With wine on the mind, I thought I would discuss the interesting role of Thomas B. Welch in the controversy concerning the use of alcohol.
Thomas Welch is remembered as the inventor of modern grape juice. He applied Louis Pasteur’s new pasteurization process to grapes: the result was unfermented wine better known as grape juice. But what many do not know is that Welch had a specific reason for experimenting with grape juice. He was a minister who objected to alcoholic wine being used for communion. So much so, in fact that he refused to touch it even though he had been elected communion steward. After developing his unfermented communion alternative, he tried, unsuccessfully to substitute it in his church’s communion. Eventually, however, he convinced his church and many others to use the unfermented wine, furthering his temperance movement cause. The family business soon grew and his son Charles E. Welch developed the business into the large company it is today.
So there you have it. A centuries long practice of using alcoholic wine in communion is overturned by a prohibitionist and profiteer. To substantiate my history claims above look no further than Welch’s own company history. At the bottom of this article there are further resources.
Now I do not want this article to say too much. I definitely want to be fair and honest in my presentation of the facts. For instance, it appears that Welch was moved more by conviction than capitalism (at least initially). And also the fact that Welch invented the modern method of preserving grape juice does not imply that there were no other methods prior to 1869. For instance the link provided here gives some documentation of ancient methods of preserving grape juice which may have been used in Bible times and after. I am not advocating that every instance of the word wine in the Bible must only be understood as alcoholic wine. However, in my research I believe there are numerous places where the Bible affirms the intoxicating nature of wine (thus fermented wine) as a gift of God, see my first post on the topic here.
The link provided above goes on to cite evidence that unfermented wine was the normal practice of the early church. While I have not looked into all that evidence closely, I do believe there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. For instance Keith Mathison claims that fermented wine was the universal custom of the church for 1800 years, see this link to a pertinent excerpt from his book Given for You: Reclaiming Calvin’s Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. History unequivocally testifies that from 1500 until the late 1800s it was universal practice among Catholic, Protestant, and Anabaptist groups to use alcoholic wine in communion and daily life. It should be startling, therefore, to learn that the prohibition movement and a particular representative of it, Thomas Welch, were extremely instrumental in changing that consensus into the great controversy of the present. Today, many churches and even entire denominations decry any use of alcohol and act as if this has always been the position of God’s church.
Before I close, let me briefly discuss the prohibition movement. The movement was spawned from a worldly wisdom not a Christian belief system: the church joined the bandwagon of the secular movement, not vice versa. This claim is easily substantiated through basic research. I encourage you to peruse this article to gain an understanding of the previous widespread consumption in America and the birth of Prohibition. The article goes on to document the underhanded tactics used by the prohibitionists. They censored school textbooks and paraded pure fallacies as documented fact. Also of note is prohibition’s view that alcohol was bad and that which inherently caused drunkenness and alcoholism. They saw many of the problems of society traced to the disease of alcoholism with alcohol as the culprit. In this focus the movement practically denied the Biblical contention that what is inside a man defiles him, not what comes into him. They thought society could be cured of its evils by purging it of alcohol, but society is only cured through its submission to the Lordship of Christ.
When anyone wants to develop a position on alcohol and hopes to prove whether or not Scripture permits its use they must not ignore the facts presented here. Failing to admit that the practice and doctrine of churches were influenced by the secular temperance movement will not permit the investigator to understand that he may be severely prejudiced through his own church traditions of the past one hundred or more years. In this discussion, therefore, it is vital to remember the role Thomas Welch and the worldly wise temperance movement made in the history of the church and its views concerning wine.
Resources and Documentation:
Welch’s Grape Juice
- Wikipedia article on Thomas Welch
- Wikipedia article on Grape Juice
- United Methodist Church History documenting Welch’s influence on changing to using grape juice for communion
- Christianity Today brief mention of Welch and his influence
- Brief article by American Vision entitled “Turning Wine into Grape Juice”
- Detailed Obituary of Thomas Welch and his efforts to introduce Grape Juice into Churches for communion use
Prohibition
- Detailed article on the history of Prohibition in the US — notes the widespread use of alcohol prior to the beginning of prohibition
- Article detailing views of drunkenness prior, during, and after the prohibition — showcases Puritan preachers views of drunkenness and also shows how prohibition blamed alcohol as the cause of alcoholism
- Wikipedia article on the American Temperance Movement
picture borrowed from here
∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7
I’m really grateful for your contribution to this topic. It really fleshes out the temperance movement aspect of modern evangelicalism’s disobedience regarding the Lord’s Supper.
