The Superiority of the New

16 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, because the patch will pull away from the garment and the tear will be worse. 17 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the skins burst and the wine is spilled out and the skins are destroyed. Instead they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.”



17 I too will answer my part,
I too will explain what I know.
18 For I am full of words,
and the spirit within me constrains me.
19 Inside I am like wine which has no outlet,
like new wineskins ready to burst!
20 I will speak, so that I may find relief;
I will open my lips, so that I may answer.

16, 17. The main thought of these verses is clear, but the exact points of the comparisons a little obscure. Is the Lord defending the disciples of John who adhere to the old ways, or defending His own disciples for breaking with them? Probably the original occasion of the sayings is lost. The metaphor of the garment is according to OT usage applied to the righteousness of the people of God. Threadbare as the Pharisaic righteousness may be, it is useless to put Christian patches upon it. The metaphor of the bottle is found in Job 32:19, and is applied to a man full of a message which he has to deliver. Neither the Pharisees nor the disciples of John were suited to be heralds of the Kingdom that the Lord proclaimed. On all this the history of the Apostolic age is the best commentary. The attempt of the Jewish Christians to patch the Pharisaic righteousness was completely unsuccessful; the Law passed away, and the Spirit took its place as the creator of the Christian character (Gal 5:22). The Pharisaic Christians, so far from becoming the evangelists of the world, were the great hinderers of St. Paul’s activity.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Levertoff, P. P. (1942). Special Introduction. In C. Gore, H. L. Goudge, & A. Guillaume (Eds.), A New Commentary on Holy Scripture: Including the Apocrypha (Vol. 3, p. 149). New York: The Macmillan Company.

Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition (Noteless); Bible. English. NET Bible (Noteless). (Ga 5:22–23) (Mt 9:16–17) (Job 32:17–19)  . Biblical Studies Press.

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