New Wine in Old Wine Skins: A Parable Explained
The parable of new wine in old wineskins, recorded in Matthew 9:17, Mark 2:22, and Luke 5:37-38, illustrates the incompatibility of Jesus's new covenant teachings with the rigid, outdated practices of the old covenant [1, 2]. This parable is often presented alongside another, similar parable about new cloth on an old garment, both emphasizing that Jesus did not come to merely patch up or reform existing traditions, but to introduce a fundamentally new way of life and understanding [7, 8].
In the ancient world, wineskins were typically made from animal hides, often goatskins, which were prepared and sealed to hold liquids [5, 6]. New wineskins were pliable and could expand as new wine fermented, releasing gases and increasing in volume. Old wineskins, however, would have become stiff and brittle over time. If new, fermenting wine were poured into old, inflexible skins, the pressure from the fermentation process would cause the old skins to burst, resulting in the loss of both the wine and the container [1, 2, 6]. As Adam Clarke explains, "These old bottles would not be able to stand the fermentation of the new wine, as the old sewing would be apt to give way" [6].
Jesus's parables, including this one, are listed among many others in biblical topical guides [3]. The immediate context for the parable in the Gospels is a discussion about fasting. John's disciples and the Pharisees questioned why Jesus's disciples did not fast. Jesus responded by explaining that it was inappropriate for the wedding guests to fast while the bridegroom was still with them, implying that his presence was a time for celebration, not mourning or ascetic practices [7]. He then followed this with the parables of the new patch on an old garment and the new wine in old wineskins.
The "new wine" in the parable is widely interpreted as representing the teachings, spirit, and new covenant inaugurated by Jesus Christ [7, 8]. This includes the "love of God," the "blessings of the new covenant," and the "Gospel" itself [10]. The "old wineskins" are understood to symbolize the established religious systems, traditions, and legalistic interpretations prevalent in Judaism at the time, particularly those upheld by the Scribes and Pharisees [4, 10]. These "old customs of the old covenant are incompatible with the new arrival of God’s Kingdom" [7].
John Gill, a Baptist/Reformed commentator, explains that by "old bottles," Jesus refers to the Scribes and Pharisees, who were "settled upon the old principle of self-righteousness" [4]. He further elaborates that these individuals, like old wineskins, were "in time decayed, waxed old, and became unfit for use" [4]. The new wine, representing the Gospel, would not be received by "carnal men" who clung to their old ways [10]. If the new wine of the Gospel were forced into these old, rigid structures, it would lead to destruction, as the old systems would be unable to contain the dynamic, transformative power of Jesus's message [1, 2, 10]. Both the old and the new would be ruined [8].
The parable thus conveys that Jesus did not come to simply modify or extend the existing religious framework. Instead, he brought a radical new reality that required a new framework to contain it [8]. The Kingdom of God, as Tyndale House notes, "brings a whole new orientation to thinking and living" [8]. This new orientation could not be confined within the brittle, inflexible structures of the old covenant's legalism and traditions. Trying to do so would result in the destruction of both the new message and the old system [8].
Luke's account adds a unique detail: "No man also having drunk old wine, straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better" (Luke 5:39) [9]. This proverbial expression, recorded only by Luke, suggests that those accustomed to the "old wine" of their established ways might not immediately desire the "new wine" of the Gospel [9]. John Gill interprets this as referring to "natural men, who having drunk the old wine of their carnal lusts and pleasures, do not desire the new wine of the Gospel, and of the grace of God, and of spiritual things" [9]. This highlights the human tendency to prefer the familiar and comfortable, even when a superior alternative is presented.
The parable underscores the fundamental shift from the old covenant to the new. It is not merely a call for minor adjustments but for a complete embrace of the new reality brought by Christ. The old covenant, with its emphasis on law and ritual, was a preparation, but the new covenant, centered on grace and a transformed heart, demanded a new vessel [7, 8]. The message is one of discontinuity and transformation, indicating that the new life offered by Jesus requires a new spiritual capacity and openness, rather than an attempt to fit it into outdated forms.
