As followers of Christ, we should adopt His mindset in our approach to every aspect of our lives; this involves discontinuing the sins we previously committed to live for the will of God (1 Pet. 4:1-2). The inspired apostle Peter lists some sins that Christians no longer practice: “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries” (1 Pet. 4:3). Give some attention to the three items in this list relating to alcohol: drunkenness, revelries, and drinking parties.

            Drunkenness is rendered “excess of wine” in the KJV – the excess indicating the nature of the sin in that it involves debauchery. Notice how in 1 Peter 4:4 the KJV mentions “excess of riot” in the way that it phrases these sins. This does not mean that a little bit of riot (debauchery) is all right as long as one does not go to excess. Jesus warned, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly” (Lk. 21:34). Can one pursue a little bit of carousing and drunkenness as long as one’s heart does not become “weighed down” with such? Certainly this is not the way the Lord intends His words to be applied.

            Next, Peter mentioned “revelries” which would indicate the carousing and wild parties where alcohol would be involved in the lack of restraint. The ESV renders this word “orgies” here in 1 Peter 4:3. Perhaps the first two items that Peter listed before “drunkenness,” namely lewdness and lusts, would be pursued at such occasions. Sensuality, self-abandonment, and giving oneself over to base desires go hand in hand with the excess of alcohol consumption.

            Then, Peter mentioned “drinking parties.” What is the difference between this and “revelries”? While some overlap may certainly occur in the lists of vices in the New Testament, this word brings out a particular point. The word is in Greek is “potos” (πότος) from which we get the word potable (drinkable). BDAG, the standard Greek lexicon, defines this word as “a social gathering at which wine was served” and then explains, “In the Greco-Roman world it was customary for literati to hold banquets at which topical discussions were featured, with participants well lubricated with wine.”^[1] No wonder the KJV renders this term “banquetings” in 1 Peter 4:3. Thus, the social drink at the banquet is one activity followers of Christ have left behind to do the will of God. While many may read “drinking parties” and think of only the wild, noisy, boozing parties, the more refined banquet or toast seems to fit this description well.

            Too often those who claim to follow Christ try to fit in with the world; however, followers of Christ must be different from the world (Jn. 15:19; 17:14-16; 1 Jn. 2:15). As Christians, we will stick out. Often those who knew us before we became Christians will be surprised at the difference in our lives (1 Pet. 4:4). Notice that the Christians to whom Peter wrote these inspired words were maligned because they no longer participated in these events (1 Pet. 4:4). Some social events must be a thing of the past for the Christian.

^[1] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 857.