaphorically, one’s lot or experience, joyous or adverse. “Cup” as a drinking vessel is seen in: Mt.26:27; Mk.14:23; Lk.22:17, 20; 1Co.10:16, 21, 11:25-28. What was in Jesus’ cup?
Wikipedia: History of Wine “Consumption of ritual wine was part of Jewish practice since Biblical times and, as part of the eucharist commemorating Jesus’ Last Supper, became even more essential to the Christian Church.” Reid Mitenbuler What Did Wine Taste Like Thousands of Years Ago? “Priests, monks, and nuns cultivated vineyards to make wine an everyday drink in places where it hadn’t existed before.” Christian religion actually promoted and increased the knowledge of wine (production)!
In the NT and Old Testament (OT) Septúagint/LXX, the Greek term for “wine” is oínos g3631. It occurs 33 times in the NT.
In the OT, the most-used Hebrew term for fermented wine is yáhyin h3196. It occurs 140 times.
But OT “wine” prior to the fermentation process, grape juice, is tiroshé h8492, occurring 38 times. Tiroshe is translated as “new wine”, in many Bibles. This “new wine” was unfermented, or less fermented. Grape juice. (A half dozen less-used Hebrew terms also relate to wine or alcoholic drink.)
Rex M.D. Russell What the Bible Says About Healthy Living “Some Biblical commentaries suggest that yayin is wine fermented from the previous year, and tirosh is a somewhat less fermented drink from the recent harvest. Others concede that yayin is a fermented and intoxicating beverage, but tirosh is simply freshly squeezed juice from grapes.” (Ho.4:11 may indicate a fermented tirosh.)
Tirosh would naturally ferment into wine, unless (impractical) steps were taken to preserve it as juice. Mitenbuler op. cit. “Preservation efforts are the most noticeable culinary difference between ancient and modern wine.” Wine was a valued product of agriculture. Let’s compare tirosh and yayin in the OT:
Pr.3:10 “Your vats [yéhqeb h3342] will overflow with new wine [tirosh h8492].” Ellicott Commentary Pr.3:10 “Vats, into which the newly pressed [grape] juice flowed.” ref “wine vat” in Mk.12:1. Cambridge Bible Pr.3:10 “The wine-press of the Jews consisted of two receptacles or vats placed at different elevations; in the upper the grapes were trodden, while the lower one received the expressed [grape] juice.” (cf. Joel 3:13 “The press [gath h1660] is full, the vats [h3342] overflow.”) Unfermented grape juice, not wine, flowed from the “winepress” (so called). Mic.6:15 ESV “You shall tread grapes [or new wine h8492], but not drink wine [h3196].” Is.65:8 the Lord says new wine (h8492) is found in the cluster of grapes. Fermented wine/yayin h3196 isn’t found in grapes. Quora What is Tirosh? “It’s literally grape juice in Hebrew.” However, word meanings in languages can change over the centuries.
University of Chicago Biblical Notes, 1891, p.181 “Tirosh and Yayin denote not two kinds of wine but the same wine at different stages, before and after fermentation. The juice of the grape is tithed as tirosh [ref 2Ch.31:4-5] but drunk as yayin. At first it is a simple product of husbandry and valued for the promise that is in it. Finally it is treated as a drink, and praised or condemned as it is used or abused.”
Right use of fermented wine can be of benefit. Ps.104:15 “Wine [yahyin h3196] makes glad the heart of man.” De.14:25-26 “Go to the place the Lord chooses. You may spend the money for…wine [h3196] or strong drink [h7941 shekár], or whatever your heart desires…and rejoice.” God encouraged wine-drinking (in moderation) to aid Israel’s rejoicing at His pilgrim feasts. In Is.25:6 KJV, the prophetic banquet the Lord prepares includes aged wine on the lees h8105 of yeast sediment (from fermentation).
The Jews mixed wine in their water. 2Mac.15:39 “It is hurtful to drink wine or water alone. Wine mingled with water is pleasant, and delights the taste.” In Bible times, water by itself was often dirty, contaminated with pathogens. Charles Swindoll Dirty Water, Prohibition, and the Bible “Pure drinking water was often unavailable.” Mitenbuler op. cit. “Ancient wine provided valuable nutrients and was used to sanitize water well past the Middle Ages.” Also, Israel would water down their wine.
Paul told Timothy in the NT, 1Ti.5:23 “No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine [oinos g3631] for your stomach’s sake and your frequent ailments”. But excessive alcohol consumption could worsen ailments, and lead to drunkenness. Paul also wrote, Ep.5:18 “Be not drunk with wine [g3631]”. Due to its alcoholic content, drinking wine to excess can cause intoxication. Moderation is key.
Professor R. Laird Harris wrote, “All the wine [of Bible times] was light wine, i.e., not fortified with extra alcohol. Concentrated alcohol was only known in the Middle Ages when the Arabs invented distillation (‘alcohol’ is an Arab word) so…20% fortified wines were unknown in Bible times. Probably ancient wines were 7–10%. To avoid the sin of drunkenness, mingling of water with wine was practiced.” The blend of water and wine was 50/50–65/35? Prior to Is.1:22, 700s BC…wine undiluted?