Sources
- Matthew “Neither do people put new wine into old wine skins, or else the skins would burst, and the wine be spilled, and the skins ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved.” -- Matthew 9:17”
- Mark “No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine pours out, and the skins will be destroyed; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins.” -- Mark 2:22”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Parables — Remarkable Parables of the Old Testament -- Jdj 9:8-15; 2Sa 12:1-4; 14:5-7. Parables of christ Wise and foolish builders. -- Mt 7:24-27. Children of the bride chamber. -- Mt 9:15. New cloth and old garment. -- Mt 9:16. New wine and old bottles. -- Mt 9:17. Unclean spirit. -- Mt 12:43. Sower. -- Mt 13:3-23; Lu 8:5-15. Tares. -- Mt 13:24-30,36-43. Mustard-seed. -- Mt 13:31,32; Lu 13:19. Leaven. -- Mt 13:33. Treasure hid in a field. -- Mt 13:44. Pearl of great price. -- Mt 13:45,46. Net cast into the sea. -- Mt 13:47-50. Meats defiling not. -- Mt 15:10-15. Un”
- Matthew (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Matthew 9:16: Neither do men put new wine into old bottles,.... As in the former parable, our Lord exposes the folly of the Scribes and Pharisees, in their zealous attachment to the traditions of the elders; so in this, he gives a reason why he did not call these persons by his Gospel, who were settled upon the old principle of self-righteousness, but sinners, whom he renews by his Spirit and grace: for by "old bottles" are meant, the Scribes and Pharisees. The allusion is to bottles, made of the skins of beasts, which in time decayed, waxed old, and became unfit for use: such wer”
- Job (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Job 32:19: My belly is as wine which hath no vent - New wine in a state of effervescence. Like new bottles - Bottles, or rather bags, made of goat-skins. The head and shanks being cut off, the animal is cased out of the skin. The skin is then properly dressed; the anus and four shank holes properly tied up; and an aperture left at the neck or in some other place for the liquor to be poured in, and drawn out. One of these now lies before me, well tanned, and beautifully ornamented, and capable of holding many gallons. They are used, not only to carry wine and water, but for butte”
- Luke (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Luke 5:37: The new wine will burst the bottles - These old bottles would not be able to stand the fermentation of the new wine, as the old sewing would be apt to give way. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the eastern bottles are made of skins; generally those of goats.”
- Mark (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Mark 2:21: 2:21-22 Old customs of the old covenant are incompatible with the new arrival of God’s Kingdom. Common experience shows that an unshrunken new patch sewn on old clothing will tear the old cloth as it shrinks. Similarly, brittle old wineskins will burst when new wine ferments in them. Jesus’ meaning was that the fasting of the old cannot mix with the feasting of the new.”
- Luke (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Luke 5:36: 5:36-38 a new garment . . . new wine: New cloth shrinks when washed and so tears the old; new wine expands with fermentation and breaks brittle old wineskins. In either case, both old and new are ruined. Both illustrations make the point that the old is incompatible with the new. Jesus did not come to patch up the old covenant, but to establish a new one. The Kingdom of God brings a whole new orientation to thinking and living.”
- Luke (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Luke 5:38: No man also having drunk old wine,.... "Wine", though not in the text, is rightly supplied by our translators, as it is by the Syriac and Persic versions: straightway desireth new; new wine: for he saith, the old is better; old wine is more grateful, more generous, and more reviving to the spirits, than new wine is. This is a proverbial expression, and which Luke only records; which may be applied to natural men, who having drunk the old wine of their carnal lusts and pleasures, do not desire the new wine of the Gospel, and of the grace of God, and of spiritual thin”
- Mark (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Mark 2:21: And no man putteth new wine into old bottles,.... By "old bottles" are meant, the Scribes and Pharisees, the whole, which needed not a physician, and the righteous, Christ came not to call; and by new wine, either the love of God, which is not shed abroad in the hearts of such persons; or the blessings of the new covenant, which are not bestowed upon them; or the Gospel, which brings an account of both, which is not received by carnal men: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: the Gospel will only fill them ”