No, the Bible does not make this claim. Neither does the Bible consider alcoholism to be a sin. The Bible, in fact, knows nothing of homosexuality or alcoholism. The Bible does, however, clearly condemn the practice of that peculiar perversion Paul addresses in Romans 1, “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one for another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due” (verses 26-27). In like manner, of course, the Bible time and again condemns drunkenness, but knows nothing of the disease model we have learned to embrace, where we turn sinful behavior into an illness, and seek instead of repentance, perpetual recovery from a disease.
Certainly it is likely that any sinful temptation that we give in to time and again will one day become a besetting sin. There is in turn nothing wrong with noting a given weakness to a given temptation. The problem is when we turn the temptation into an excuse for the sin. Drunkards, biblically speaking, do not drink too much because they are drunkards. Instead they are drunkards because they drink too much. Sodomites, in turn, do not practice their perversion because they are perverts. Rather they are perverts because of the perversion they practice.
Those who seek to justify their sin on the basis of their temptation often will in turn in their sin seek to undo the plain teaching of the Bible as to the sinfulness of their behavior. In our day we have seen more and more brazen attempts to muddy up the plain judgment of God on the sodomite perversion. Both liberal and even some neo-evangelical churches have negotiated away God’s condemnation, and thus brought God’s condemnation on themselves. The exegesis that argues that God only judges ceremonial acts of perversion, or promiscuous acts of perversion is an eisegesis of desperation, akin to suggesting that drunkenness is only a sin on the Lord’s Day, or only for those who don’t like the taste of alcohol.
The Bible affirms that those who practice the works of the flesh, which include sexual perversity and drunkenness, will not inherit the kingdom of God (see Galatians 5: 19-21). These are among those sins that are compelling evidence, when they are practiced, of unbelief. This, however, does not make those caught up in these sins beyond the power of the grace of God. The answer to these problems is the answer to every sin problem, repentance and belief. Our job as believers then is to call those caught up to repent and believe. We in turn must remember that we too must repent and believe. We have to remember that whatever the sin, no matter how odd it might seem, there but for the grace of God go we. And sometimes, even with the grace of God, go we.
We must remember our own sins, even as we faithfully call sinners to repent. Whether with ourselves or others, we must allow the Bible to define sin, turning neither to the left nor to the right. We condemn what God condemns, and affirm what God affirms. He condemns perversion, and affirms that such were once we, but we have been called out of the darkness into His marvelous light. May He grant us the grace to call other sinners like us out.
