Mark 2:22, commentary and pictures

The principles of Christ cannot be united with the forms of Pharisaism, and any effort to join His teaching to the established religion is vain. The fermenting new truth will burst the old decaying bottles of tradition, so the breach made by John's teaching is not to be closed but the separation between the old and the new made more distinct. Christ had to make a new place for His work because Jewish expectations left no place for Him.

The new wine is the living truth of heaven, the vital truth of God and knowledge of truth, the message of heaven and teaching of Christ. It is the gospel of truth and life imparted through the Holy Spirit, the light and power of God's grace and divine enlightenment. It is the goodwill of God apart from human merit and the faith that works by love and purifies the soul. It is not a new doctrine but what had been taught from the beginning through patriarchs and prophets shining out in new beauty in His words, though to the Pharisees, for whom truth had lost its original significance and beauty, it was new in almost every respect and unrecognized.

The old bottles are the Jewish leaders, priests, scribes and rulers, fixed in a rut of ceremonies, unchangeable doctrines, human traditions, customs, lifeless forms and injunctions of men. They are satisfied with a legal religion and a self-complacent, self-righteous, self-sufficient spirit that thinks its own righteousness all-sufficient, connects God's favor with its own merit because of good works, and feels no need of a Saviour. They think themselves too wise to need instruction, too righteous to need salvation, and too highly honored to need the honor that comes from Christ. Being filled with self-righteousness, self-esteem and unwillingness to learn, their hearts are contracted and rigid like dry, brittle skin bottles with no room for new wine. False teaching has destroyed their appreciation and desire for truth, so those who cling to dead forms turn away from the living truth and the power of God and have no desire for the precious new wine, and while they remain in that condition they cannot become depositaries of heavenly truth.

The new bottles are souls who gladly receive the light God sends, humble people willing to follow Him. They are such as the untutored fishermen He called, Matthew the publican at the marketplace, the Samaritan woman who was a sinner, and the common people who heard gladly. His converted disciples became such new bottles, though their limited understanding at first kept them from grasping the spiritual nature of His new kingdom teaching. All who through the grace of Christ become new are the agencies for imparting the knowledge of truth to the world, and if His people will become new bottles He will fill them with new wine.

Becoming a new bottle means changing so as to receive that light and power. It means being emptied in mind and heart of self, self-sufficiency, self-esteem, and old traditions, customs and practices. It means being surrendered to God's will, willing to be regenerated and given new and pure, holy hearts, and thus prepared for the indwelling and work of the Holy Spirit, whom God can then fill with the wine of His grace and the fullness of His presence. It means believing God has spoken to them, not quibbling or trifling over the message but trying to practice its teachings in order to receive and live in the truth.

God prepares the human mind as a new bottle to receive the new wine of truth and knowledge and further spiritual teaching when men and women hunger after knowledge for the purpose of blessing their fellow men. Those who keep learning and dig deeply are so prepared. That preparation is an expansion and development of the higher faculties, making room for greater understanding and growth so that they become deep thinkers instead of remaining satisfied with surface knowledge.