What does the Bible say about prescription drugs?
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The Bible permits the grateful, wise use of medicines while warning against intoxication, bondage, and practices that seek power apart from God. Paul’s advice in 1 Timothy 5:23 shows that a physical remedy may be rightly used for health. Yet believers belong to Christ bodily and are called to honor God with their bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), exercising sober-minded self-control (1 Peter 5:8). Drugs that impair judgment, foster dependence, or become an idol violate this calling; Scripture repeatedly condemns drunkenness and sorcery, including the deceptive pharmakeia associated with rebellion against God (Galatians 5:19-21; Revelation 18:23). Christian freedom is therefore governed by love, wisdom, and the question of what truly builds up rather than masters us (1 Corinthians 10:23).
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Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
[19] Or don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own, [20] for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
- 1 Timothy 5:23
Be no longer a drinker of water only, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities.
- 1 Peter 5:8
Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
- Galatians 5:19-21
[19] Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, [20] idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, [21] envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
- 1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
- Revelation 18:23
The light of a lamp will shine no more at all in you. The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will be heard no more at all in you; for your merchants were the princes of the earth; for with your sorcery all the nations were deceived.
- Revelation 21:8
But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."
- Ephesians 5:18
Don't be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
- Revelation 9:21
They didn't repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their sexual immorality, nor of their thefts.
- 1 Corinthians 10:23
"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are profitable. "All things are lawful for me," but not all things build up.
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