Amos Denounces Intemperance

GOLDEN TEXT: “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.” —Romans 13:13

AMOS 2:11,12; 4:1,2; 6:1-7

THE Lord’s people in every age have been opposed to intemperance, and since this sin was one of the afflictions which had come upon Israel, Amos spoke out against it. Alcoholism seems always to be linked with other social evils, and Amos, in no uncertain tones, condemns them all, as the various lesson passages reveal.

Our Golden Text also associates drunkenness with other sins. We believe, however, that this and other similar New Testament references have a much different application than might appear from a casual reading. Many fail to notice that Paul’s Epistle to the Romans was not addressed to the unregenerate world, but “to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” (ch. 1:7) We would hardly expect such a group to need warning against drunkenness and the other evils mentioned in our Golden Text.

In chapter 12, verse 1, of this epistle, Paul writes to these who are called to be saints, and urges them to present their bodies a living sacrifice, and in verse 2 he adds, “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” The admonition of our Golden Text comprises a portion of the “perfect will of God” for his people.

“Let us walk honestly, as in the day,” Paul exhorts. In the preceding verse he states, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Here he is speaking of the long dark night of the reign of sin and death which began in Eden, and will terminate with the rising of the “Sun of Righteousness” which, during the Millennium, will dispel all the noxious vapors of sin and death, and will give light and life to all mankind.—Mal. 4:2

In Paul’s day this dark night was two-thirds in the past, so he could say it was “far spent.” The true followers of Jesus are spoken of as being the “children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness,” writes Paul. (I Thess. 5:5) We have been called out of the world, the light of the Gospel having illuminated our hearts and lives, and therefore we are to conduct ourselves accordingly.

Let us therefore “walk honestly, as in the day.” We have made a covenant with the Lord to lay down our lives in sacrifice. We are no longer being conformed to the world and its ways of darkness and wickedness. We would be dishonest with God and with ourselves if we became intoxicated with the spirit of the world, or in any way compromised with the illusive pleasures which it holds out as an inducement to the Christian to slow down in his race for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Nor are we to participate in “strife and envying.” These evils are also common in the world, and since we are endeavoring not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, we will shun selfish striving and will endeavor to be filled more and more with the spirit of love, for “love envieth not.”—I Cor. 13:4

Not only will the Christian endeavor honestly to fulfill his covenant of sacrifice, but remembering that he is one of the “children of the day,” he will try at all times to conduct himself exactly as though the new day of Christ were here, and its full blaze of light and glory filled the earth. It is a high standard, and requires a noble effort on the part of those who strive to attain it.

Obviously, those who are thus “walking honestly, as in the day” do not need to be exhorted against literal drunkenness, for this and other gross sins are repulsive to them. We can rejoice that the time is coming when the kingdom of Christ will be ruling throughout the earth and that then all mankind will be taught the advantages of righteousness, and they will learn, even as is true of the followers of the Master at the present time, to love God’s will.

In Jeremiah 31:31-34 we are promised that this will be so. Here we are told of a “New Covenant” which the Lord will make with the people, and the explanation is given that he will write his law in their inward parts. The promise also assures us that then the knowledge and observance of God’s law will be so universal that none will need to say to his neighbor, “Know the Lord: for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” Thus will the problem of alcoholism and all other evils be solved.

QUESTIONS

Have the lord’s people at any time been sympathetic toward intemperance?

To whom was the Book of Romans written?

What is the meaning of the statement in the Golden Text, “Walk honestly, as in the day”—what day?

Suggest the higher application of the remainder of the Golden Text?

When will intemperance and all other evils be ended?

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