GREG - I was reading in my scriptures, and trying to see if wine, was the wine we know today; or was it just juice? I know we are told not to drink alchohol. I also know Christ made wine at the wedding; Noah got drunk, etc. As I pondered the scriptures, I noticed that as the grapes were pressed (in the new testament); it is called NEW wine. I also know in proverbs, it talks of when the wine is red in color and bubbly; it will sting you like an adder? then I rememberd the Lord said that you dont put NEW wine in old bottles. to me, that in the old bottles, becomes fermemted?
I also noticed when christ is talking to the diciples, he tells them he wont drink of the fruit of the vine,until he drinks it NEW with them, when he returns.
Someone of another faith told me :" if that is true (wine is just grape juice), it would make the wedding miracle, not a miracle". I think it would be just as hard to make water into juice, as it would be to make it wine! have you had any insight on this subject?

JOEL - I think whenever they talked about wine in the New Testament it is hard to tell if they are talking about the fermented alcohol containing drink or to just grape juice or somewhere in between.
It is well known that the words "the fruit of the vine" have been translated as "wine" even though it was only meant to represent unfermented juice. It is equally well known that in the Old Testament, three different words are translated "wine", two of which, used most commonly, refer clearly to unfermented grape juice. In the New Testament two Greek words, not necessarily representing fermented grape juice, are translated "wine". Intoxicating wine was not a common beverage among ancient Israel.(See Word of Wisdom: A Modern Interpretation, John A. Widtsoe)
So depending on how things are translated it's hard to know which form of the drink is being spoken of.

Concerning the miracle Jesus performed at the wedding(John 2:1-10), the fact that the bridegroom was asked why he saved the "good" wine (John 2: 10) for the last is an indication that Jesus not only changed the water to grape juice, but that he also caused it to instantly turn to the fermented alcohol-containing beverage. It would still be a miracle to change water to grape juice; but it makes it even more so a miracle to change it to wine, which would normally require a lot of time for the fermentation process to produce the alcohol.

The old bottles that should not contain new wine, that Christ was refering to (Matt. 9:17) were really bags, made of the skins of animals, which would deteriorate with age. New wine shold not be put into such bottles because the pressure of the fermenting juice would cause the bottles to burst and the good wine would be lost. It seems in this case that the "new wine" referred to here may have been closer to the "fruit of the vine" that had not fully fermented.
But the scriptures suggest that "new wine" does contain some alcohol. This is evidenced on the day of Pentacost (Acts 2), when those who were affected by the Holy Ghost and began speaking in other tongues, were described by mocking bystanders as being "full of new wine" (Acts 2:13); meaning that they were acting this way because they were drunk (Acts 2: 15).

James E. Talmage explained the meaning of old wine in new bottles:
"The gospel taught by Christ was a new revelation, superseding the past, and marking the fulfillment of the law; it was no mere addendum, nor was it a reenactment of past requirements; it embodied a new and an everlasting covenant. Attempts to patch the Judaistic robe of traditionalism with the new fabric of the covenant could result in nothing more sightly than a rending of the fabric. The new wine of the gospel could not be held in the old time-worn containers of Mosaic libations. Judaism would be belittled and Christianity perverted by any such incongruous association." (Jesus the Christ , p. 184)

In a similar analogy God would not select someone, who has been steeped in the traditions and doctrines of man, to restore His gospel to the earth in our latter-days. He would want someone fresh and teachable, like Joseph Smith, who would be like the new wine in the new bottle.

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