Ephesians 5.18a-Prohibition Forbidding the Believer To Be Drunk with Wine
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday August 20, 2026
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:18a-Prohibition Forbidding the Believer to Be Drunk with Wine
Lesson # 359
Ephesians 5:15 Therefore, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of paying careful attention to the manner in which each and every one of you make it your habit of conducting your lives. Each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to not make it your habit of conducting your lives in an unwise manner. On the contrary, each and every one of you must continue to make it your habit of conducting your lives in a wise manner 16 by continuing to make it your habit of taking full advantage of your opportunity for your own benefit because these days are characterized by evil. 17 For this reason, each and every one of must continue to make it your habit of not conducting your lives as foolish individuals. On the contrary, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of conducting your lives as wise individuals by comprehending for the purpose of personal application what constitutes the Lord’s will (for the manner in which each one of you as a corporate unit are to continue making it your habit of conducting your life). 18 Consequently, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of not permitting yourselves to be drunk by means of the excessive intake of wine because this is non-sensical behavior. On the contrary, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of permitting yourselves to be influenced by means of the Spirit’s teaching. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 5:18 is composed of the following:
(1) prohibition mē methyskesthe oinō (μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ), “each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of not permitting yourselves to be drunk by means of the excessive intake of wine. (Lecturer’s translation)
(2) casual clause: en hō estin asōtia (ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἀσωτία), “because this is non-sensical behavior” (Lecturer’s translation)
(3) command: plērousthe en pneumati (πληροῦσθε ἐν πνεύματι), “each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of permitting yourselves to be influenced by means of the Spirit’s teaching. (Lecturer’s translation)
The prohibition contains the noun oinos (οἶνος), which pertains to a fermented beverage made from the juice of grapes.
There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that non-alcoholic or pasteurized wine was used in ancient times and especially in the first century when Paul wrote Ephesians.
The verb methyskomai (μεθύσκομαι) means “to be drunk, inebriated, intoxicated with alcohol.”
The referent of the second person plural form of this verb is the recipients of this letter, who were noted many times in our study of Ephesians, were members of the Gentile Christian community living throughout the Roman province of Asia.
The word is not only referring to them as a corporate unit but also as individuals because the second person plural form of this verb is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
The meaning of the verb is negated by the negative particle me (μή), which denies any idea of the recipients of this letter being intoxicated by means of the excessive intake of wine.
The noun oinos (οἶνος) functions as a dative of means, which would indicate that the recipients of this letter were not to be intoxicated “by means of wine.”
The present imperative conjugation of the verb methyskomai (μεθύσκομαι) is a customary present imperative, which expresses the idea of the recipients of this letter “to make it their habit of” not being intoxicated by means of wine and has the force of a general precept and makes no comment about whether the action is going on or not.
However, it expresses the idea of “continuing” because Ephesians 1:15 affirm that the recipients of this epistle were exercising faith in Paul’s Spirit inspired teaching as well as practicing the love of God when interacting with each other.
In fact, the contents of Ephesians 4:20-24 also affirm they were already being obedient to Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching recorded in this epistle.
Therefore, the present imperative conjugation of this verb expresses the idea that the recipients of this letter must “continue to make it their habit” of not being intoxicated by means of the excessive intake of wine.
The passive voice of this verb methyskomai (μεθύσκομαι) is a causative or permissive passive, which indicates that the recipients of this letter were not “to permit themselves” to be drunk by means of the excessive intake of wine.
This causal clause in Ephesians 5:18 contains the relative pronoun hos (ὅς) whose referent is the noun oinos (οἶνος), “wine.”
It is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which functions as a marker of cause, which indicates that excessive intake of wine is “the basis” or “the reason” for the prohibition forbidding the recipients of this letter from being intoxicated by the excessive intake of wine.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase en hō (ἐν ᾧ) expresses the idea that the recipients of this letter must continue to make it their habit of not being intoxicated by the excessive intake of wine “because this” is characterized as non-sensical behavior.
The noun asōtia (ἀσωτία) refers to conduct, which shows a lack of concern or thought for the consequences of an action, thus it means senseless actions.
In some languages this word may be rendered as “what one does without being able to think about it,” or “what one does when the mind is absent.”
We would say that it is “non-sensical behavior.”
Or we could simply say “reckless behavior.”
Or we could simply say “a waste,” or “stupidity.”
The verb eimi (εἰμί) pertains to possessing certain characteristics, whether inherent or transitory.
The referent of the third person singular form of this verb being drunk by the excessive intake of wine.
The noun asōtia (ἀσωτία) functions as a predicate nominative, which means that it is making an assertion that the characteristic of being drunk by the excessive intake of wine is “non-sensical behavior.”
Many commentators have wrestled with this prohibition in Ephesians 5:18.
Specifically, they wrestled with the fact that Paul issued this prohibition at this point in the letter.
However, as is the case in the twenty-first century, the abuse of alcohol was quite prevalent in the first century A.D.
As was the case for the members of the Gentile Christian community in the first century, drunkenness in the twenty-first century for members of the Christian community is one of the major ways a believer can conduct their life as an unwise individual, which Paul prohibits believers from doing in Ephesians 5:17.
The recipients of this letter who were Gentile Christians living in the various cities and communities in the Roman province of Asia were very familiar with the abuse of alcohol prior to becoming Christians.
It was a major problem in the first century A.D. as it is now in the twenty-first century.
Thus, the reason for this prohibition against drunkenness here in Ephesians 5:18.
The Gentile Christians of the early church lived in the Roman Empire and were raised as pagans worshipping the Greek and Roman pantheon of gods.
One of these gods was called Dionysus.
He was also called Bacchus or in Rome, Liber.
Dionysus was the god of fruitfulness and vegetation, especially known as a god of wine and ecstasy.
The worship of Dionysus flourished long in Asia Minor.
Ephesus was located on the western coast of Asia Minor or what is now Turkey.
The worship of Dionysus flourished particularly well in Phrygia and Lydia.
The cult of Dionysus was closely associated with that of numerous Asiatic deities.
The followers of Dionysus included spirits of fertility, such as the satyrs and in his ritual the male phallus was prominent.
As the god of the vine, Dionysus or Bacchus, he was thought to communicate his power to his devotees through the intoxicating influence of wine, stimulating them to orgiastic excesses, wild dancing and music, and sexual promiscuity.
They worshipped booze and sex.
Sounds like many of our towns and cities in America.
The Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia were very much exposed to this cult and it was a part of their pagan background.
The worship of booze and sex is still around here in the 21st century.
It is a part of our hedonistic western culture.
Therefore, the apostle Paul by employing this verb methyskomai (μεθύσκομαι) is addressing an area of weakness of the recipients of this letter and specifically an area that they were quite familiar with prior to becoming Christians.