With your permission, I’ll be posting a note about these posts at my site and linking readers over here to learn the rest of the story.
No problem, John. Go right ahead.
Hey, thanks for your posts too. They have been a blessing, particularly the answering objections post. I’m looking forward to the last installments.
Have a Blessed Day.
Bob,
I thoroughly enjoyed your post. You are correct in asserting that the Scriptures do put alcoholic drinks in a positive light. One thing I would mention is that the alcohol that was used on most occasions then was heavily diluted with water, so that it was nearly impossible to becom intoxicated. “Strong drink” in the Scriptures refers to beverages which were not diluted (still, even those usually had the alcohol level of today’s beer). The early Church would have used the diluted wine.
This is not to dispute your greater point, which is, as you said, distorted and hidden by the Prohibitionists, but to refine it.
Sincerely,
The Stone Waterspout
Gargoyle,
I’ve never spoken to a stone statue before…
On a more serious note, thanks for the comment. I am sure you are aware that there is debate over what percentage of alcohol wine in Bible times had. Some say that in NT times the drink was not diluted. Most say the alcohol content was somewhere between 3% and 11%. Beer today has around 5% and wine typically has anywhere from 9% to 14%.
Also, Scripture makes clear that drunkenness was a common problem in both OT and NT days, and so your statement “it was nearly impossible to become intoxicated” is not entirely accurate. Even though it was a problem, as evidenced in 1 Cor. 11, the solution was not to ban the beverage, but to ban the behavior of drunkenness and riotous living. Scripture commends the wine but condemns the drunkard. Why can’t we follow that clear lead?
Again, thanks for dropping by. But don’t turn into anything really spooky now, okay?
I think this is an interesting issue. I’ve always meant to study it. I think using grape juice in communion is silly but I had assumed there was some biblical basis for it but if there isn’t I can’t imagine why anyone does it. No drunkenness can be a problem – it was a problem in my family and so I’ve chosen not to drink. Many of my Christian brothers have taken this as meaning I’m somehow not as manly as they are, that I’ve taken up the women prohibitionist’s mantle and have forsaken my God-given option to chose something that women are afraid of. For me I do sometimes drink a little but I really think it tastes like garbage, costs a lot, and has been the cause of a lot of problems in our socity so I don’t do it and it has nothing to do with me being afraid – everyone in my family drank – my mom drinks as much as anyone. But communion wine couldn’t hurt anyone – especially not in those nifty tiny-tiny little cups.
Thanks for the comments Clint. I am totally fine with someone choosing not to drink. But forbiding it or insinuating that everyone who does so is sinning, is wrong.
About the tiny little cups, check out this post where I advocate returning to a celebration of the Lord’s Supper that more closely matches what we see modelled in Scripture and the early church.
God bless you richly in Christ Jesus,
Bob Hayton
Bob,one N.T.Miracle that is overlooked is how those believers in 1.Cor.11:22 got drunk off of Grape Juice.When I was a student at Tenn.Temple(69-71) I learned that Noah did not know the grape juice he drank was fermented when he got drunk(after being intelligent enough to build an ark).The argument for total abstinance from the Bible is an exercise in ridiculous absurdity.I drink a little home-made scuppernong wine just so no one will accuse me of being a fundamentalist.
Bill Poore
Bill,
I agree that the 1 Cor. 11 argument is one of the strongest! I deal with that somewhat in my initial post on the subject.
God bless,
Bob
Thanks for posting this! I’ ve been telling people this for years!
Ron,
Thanks for stopping by.
Blessings,
Bob
the wonderful thing is welches grape juice is an economical way to make wine to enjoy after dinner.
makes a wonderful wine =]
Great Article. I’ve been discussing this very issue with my brother in law, a Reformed Baptist Minister. The balance is between those who choose to abstain (no problem) vs, those who try to enforce this from a position of authority in the church (legalism).
I’ll be linking to this post shortly…
Blessings
Thanks, Puritan Lad. You’re right on. My experience leads me to believe the American evangelical landscape is more full of the legalistic abstainers than the personal abstainers.
Thanks for the info. I’ve come from a strong SBC background (over the last 8 years or so), and having studied scripture, came to the view that wine consumption is NOT a sin, but drunkenness is. Much like how Arminianism has shaped the SBC, this issue of alcohol has shaped the SBC also.
