Recently I was thinking about how Jesus brought forth New revelation during His ministry, and I started looking at the times "new" was used in the New Testament, and I thought that would be a good reflection and study theme. Today is the first focused time on this theme, and I will look to the first mention of "new" in the NT found in Matthew 9:14-17 NIV:
[14]"Then John's disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”
[15] Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
[16] “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. [17] Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
The "new wine" statement is included in the three synoptic Gospels, also found at Mark 2:21-22 and Luke 5:36-39. This was clearly an important idea, and my understanding has been that Jesus is essentially laying the ground-work or foundational principals of the New Covenant here. His ministry was constantly confounding to the teachers and experts of the Law, and the church was definitely going to require a different understanding and way of life if it was to prosper.
In the Luke version, Jesus speaks of how the people prefer the old wine (See Luke 5:39), and this seems to me to clearly reference the Jewish preference for the Law. In fact, one of the first real conflicts in the newly birthed church had to do with how much of the Old Covenant Law was supposed to be carried over into this New Covenant. They had a council in Jerusalem, see Acts 15, and issued a statement recorded in Acts 15:23-28 that essentially limited the carryover to sexual immorality, food sacrificed to idols, blood, and the meat of strangled animals. The Law and its extras comprised some 600+ items by this point, and we can see how few were actually passed to the New Covenant believers. Later, Paul showed the latter couple really weren't hard and fast either.
However, after this time there arose the circumcision party, a group of New Covenant believers that started pulling back into the NEW, some expectations from the old. They were essentially saying they were "better" Christians because they were circumcised. They were so influential that Peter even became ensnared in this way of thinking. While this is a great example of the "Gospel-plus" ideology, it also represents an old wine skin. Paul correctly saw this as an affront to the Gospel of Grace, and strongly fought against this type of thinking, ultimately winning the struggle. In my opinion, this is the first of many times the "New Wine" was in danger of being ruined.
Thinking through the impact of the requirement for circumcision, this would have severely limited the expansion of the Gospel to mostly the Jews. Even worse it would have destroyed the foundation of the Gospel of Grace and turned it into a Gospel of works, which is clearly not the Gospel Jesus proclaimed, bled, died and rose from the dead to proclaim. This would just be a reworking of the Old Covenant of the Law.
In our humanness and weakness, it seems we prefer a Gospel of works over a Gospel of grace. We like to keep score, we like to judge others, we like lists, and the Gospel of Grace sounds too good to be true! Put another way, we tend to prefer a covenant of rules over a covenant of relationship. Jesus came proclaiming a new Kingdom reality and a New Covenant, and its key cornerstone was relationship with Him, The Father and Holy Spirit. The Jews wanted a military leader, a new king with good laws, (or one that fulfilled the Old Covenant Laws), and Jesus came proclaiming a heavenly Kingdom that was primarily established and grown in the hearts of His followers. There was no geographical boundaries to this Kingdom, nor rite of citizenship, save belief and faith. His Kingdom was open to all, regardless of race, gender, nationality, or situation. This was clearly a "New Wineskin" and it caused people to have to think differently.
I am so grateful for Paul, and his ability to layout the thought and logic, if you will, of this New Covenant, this Gospel of Grace. He understood it and was able to present it and defend it in such an effective way that we still can understand it and live our lives embracing this Gospel and living as part of this Heavenly Kingdom. Paul, clearly helped by the Holy Spirit, provided an understanding of this "New Wineskin" and "New Wine" that flowed within it. He defended both and provided the clear teaching and understanding required for generations to continue to follow this way of life. Interestingly, before being names Christians, the followers of this new faith were called "The Way". This was understood to be a "new way of life".
My encouragement today is to spend some time reflecting on how this new way of life, this "new wine" and "new wineskin" are applicable to my life. I am encouraged to spend some time thinking about why we do what we do in church. I am encouraged to look at my own thinking regarding my faith, to understand where I am allowing old ways of thinking to influence new reality and new revelation. I am encouraged to look at my own approach to my life as a Christian to see where I might be following a gospel of rules, rather than embracing relationship with the Lord! Oh Lord, help me!
Amen!
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