Here is a one stop shop location on the subject of drinking alcohol and a five part series I wrote in 2009:
Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five.
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Ephesians 5:18 and Its Context
In Ephesians 5:18, the Apostle Paul writes:
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit
This is an important verse, because it introduces an entire section, 5:18-6:9, a very long portion of the whole vital epistle to the Ephesian church. I’m saying, this verse kicks that all off and is integral to the understanding of the whole section. The verse has two commands or imperatives. When I say “Imperative,” I am talking about the mode of the two verbs. Both of them are in the present tense and passive voice. As you read it, you can see the contrast of the first verb with its prepositional phrase and the second with its.
The Translation of the Verse
The first verb has a negative adverb with it, making it a prohibition, and the second one is positive. Disobedience to the first half one could call a sin of commission and not obeying the second half, a sin of omission. God requires both of these. The Greek text of the verse and its transliteration are these:
καὶ μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ, ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἀσωτία, ἀλλὰ πληροῦσθε ἐν πνεύματι (kai mē methyskesthe oinō, en hō estin asōtia, alla plērousthe en pneumati)
The literal translation of the first four words into English are this: “And do not get drunk with wine” or “And do not be intoxicated by wine.” The verb methyskesthe commands against the process or state of being intoxicated. I would ask you to notice the first part of that verb in the Greek, which is “methy.”
The Meaning of the First Verb
“Meth”
People say “meth” today all the time, and it in fact refers to a particular drug now in the English. The Greek “meth,” that beginning part of that verb, means “intoxicant” or as we would say today, “alcohol” or “alcoholic.” In biblical times, there was no specific word for “alcohol,” but this would mean the same thing. Historically, I think it is accurate to say that a word for “alcohol” or “alcoholic” didn’t exist because all intoxication occurred from fermentation, a slow process, and not the distillation process. Here is the history of distillation of alcohol in bullet points:
- 8th–9th Century AD (Islamic Golden Age): Persian chemist Jabir ibn Hayyan refined the distillation apparatus (alembic) to improve methods, laying the groundwork for modern chemistry.
- 12th Century (Europe): The School of Salerno in Italy documented the distillation of alcohol (aqua vitae) from wine.
- 16th Century (Industrial Application): Hieronymus Braunschweig published the first book dedicated to distillation techniques in 1500, marking its rise in widespread medicinal and commercial use.
Inceptive Nuance
It is important to know that methyskesthe very often carries with it in its usage an inceptive nuance — “to become drunk” or “to get intoxicated” — marking the beginning or progression into intoxication. The root Greek verb is methusko, and the sko at the end is a common Greek verbal suffix that often marks inceptive or causative force. It is a causative form of the simpler methuo, so this is a unique form that marks this inceptive aspect.
In the Passive Voice
The verb in the passive voice means the subject receives or allows the action, that is, “do not allow yourselves to become intoxicated.” Some grammarians call this a permissive passive, emphasizing consent or yielding to the influence. The passive gives it the sense, “do not yield to the influence.” One might and should ask, the influence of what? In the verse, the influence comes from the wine.
The Present Tense
The present tense views the action as imperfective—ongoing, continuous, repeated, habitual, or in progress, rather than a completed whole, which would use the aorist. Tense in the Greek conveys aspect, how the action is viewed, rather than strictly time. With prohibitions like this one, that are me (the negative) plus the present imperative, the force is often, “Do not start to do this,” which is a general, ongoing warning against entering into the state. That is especially here with the inceptive aspect of the verb methusko.
μὴ μεθύσκεσθε (mē methyskesthe) does not say “do not ever be found in a drunken state,” which would customarily be a punctiliar/aorist idea: “do not get drunk [as a discrete event]”. Instead, especially with this verb, the present tense warns against the process of becoming intoxicated. It targets allowing oneself to enter or habitually pursue the influence that leads to drunkenness.
