Can Christians drink Coffee, Tea, and Alcohol?

Latter-day Saints are required to adhere to a set of rules laid out by Mormon Apostles summarized in the “Word of Wisdom”. These requirements restrict faithful Mormons from drinking certain beverages such as alcohol, coffee, and tea.

Latter-day Saints must perform Temple Works in order to gain entrance into the Celestial Kingdom. But in order for a Mormon to be worthy of entering a Temple, he or she must obey the Word of Wisdom. This essentially makes abstaining from these drinks prerequisites for eternal life.

But is that what the Bible teaches? Does God permit consumption of coffee, tea and even alcohol?

All food has been made “clean” by God

It is true that under the Law of Moses, God commanded His people to abstain from eating certain foods that were deemed “unclean”. These laws were given, as it says in Leviticus 11

“to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean…” (Leviticus 11:47).

Faithful Israelites abstained from eating foods such as rabbits, shellfish, and pork while under the Old Covenant. But after the resurrection of Jesus, the Old Covenant was replaced by a new and better one (Hebrews 8:6, 13)! This New Covenant affected every part of the godly person’s life—even the food that he may consume.

In the early days of the Christian Church, The Apostle Peter was told in a vision that the Old Covenant dietary restrictions no longer applied to believers.

“Then a voice told him, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’  ‘Surely not, Lord!’ Peter replied. ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’  The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’” (Acts 10:13-15).

In essence, Peter was told that no food should still be considered unclean because now God has made it clean. From that day on, Christians have been free to eat any of the foods previously prohibited by the Law. 

Christians are free to eat and drink without judgment.

Jesus taught that it isn’t what we eat that makes us clean, but rather what comes out of our heart. The Gospel of Mark says,

“Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.  Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.’  After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ‘Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?  For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)” (Mark 7:14-19).

Jesus taught that all foods were clean for us to eat. No Christian should be bound to any system that adds extra-biblical restrictions on what we consume. A person could certainly commit the sin of drunkenness by indulging in too much alcohol, or even “gluttony” by eating too much food, but the moderate consumption of such things is in no way deserving of judgment. 

There’s nothing inherently sinful about coffee, tea, or alcohol, and therefore no one should be judged for drinking them. The Apostle Paul writes: 

One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. (Romans 14:2–3).

And:

“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.” (Colossians 2:16).

 A person may have a personal conviction to abstain from any number of “clean” foods, for any number of reasons. But a personal conviction is different than a legalistic demand.

False teachers will add extra-biblical requirements on what a person may eat or drink.

The Bible tells us that we should expect that false teachers will attempt to convince people to renounce certain foods and other perfectly appropriate practices. Paul warns that some false teachers will try to 

“…forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:1–5).

One of the marks of a false teacher is that they add requirements that are not expressly laid out in the Bible. Mormon leaders do this very thing when they forbid the drinking of coffee, tea, and alcohol.

Christians Are Not Worthy Because of What We Drink

Most importantly, What we eat and what we drink is not enough to make us worthy in God’s sight. Only by trusting in Jesus alone for eternal life can we be made worthy before the Lord. All have sinned (Romans 3:23), and the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23)

When the Jews, who were well acquainted with the strict dietary restrictions of the Law asked Jesus, 

“What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (John 6:28–29).

The work of God is not abstaining from coffee, not practicing a list of worthiness requirements, but is belief in Jesus.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17).