Question:
Will you please explain Matthew 9:16, 17?
Answer:
The parable reads thus: “No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:16-17).
- God’s truth is alive, strengthening, expansive, and progressive. Throughout history, the Pharisees, trapped in rigid and lifeless forms, have been unable to understand or grasp this. This challenge has always faced those who follow human teachings. John’s disciples adhered to the customs of the Pharisees; why did Christ’s disciples not do the same? Answering that question requires looking beyond mere custom, as Jesus does in the above parables. An undressed or unwashed piece of cloth shrinks and thickens when it undergoes fulling. Although it may appear smaller, it is ultimately of greater value—so to speak, it is a living fabric. If placed over old cloth, its shrinking would tear the old material, causing more damage. The entire Jewish system had grown old, not due to God’s truth, but because truth had become mixed with human tradition, leading to a loss of life and resulting in only a distorted form remaining. God’s living truth cannot be patched onto a dead, dry form.
- Animal skins were used to make bottles. A new bottle would expand as the new wine fermented, but if new wine were placed in old, dry, rigid skins, they would surely burst. The cloth parable symbolizes the doctrines of tradition, while the wineskins represent hearts attached to those traditions. As long as they remain in that condition, they cannot receive the pure, living truth of God. Therefore, when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, saying, “You must be born again,” or “born from above,” he was referring to receiving the living truth of God. This parable does not imply that God’s truth changes or that eternal truth is discarded; instead, it emphasizes that warm, living truth cannot be patched onto human creeds and that hearts committed to those creeds cannot accept living, expansive truth. This parable is relevant for all time.
