Dear Dave,
Even on the vine, the juice within the grapes is becoming wine
because of the yeast and microbial activity at work in the
grapes. This activity continues during and after the pressing of
the grapes and extraction of the juice. Consequently, pure
(i.e., non-alcoholic) grape juice was an impossibility until
1869, when Mister Welch succeeded in applying the process of
pasteurization to freshly squeezed must.
Our Lord was aware of the ongoing fermentation of wine, since he
pointed out in Mark 2:22 that new wine, recently pressed and
strongly fermenting, cannot be stored in secondhand wineskins (the
leather bottles then used to keep wine) because the strong yeast
and microbial activity of an earlier quantity of new wine will
have stretched and weakened the old leather. He used at the Last
Supper the beverage called OINOS in Greek, which is WINE. The
Greek word for fruitjuice is KHYMOS, a word which does not occur
at all in the New Testament. OINOS, wine was what Jesus changed
a large quantity of water into at Cana (John 2:1-11).
As you know, Jesus often went to dinner at people's homes. This
gave his enemies opportunity to accuse him, wrongfully and
spitefully of being a wine drinker (OINOPOTES). They weren't
accusing him of being hooked on fruit juice.
To sum up: grapes unfermented an pure, non-alcoholic grapejuice
were impossible until 1869, when Mr. Welch first pasteurized
fresh must. We know Our Lord made and drank OINOS, wine, because
the Bible says so.
The Disciples of Christ (aka "Church of Christ") were a 19th
century, made-in-the-U.S.A. spin off from Presbyterianism,
founded by a preacher named Campbell (hence they are also
sometimes called Campbellites). Their action started at a time
when the temperance movement was at the peak of its strength (the
movement which resulted in the 18th Amendment and Prohibition).
The Campbellites picked up this anti-alcohol bias and made a
dogma of it, reading back into the New Testament by a process
which scripture scholars call "eisegesis".
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Mateo
- Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit -
-- | CIN (619-449-6030) Fido: (1:202/1613) http://www.cin.org/cin | St. Gabriel Gift & Book Nook: http://www.stgabriel.com/gabriel