Alfred Edersheim described 1st century Jewish practices. The Temple, p.187 “Red wine alone was to be used at the Páschal [Passover] Supper, and always mixed with water.” Cups containing wine were customary at Passover in Jerusalem. Benson Commentary Pr.23:31 “Red, the color of the best wines in that country, which therefore are called blood, Ge.49:11; De.32:14; and used by them in the Passover.”
Mishnah Pesachim 10:1 “Even the poorest person in Israel must not eat (on the night of the Passover) until he reclines [cf. Lk.22:14]. And they must give him no fewer than four cups of wine.” Even the poor who couldn’t afford the cost of wine at other times were given wine at Passover.
The Biblical expression “fruit of the vine” (ref Mt.26:29; Mk.14:25; Lk.22:18; Is.32:12; Hab.3:17; Zec.8:12) referred to grapes from the grapevine, common in Palestine.
Wayne Jackson Was the Fruit of the Vine Fermented? “There is considerable historical evidence that the common Passover beverage used in the 1st century was wine.” Jesus kept Passover (Lk.2:41-42).
Dr. Jack Lewis states, “Wine was ordinarily used at the Passover and is called ‘fruit of the vine’ in Berakoth 6:1 [Talmud].” Berakoth 6:1 “Over wine one recites: Who creates fruit of the vine.”
And Jesus’ Last Supper was also a Passover meal celebration! Jesus told His disciples to prepare it. Mk.14:12 “On the first day of unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, ‘Where do want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” Lk.22:7-8 “Then came the first day of unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb must be killed. ‘Go and prepare the Passover for us to eat.” This would be His Last Supper. (see the topic “Jesus’ Last Supper Timing”.)
In the OT the Lord didn’t command wine or any drink at Passover. But we read from the above sources that wine was the “fruit of the vine”, and was customarily consumed in 1st century Judea at Passover.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [ISBE]: Wine “The wine of the Last Supper may be described in modern terms as sweet, red, fermented wine, rather highly diluted.”
The annual Passover was 6 months after the grape harvest in the Land. Grape juice would’ve naturally undergone some fermentation during that time, even if yeast wasn’t added. David C. Hopkins Life on the Land, p.186 “Stored [new] wine naturally fermented unless it was boiled down or kept cool.”
Again, in the Greek NT, “wine” is oinos g3631, occurring 33 times. In the OT Greek LXX, oinos g3631 was used to translate the Hebrew yayin h3196 in 130 of its 140 occurrences. And the LXX also used oinos to translate the Hebrew tiroshe h8492 in 37 of its 38 occurrences (all except Is.65:8)! Therefore, we see that the Greek oinos g3631 in the LXX referred to either fermented or unfermented drink.
{Sidelight: The Greek term for vinegar and “sour wine” is óxos g3690. It occurs in 6 NT verses, all relating to Jesus’ crucifixion (Mt.27:34, 48; Mk.15:36; Lk.23:36; Jn.19:29-30). Oxos/sour wine g3690 was a variety, quality or adulteration of oinos/wine g3631, such as acrid wine or vinegar. This cheap “wine” was a common beverage. It was a stimulant, and had standard wine/oinos and water as a base. “Wine” and “sour wine” and pure vinegar differed. (see the topic “Jesus’ Death – the Physical Cause”.)
Vinegar was made by the oxidation of wine or fermented fruit juice, or a mix of barley and wine. It is highly acidic (acetic acid), and harms the teeth (Pr.10:26). It wasn’t drank straight. Livestrong.com What Are the Dangers of Drinking Vinegar? “Drinking vinegar can have unpleasant and dangerous side effects.” ISBE: Vinegar “Undiluted vinegar was of course undrinkable, but a mixture of water and vinegar makes a beverage that was very popular among the poor.” It was also popular among soldiers.
The Hebrew OT term for vinegar is chométs h2558, occurring 5 times (Nu.6:3; Ru.2:14; Ps.69:21; Pr.10:26, 25:20). Nu.6:3 has both chomets h2558 vinegar and yayin h3196 wine. They’re different Hebrew terms, representing different things. (Nu.6:3 LXX has oxos g3690 and oinos g3631). There’s no indication that oxos “sour wine” or vinegar was in the cup at Jesus’ Last Supper Passover meal!}
Also, in Ac.2:13 disciples were mocked, supposedly full of sweet wine (or ‘must’?), g1098 gleúkos. In the OT LXX, this term is found only in Jb.32:19. Bible linguists differ regarding what gleukos meant back then. Callixenus wrote (300s BC), “They were trampling on the grapes and the new wine (gleukos) ran out over the whole road”. Greek Bible scholar Dr. Spiros Zódiates, “Some believe that it [gleukos] is what distills of its own accord from the grapes which is the sweetest and smoothest. It was mentioned at Pentecost (Ac.2:13) indicating that the ancients probably had a method of preserving the sweetness, and by consequence the strongly inebriating quality of the gleukos for a long time.”
In the NT, oinos g3631 usually referred to fermented wine. Lk.10:33-34 the good Samaritan poured oil and wine (oinos)…not grape juice…into the traveler’s wounds! Red wine is an antiseptic. Mt.9:17 Jesus said new wine (g3631) would cause brittle old wineskins to break (due to the fermentation process).
This topic is continued and concluded in “Wine or Grape Juice in Jesus’ Cup? (2)”. In it, we’ll discuss concerns and symbolism of wine in Bible times, and when the use of grape juice for communion began.
Bible Topic Exposition 