1MORE THAN A MIRACLE OR LESS?

By HERB EVANS, Ltt.D.

157 PATTIES PLACE -- PORTERSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA 16051

E-Mail: herbevans@juno.com

This was a brief E-mail exchange with the Canadian Calvinist and originator of the objection comments on John 2: 1-10. I was graciously thanked for my answers to him, and that was the end of it. Perhaps, you can benefit from this exchange. – Herb Evans

And there were set there six waterpots of stone . . . containing two or three firkins apiece [one hundred sixty gallons] . . . Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim . . . When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was . . . the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have Well Drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. -- John 2:1-10

Objection 1. There was a call for more wine: That this was not grape juice can be seen from several points. The Greek word used here is "oinos" which according to Vine implies fermentation.

Answer: . . . thy presses shall burst out with NEW WINE. -- Prov. 3:10

. . . the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest GATHER in thy corn, and thy WINE, and thine oil. --Deut. 11:14

. . . the treaders shall TREAD out no WINE in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease. -- Isa. 16:10

. . . As the NEW WINE is found in the CLUSTER, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a BLESSING is in it . . . -- Isa. 65:8

I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, DRINK ABUNDANTLY, O beloved. -- Song 5:1 [abundant alcohol Drinking?]

. . . thou didst drink the PURE BLOOD of the GRAPE. --Deut. 32:14

It implies nothing of the sort. It is a generic word (like our word cider) that can be used for either fermented wine or non-fermented as Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22, and Luke 4:37 demonstrate. A casual reading of the Bible will reveal that wine is found in the field, in the cluster, and coming out of wine presses, hardly fermented wine in those instances.

Objection 2. It does not seem likely that grape juice would bring out the comments of the host, "You have kept the best wine until the last."

Answer: So, the host comments are held up against the wine that God makes in nature (non-fermented) as being not being the best nor as good as man made hooch? -- Herb Evans

Objection 3. Fermented wine was used then as it is now at weddings.

Answer: Oh? Where do you get that? Verse and chapter? Evidently, you have never been to an Independent Baptist wedding or Lord' supper, where this is not the case. -- Herb Evans

Objection 4. The ability to keep juice from fermenting did not exist then as it does now.

Answer: Here, you are dead wrong. The first precaution was in the type of bottles that the fresh wine was put in. The Roman siege on Masada revealed preserving methods for fruits for years. There were many different kinds of wines and also methods of fermentation prevention.

a. spiced wines - Song 8:2

b. sweet wines - Amos 9:13, Micah 6:15; Isaiah 49:26

c. mixed wines - Pro. 23:30; Isa. 5:22; 24:7; 65:8; Ps. 75:8; Rev. 14:10

Song 5:1

d. new wines - Neh 10:39, Pro 3:10, Joel 1:10; 3:18; Luke 5:37-39

e. strong wines - Num 28:7; Isa. 56:12; Gen 35:14;

f. vinegar of wine and strong drink - Num 6:3

g. maddening Babylonian wine - Jer 51:7

h. sour wine Jer 31:29; Hos 4:18

i. newly pressed wine - Pro. 3:10

j. old wine - Luke 5:37-39

k. drugged wines - Lam 3:15 wormwood; Isa 5:22;

l. leavened and unleavened wines - Ex 12:20; 13:7; 34:25

In addition to the above referenced wines, there are also records of other historical wines: fumigated wines air excluded wines subsided wines pitched container wines filtrated wines boiled and condensed wines. -- Herb Evans

Objection 5. The Bible forbids drunkenness, but not the drinking of wine in moderation.

Answer: "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken . . ." Habbakuk 2:15

Obviously, you have not read the passage, which states that the wedding guests had WELL DRUNK before Jesus turned the water into wine. Now, you are faced with a definite dilemma in that either they had well drunk grapes juice or they had well drunk alcoholic wine and were inebriated. In the latter case you then have Jesus violating Habbakuk 2:15 in putting the bottle to his neighbor's lips and making him drunk with 160 gallons of additional hooch. We are told not even to LOOK at the wine when it moveth let alone drink it. Wine is a MOCKER, STRONG DRINK is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is NOT WISE.

Objection 6. Would it not be a greater miracle to turn water into wine than to turn it into grape juice? Wine must go through a fermentation process, which Jesus did immediately in his miracle.

Answer: No! For the merry little wine maker turns grape juice into fermented wine. That is not a miracle. But Jesus, the TRUE VINE, duplicated the water turned into grapes in nature by God the Father. Jesus could do no less. He duplicated what the Father does to show that He was God. Incidentally, alcoholic wine would not have been put into open stone jars as it would then turn to vinegar. If grape juice were put into those same jars, fermentation would not ensue with open containers.