The short answer
Jesus used the fruit of the vine, and early Latter-day Saints used wine. Latter-day Saints use water today because Doctrine and Covenants 27 allows the emblems to vary when the ordinance is performed to remember Christ. Section 89 gave the early Saints an exception for homemade sacramental wine. Water became standard gradually and is specified in the current handbook.
Three distinctions
- The original cup. Matthew calls it the fruit of the vine. The Book of Mormon expressly calls the drink wine. Read the original accounts
- Permission and exception. Section 27 allows flexibility. Section 89 specifies the kind of wine allowed under its sacramental exception. Compare the revelations
- Practice over time. A dated 1836 record shows Joseph blessing wine. A 1906 record shows Church leaders using water. The handbook gives the current instruction. Read the timeline
What Jesus used at the Last Supper
Matthew calls the drink Jesus shared “fruit of the vine,” and Jesus connects the cup to His blood. Wine is the ordinary historical reading. Paul passes on the command to drink the cup in remembrance of Jesus. The Book of Mormon expressly says the risen Christ gave wine to the Nephites as a remembrance of His blood. The Church’s early Articles and Covenants also prescribed bread and wine and used the word wine in the prayer. Matthew 26:26–29 · 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 · 3 Nephi 18:8–11 · Doctrine and Covenants 20:75–79
There is a serious Christian argument for retaining the original emblem. Cyprian opposed a water-only cup and argued for wine mixed with water. Latin Catholic canon law still requires wine from the fruit of the vine for Mass. James Attebury likewise objects that water is outside Jesus’s example. These are arguments about whether Christ’s choice fixes the material of the ordinance. Latter-day Saints answer that question from a later revelation. Cyprian, On the Cup of the Lord, §§13–16 · Catholic Code of Canon Law, canon 924 · James Attebury
What section 27 authorized
Joseph’s history says he went to get wine for a sacrament with Newel and Sally Knight when a heavenly messenger stopped him. In a surviving early copy of the revelation, the Lord says, “it mattereth not what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink” when people partake with an eye single to His glory, remembering His body and blood. The text also limits the wine the Saints should use to what was made among them. It permits a substitute and leaves room for homemade wine. The same early text speaks of the Lord drinking the fruit of the vine in a future gathering. Early manuscript of Doctrine and Covenants 27 · Manuscript continuation · Doctrine and Covenants 27:1–5
Robert Bowman argues that permission to substitute conflicts with the exact prayer in section 20. He cites Elder Dallin H. Oaks’s instruction to say the prescribed words. Section 20 gives the prayer for wine as it was then used. Section 27 gives the rule for what can serve as the emblem. The current Church handbook puts the two together by directing the priest to use the scriptural prayer and say water in place of wine. That reading depends on accepting section 27 as revelation and the Church’s authority to apply it. Bowman, The LDS Sacrament · Oaks, The Aaronic Priesthood and the Sacrament · General Handbook, 18.9.4
What section 89 says about wine
The 1833 Word of Wisdom says wine or strong drink is generally unsuitable, makes an exception for the sacrament, then says “this should be wine” made by the Saints from grapes. Steven Lee reads that as requiring wine in the ordinance. Read with section 27, it prescribes the kind of wine allowed under the exception. The exception answers when the Saints may use wine, while section 27 answers whether wine is necessary to remember Christ’s blood. The wording and early practice both leave room for sacramental wine. Doctrine and Covenants 89:5–6 · Joseph Smith Papers, section 89 · Steven Lee, Point by Point
When water became standard
Minutes of a March 1836 solemn assembly in Kirtland record Joseph saying they would bless wine and distribute it. Wine continued in use after the Saints moved to Utah. The Church History Library traces increasing use of water in the late nineteenth century and cites a July 5, 1906 diary entry recording that the First Presidency and Twelve used water at their sacrament. That entry dates one meeting. The Church’s history places the broader shift in the early 1900s, when the Word of Wisdom was receiving more emphasis. The handbook now directs the use of clean water. March 1836 minutes · Church History Library, transition to water · Church History Topics, Word of Wisdom · General Handbook, 18.9.4
A Latter-day Saint response
“Jesus used the fruit of the vine, and the early Saints used wine too. We use water because we believe Christ authorized flexibility in section 27. Section 89 tells us what wine the Saints could use in the sacrament, and the handbook gives us the form we use today. I drink the water in remembrance of Christ’s blood. The main question is whether Christ can authorize a different emblem for the same covenant.”