The First Verb In Light of the Second One
The first verb must be examined in light of its contrast with the second verb. The second half of the verse reinforces this: ἀλλὰ πληροῦσθε ἐν πνεύματι (alla plērousthe en pneumati) — “but be filled with the Spirit.” This is also a present passive imperative. The parallel present aspect means “keep on being filled” or “continually be filled” — an ongoing yielding to the Spirit’s control as the alternative influence. The contrast is between two controlling influences (wine vs. Spirit), both viewed as processes or states to be avoided/embraced continually.
No way would the verse include a sometimes influence of intoxication. If the second command says, yield continually to the Holy Spirit, then the first half cannot allow for even a moment of yielding to wine as a combatting or competing influence. Even if someone were to take the thought, “I won’t allow it to influence me as I drink it,” if it is an intoxicating beverage, it already starts to influence at the very inception, what the verse is in fact prohibiting. This comes into competition with the Holy Spirit for control, which the believer cannot allow and be obedient to the second command.
The Middle Part of the Verse Between the Verbs
I’m not done here. I believe what we can see so far just on this verse, which is completely accurate to the meaning of the words and their grammar, is very persuasive on the prohibition of alcohol position, even without other verses and strong arguments from them. However, I want to go to something else here, the middle part of the verse: ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἀσωτία (en hō estin asōtia), “wherein is excess.”
Those Greek words mean literally, “in which is debauchery/excess/dissipation/riot.” En hō is the preposition en (ἐν) with the relative pronoun hō (ᾧ, dative singular masculine or neuter of hos, “which”). Estin (ἐστιν) is the third-person singular of “to be.” Asōtia (ἀσωτία) means reckless abandon, debauchery, dissipation, profligacy, or wasteful, excessive living (related to the idea of being “unsavable” or beyond moral restraint; see also Titus 1:6; 1 Peter 4:4; Luke 15:13 for the related adverb).
The Antecedent of the Relative Pronoun
Grammatically, the relative pronoun hō is attracted to the dative case of the immediately preceding noun oinō (“wine”). In Greek syntax, when a relative pronoun follows a noun in this construction (en plus relative pronoun plus estin plus predicate noun), it refers back to that noun as its antecedent. Greek syntax points the relative pronoun to oinos (wine), so not the entire verbal idea of “getting drunk” (methyskesthe).
This structure parallels other New Testament and extra-biblical examples (LXX, Josephus, Philo) where en hō plus estin describes a quality or characteristic inherent in the preceding noun. Older translations, like the KJV: “wherein is excess” and many commentators follow this, rendering it as “in which [the wine] is debauchery” or “in wine is excess.” This must be the alcoholic kind that can intoxicate. According to this grammar and syntax, the verse says that intoxicating beverages, meth, have in them asōtia. It is the location or vehicle in which debauchery resides or from which it flows.
Reckless Excess and Debauchery Is In Alcohol
The dative oinō is the closest and most natural referent for en hō. The clause locates asōtia “in” the wine. Therefore, alcoholic wine itself carries reckless excess and debauchery, making it inherently unsuitable in any amount. The contrast with being “filled with the Spirit” reinforces that one influence (wine) produces moral/spiritual ruin while the other produces edification. This is what the verse clearly, plainly is saying. This whole vitally important lengthy section of this very important epistle starts with the points of these two imperatives, divided by this prepositional phrase.
I understand alcohol drinkers not liking what I’m writing here. Those drinkers will have to go twisting this verse to make it “work” for them. It is not a stand-alone in scripture, but it is a very, very important New Testament accompaniment to many other places in scripture on this subject. When you contemplate what I wrote above, please do not think or read that I’m just making up strict rules in a legalistic way. I’m just looking at the words of the Bible. This is about being filled with the Spirit, yielding to the Spirit. This is just the opposite of legalism. It is a question of what or who someone is going to yield to.
Conclusion
Ephesians 5:18 prohibits the drinking of alcohol. Five arguments come directly from the meaning of the words and the grammar and syntax.
- The verb prohibits the process of becoming intoxicated.
- The prepositional phrase the debauchery is IN the alcoholic beverage.
- The tense and voice warn against yielding to the influence at all.
- The contrast with the Holy Spirit leaves no room for compromise.
- To yield even once to alcohol competes or combats the Holy Spirit’s control.