And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”
Mark 2:22 NIV
This came in response to the Pharisees’ criticism that Jesus and his disciples were not following Jewish religious tradition. Specifically about observing their fasting times, but it could have been about any number of other traditions that Jesus ignored. It was not that the traditions themselves were bad. But Jesus had come in fulfillment of the Law and Prophets. As well as the traditions that had grown up around them. And what he was bringing could not be contained within the old way of Jewish practice.
New Wine
New wine, as it ferments, will expand and burst old wineskins. Wineskins that have already been stretched to their limit by the previous wine. In the same way, what Jesus was bringing would not fit within the old Jewish mindset. Nor would it fit within what I once was. Only when I was made new in Christ was I able to contain the new wine of his Spirit. And that is true of every person today. We will never be able to contain the new life Christ came to bring us within the old man. We must be born anew in the Spirit.