If one approaches the scriptures with an open heart and a willingness to let go of “tradition” that has been taught over the last few generations, one can really learn a lot of theology! Not just intake of alcohol, but also the great truths of the reformation as well!
Thanks, brother. I agree.
You my friend are ignorant of what God’s word says.
Le 10:9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:
(KJV)
The word of God does not change, people that don’t like what it says try to change it. You are one of those people
Elton,
That verse refers to priests when they minister in the sanctuary. See what else God’s word says:
I encourage you to see my study of what God’s word says on this topic in this post: Wine to Gladden the Heart of Man: Thoughts on God’s Good Gift of Wine.
I liked that you obviously did your research, lots of people who say the bible says it is ok to drink wine do not know or will not acknowlegde the fact that there was/is such a thing as unfermented wine. I encourage you to read “Bible Wines” by William Patton, then make another post. I would be very interested in what you have to say about his research. His book is sometimes known as “Laws of Fermentation and Wines of the Ancients.” It is a rather short book so it should be a quick read. If you can not find it at the book store you might try a Baptist book store or contact Challenge Press at (610)965-4700, 4702 Colebrook Ave. Emmaus, Pa. 18049. It cost me about $8.00.
You say he had a clear bias. To me this implies you and perhaps those with the opposite point of view do not have a bias. In my experience everybody that makes a statement for or against an issue has a bias. As far as touching the most important verses, that could be your opinion and not fact, esp since you say you have not read the book. So I conclude, there must be a bias on your part, how could you know he does not speak to these important scriptural verses if you have not read the book?
Michael,
He has an index in the back with all the Bible verses, and he doesn’t address either Deut. 14:26 or Numbers 6:?? which both affirm strong drink.
I’ve perused through the book, if I can find it again, at some point I’ll review it on my blog I think. I’ve reviewed, God Gave Wine which is written by someone who is not defending his drinking habits or anything, he doesn’t drink due to health reasons, and before that didn’t drink hardly at all. He admits he doesn’t like the stuff too.
When one obscure book contradicts all the standard scholarly works on the production of alcohol and the history of its use in different eras, we should have the right to be skeptical.
In my church, a designated portion of the cups contains wine, the other portion juice, so that everyone can act on his own conscience. I personally use the wine. One concern I have about the “risk to alcoholics” position is that it seems to imply that the speaker has more compassion for the alcoholic than God does. Is it really reasonable to believe that God doesn’t know that there are alcoholics among us?
Interesting, Chris. I hadn’t heard of a church doing that. I agree with your point about us acting like we know more than God does, too….
don’t read many blogs but this one caught my eye and is interesting to read. My only thought is that trying to decide what “wine” or juice” to drink at a communion seems more an act of taste preferences. Why would anyone really want real wine when there may be young people there. I probably would never even take communion if we had to have real wine. It tastes terrible to me and we never know who is choosing the wine. But shouldnt the reason for the decision be whether real wine is the scriptural choice or is it symbolic and in our day and time, either real watered down wine would probably be just enough to start a alchololic back. I know God knows his heart, but what if he heart was not particularly pure when taking it. I think the grape juice is just a safer drink that will encompass all members who come to the table. As for me, I’m a non drinker. thanks for letting me pop in
This website explains the symbolism in the unfermented wine at Passover, which Jesus was celebrating at the instituting of the Lord’s Supper: http://www.yrm.org/wine_or_grape_juice.htm I think it is worth a look. As a response to another idea that unfermented grape juice was impossible to have kept from the time of the Jews’ grape harvest unto the Passover (about 6 months) is this excerpt from a book on wine in the Bible: http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/books/wine_in_the_bible/3.html
God Bless,
Scott
Whatever – drink or not:
Food, or drinks does not make one pure!
Nor will it make one holy!
But note: it can cause one to be unholy.
According to Justin Martyr, water was mixed with the wine, though he doesn’t say how much.
This is good info
I believe that fermented wine was originally used for communion. However, with the amount of alcoholics out there today (as well as current laws that one must be 21 to drink), I think grape juice is a better choice for today. It’s the heart issue of communion that matters, not whether we use wine or juice. Plus, using wine in communion would just distract me from Christ, because to me wine just tastes gross. I don’t want to spend communion trying to pretend that I’m not disgusted by the taste, which is what I normally have to do when drinking alcohol.