If It’s Legal, Can a Christian Use Marijuana?

“If marijuana is legal, can a Christian use it?”

It is a reasonable question, especially as marijuana becomes legal in more places. But I’m not sure legality gets us very far. The government can tell us whether possessing or using a particular substance violates the law. It cannot finally tell us whether using it is holy, wise, loving, or pleasing to Christ.

Lots of things are legal that Christians should not do. And Christians have obligations that civil law knows nothing about. Paul tells us that although something may be lawful, we should not be mastered by it (1 Corinthians 6:12). He also says that not everything lawful is helpful or builds others up (1 Corinthians 10:23). So the Christian question cannot simply be, “Is this legal?”

We need better questions.

Alcohol gives us an obvious place to begin because the Bible speaks about it directly. Scripture does not treat wine itself as inherently sinful. Psalm 104:14-15 speaks of wine as one of God’s provisions, Jesus turned water into wine at Cana (John 2:1-11), and Paul told Timothy to “use a little wine for the sake of your stomach” (1 Timothy 5:23). Yet Scripture is equally clear that drunkenness is sin. “Do not get drunk with wine,” Paul writes in Ephesians 5:18. Drunkenness is also included among the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:21.

The details matter. The Bible’s concern is not merely with the substance entering the body. Scripture is concerned with what happens to us.

Christians are repeatedly commanded to be sober-minded (1 Peter 5:8). Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Rather than surrendering ourselves to intoxication, Paul tells Christians to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). We should therefore ask what a substance does to our judgment, perception, restraint, and ability to exercise self-control.

This is where marijuana raises an important question that is sometimes missed when it is compared with alcohol. A person can drink a glass of wine with dinner without attempting to become drunk. But if a person uses marijuana specifically because he wants to get high, what exactly is he trying to accomplish?

That question deserves more attention than the simple comparison between marijuana and alcohol. If the recreational purpose is specifically to alter perception, judgment, or mental state, then comparing marijuana use with moderate drinking may not be the right comparison. After all, it’s possible that a marijuana user’s aim is not to get high and may regulate use to avoid that end. (I admit that I’m unfamiliar with this possibility and I don’t want the Google algorithm to go nuts with my question.) The closer comparison may be getting high and getting drunk.

But intoxication is not the only biblical category we need.

Paul says, “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12). Something does not have to make us drunk before it becomes our master. Nicotine can master a person. So can food, gambling, pornography, caffeine, work, and plenty of other things that cannot make someone intoxicated. (I am asking if my morning coffee is mastering me right now.)

So we should ask some uncomfortable questions. Can I stop? Do I get defensive when someone suggests that I stop? Am I arranging more and more of my life around this? Am I turning to it whenever I feel stressed, lonely, angry, afraid, or hurt? Am I using it, or is it using me?

Those questions apply to marijuana, alcohol, nicotine, prescription drugs, and many other substances. Christian freedom is never freedom to trade one master for another. We belong to Christ.

Purpose matters too. Morphine can relieve terrible pain following surgery. That same drug can also be abused because someone enjoys what it does to him. The chemical has not changed. The purpose and circumstances have.

The same distinction should enter our thinking about marijuana. Using THC under appropriate medical care for severe nausea or pain is a different moral question from using THC because someone wants to get high. That does not mean every medical use is automatically wise. We should still consider dosage, side effects, dependence, reasonable alternatives, and appropriate medical oversight. But medicine and recreational intoxication are not the same moral category.

This also helps us think about drugs the Bible never names. Scripture does not mention methamphetamine, fentanyl, vaping, or a long list of modern substances. We do not need a Bible verse naming every chemical compound before Christians can judge them morally. Scripture gives us categories to think in: sobriety, self-control, wisdom, freedom from mastery, stewardship, love for others, and the glory of God.

And love for others matters more than our culture of individual liberty likes to admit.

Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 teach Christians to consider how exercising our freedom affects other believers. Paul writes, “It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble” (Romans 14:21). A stumbling block is not simply something another Christian dislikes. Paul is concerned that my exercise of liberty might entice another believer to violate his conscience and fall into sin.

Suppose a friend spent years enslaved to alcohol. You know watching you drink creates a serious temptation for him. You might have the liberty to drink that bourbon. But Christian love may mean leaving it in the cupboard.

Christian liberty asks, “May I?” Christian love also asks, “Should I, here?”

Then there is conscience. Romans 14 teaches that a Christian should not knowingly act against his conscience. “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). If I genuinely believe doing something would dishonor God and I do it anyway, I have chosen to do what I believe displeases him.

But conscience is not Scripture. A conscience can be too strict or too loose. Culture, family tradition, past experiences, or poor teaching can badly inform it. We should not violate our consciences, but we should not enthrone them either. Our consciences need to be educated and corrected by the Word of God.

All of this makes the marijuana question more complicated than we might like. I cannot simply say, “It is legal, therefore it is fine.” Nor is it enough to ask whether the Bible contains the word marijuana.

We need to ask whether we can remain sober-minded. Are we intentionally surrendering clear judgment or self-control? Is this substance beginning to master us? Are we using it medicinally or pursuing intoxication? How does our choice affect the people around us? Can we do it with a clear conscience? Can we honestly receive it with thanksgiving and do it “to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)?

Those questions also work remarkably well for alcohol, nicotine, prescription medications, and many other substances.

The Christian life is not governed merely by what we can legally get away with. We belong to Jesus. That changes the question. Instead of asking, “Am I allowed to do this?” we should ask how someone who belongs to Christ ought to use his freedom.