To download a printable version of this transcript, click here.
 
 
iQuestions Faculty, Dr. David Eckman 
 
 
Question: 
 
Can a Christian be an alcoholic? 
 
Answer: 
 
A Christian certainly can be an alcoholic. What I mean by that is, a 
Christian can be struggling with alcoholism. This is obvious, for 
example, when you look at the biblical text, where in Galatians chapter 
5, for instance, Christians are told to “put to death the works of the 
flesh,” the habits of the flesh, such as banqueting, such as 
drunkenness, such as carousing. All of those things are works of the 
flesh. All of those things would qualify as “drunkenness.” 
 
Those things need to be addressed by an aggressive and healthy 
spiritual life. One of the things that we need to file away is that the 
Christian and the non-Christian experience the common struggles of 
life. The Christian, though, has the beauty of having the resources of 
God the Father, the resources of the Spirit of God on his or her side. 
 
Those struggles are common to humanity—and as we use the 
resources that the Bible provides, we can effectively deal with the 
works of the flesh, the habits of the flesh, one of which is alcoholism. 
 
To download a printable version of this transcript, click here.