View source for Religion:New Wine into Old Wineskins

{{Short description|Parable taught by Jesus of Nazareth according to Christian gospels}}
[[File:Niko Pirosmani. Porter with a Wineskin. Diptych. Oil on oil-cloth, 51x34 cm. The State Museum of Fine Arts of Georgia, Tbilisi.jpg|thumb|161px|''Porter with a Wineskin'', by Niko Pirosmani (before 1919)]]
'''New Wine into Old Wineskins''' (''οἶνον νέον εἰς ἀσκοὺς παλαιούς'', lit.: '''New Wine into Old Bags''') is a parable of Jesus. It is found at Matthew 9 ({{bibleref2|Matthew|9:14-17}}), Mark 2 ({{bibleref2|Mark|2:18-22}}), and Luke 5 ({{bibleref2|Luke|5:33-39}}).

==Passage==
The parables follow the recruitment of Levi as a disciple of [[Biography:Jesus|Jesus]], and appear to be part of a discussion at a banquet held by him ({{bibleref2|Luke|5:29}}).<ref name="Green">Joel B. Green, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=koYlW6IoOjMC&pg=PA248 The Gospel of Luke]'', Eerdmans, 1997, {{ISBN|0-8028-2315-7}}, pp. 248-250.</ref> The parables are told in response to a question about [[Philosophy:Fasting#Christianity|fasting]]:
{{Quote|And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.|{{bibleref2|Luke|5:33-35|KJV}}, KJV}}

Jesus' response continues with the two short parables. Luke has the more detailed version:
{{Quote|And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.|{{bibleref2|Luke|5:36-39|KJV}}, KJV}}

==Interpretation==
The two parables relate to the relationship between Jesus' teaching and traditional [[Religion:Judaism|Judaism]].<ref name="JE"/> According to some interpreters, Jesus here "pits his own, new way against the old way of the Pharisees and their scribes."<ref name="Green"/> In the early second century, [[Biography:Marcion of Sinope|Marcion]], founder of [[Religion:Marcionism|Marcionism]], used the passage to justify a "total separation between the religion that Jesus and Paul espoused and that of the Hebrew Scriptures."<ref>Joseph B. Tyson, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=MU2U08v6aq0C&pg=PA32 Marcion and Luke-Acts: A defining struggle]'', University of South Carolina Press, 2006, {{ISBN|1-57003-650-0}}, p. 32.</ref>

Other Interpreters of the Torah observing community would state that this new skin represents a new body as we die to our old self, and then we see the new wine symbolises a new spirit, which is the spirit of God in us, the new wine into a new body, could also be seen as the resurrection into a new body then having a new spirit, but it seems to be more indicating to the baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit, a new you with a new spirit leading you after a godly life after his Torah in love.

Other interpreters see Luke as giving [[Religion:Christianity|Christianity]] roots in Jewish antiquity,<ref name="Green"/> although "Jesus has brought something new, and the rituals and traditions of official Judaism cannot contain it."<ref name="RTF">R. T. France, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ttTgacXnLV8C&pg=PA169 The Gospel According to Matthew: An introduction and commentary]'', Eerdmans, 1985, {{ISBN|0-8028-0063-7}}, p. 169.</ref>

In his commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke,<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/calvin/cc31/cc31084.htm Calvin's Commentaries], Vol. 31: Matthew, Mark and Luke, Part I</ref> [[Biography:John Calvin|John Calvin]] says this is part of the larger answer Christ is making to the Pharisees about the fact his disciples did not fast twice a week as they did, and as the disciples of [[Biography:John the Baptist|John the Baptist]] did (Calvin also points out that the Pharisees were using it as a way to create a division between Jesus and John). In the first part of the answer, he illustrates through a marriage situation: it would be ridiculous to fast during the event which used to last a week in their culture, especially when you are with the groom. Christ (which means "messiah") is the groom, so there is no point for them to fast, only to rejoice. Calvin then states that both distinctions (old and new wine and wineskins as well as the old and new garment) are the mentality and oral tradition left by the Pharisees which is not in accord with the proper teachings of the law, as Jesus was preaching. So those who follow Jesus should abandon their old (and bad) views on how they must obey the law, and not the oral tradition with what Jesus was preaching. But especially the Pharisees had a taste for it, and it blocked their minds to recognize what Jesus was teaching them. <ref name="CalvinXVI408">Calvin's Commentary, Volume XVI, Baker: Grand Rapids, 1981, p. 408; also [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom31.ix.lxxvi.html online].</ref>

Based on parallel rabbinic sayings found in Pirkei Avot, one interpreter sees the parable as depicting the difficulty of teaching disciples with prior learning as compared to teaching new, uneducated disciples.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lancaster|first1=D. Thomas|title=New Wine and Old Wineskins|url=http://www.bethimmanuel.org/articles/new-wine-and-old-wineskins-parable-luke-536-39-re-examined|website=Beth Immanuel|date=17 August 2015|access-date=18 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Lancaster|first1=D. Thomas|title=Chronicles of the Messiah, Book 2|date=2014|publisher=First Fruits of Zion|isbn=978-1-892124-77-7|pages=381–386|edition=2nd}}</ref>

The metaphors in the two parables were drawn from contemporary culture.<ref name="JE">James R. Edwards, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=0MjWS_4La_EC&pg=PA91 The Gospel According to Mark]'', Eerdmans, 2002, {{ISBN|0-85111-778-3}}, pp. 91-92.</ref> New cloth had not yet shrunk, so that using new cloth to patch older clothing would result in a tear as it began to shrink.<ref name="Keener">Craig S. Keener, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=sWzhEdBZOp4C&pg=PA300 A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew]'', Eerdmans, 1999, {{ISBN|0-8028-3821-9}}, pp. 300-301.</ref> Similarly, old wineskins had been "stretched to the limit"<ref name="Keener"/> or become brittle<ref name="JE"/> as wine had fermented inside them; using them again therefore risked bursting them.<ref name="Keener"/>

Cornelius a Lapide in his ''great commentary''<ref>{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide |volume=4 |first=Johannes Peter Van  |last=Kasteren}}</ref> gives the traditional interpretation of this parable, writing that: "Christ shows by a threefold similitude, that His disciples must not fast when He was present. 1. By the parable of the Spouse and the wedding. 2. Of the old and new garment. 3. Of the new wine, and the old bottles of skin. The sense is this: 'As new wine, or must, by the violence of its fermenting spirit, and its heat, bursts the old skins, because they are worn and weak, and so there is a double loss, both of wine and skins; therefore new wine must be poured into new skins, that, being strong, they may be able to bear the force of the must: so in like manner, new austerities and [[Philosophy:Fasting|fasts]] must not be imposed as yet upon My disciples, lest their spirits should be broken, and they depart from Me. But I wait for the coming of the Holy Ghost at [[Religion:Pentecost|Pentecost]].'"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V4E9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA360|title=The Great Commentary of Cornelius À Lapide: S. Matthew's gospel, chaps. 1-9|first=Cornelius|last=Lapide|year=1908|publisher=J. Grant}}</ref>

==See also==
{{wikt|old wine in a new bottle|new wine in an old bottle}}
* Abrogation of Old Covenant laws
* Biblical law in Christianity
* [[Religion:Covenant (biblical)|Covenant (biblical)]]
* [[Religion:New Commandment|New Commandment]]
* [[Religion:New Covenant|New Covenant]]
* Split of early Christianity and Judaism
* [[Religion:Supersessionism|Supersessionism]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

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[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Judaism in the New Testament]]

{{Sourceattribution|New Wine into Old Wineskins}}