Keith Mathison On the Use of Wine Rather Than Grape Juice for the Supper

Keith Mathison lays out a solid case for the retention of the use of fermented wine for the sacrament of the Lord's supper: 

THESIS

 The use of wine in the New Testament descriptions of, and prescriptions for, the Lord's Supper is unambiguously clear. It simply isn't a point of dispute between competent biblical scholars. The use of wine in the Lord's Supper was also an undisputed practice for over 1800 years of church history. It was agreed upon by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants. Among Protestants it was agreed upon by Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists, and others. But today, in the United States, most Evangelical churches have, without any good reason for doing so, substituted grape juice for the biblically mandated and historically accepted element of wine. Surprisingly, this is common even among churches whose confessional standards clearly state that bread and wine are the elements to be used in the observation of the Lord's Supper. The substitution of grape juice for wine cannot be justified on any legitimate grounds. It cannot be justified biblically, and it cannot be justified historically. It can only be justified by the arbitrary setting aside of Scripture and centuries of church history in favor of an ascetic fundamentalism which sets itself up as a higher standard of purity and holiness than God's own word.

Click here to read the ful article and subsequent sections of the argument:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4