Bible Study series: Luke 5:33-39. New wine in old wineskins?
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 5:33-39
33 They said to him, “The disciples of John fast frequently and offer prayers, just like those of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink!” 34 But Jesus said to them, “No one is able to make the wedding guests of the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them, can they? 35 But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them; then they’ll fast in those days.”
36 He continued telling them an illustration: “No one, after he tears off a patch from the new garment, puts it on an old garment! Otherwise, the new one will also tear, and the patch from the new one will not match the old one! 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if you do, the new wine will burst the wineskins, it’ll spill out, and the wineskin will be ruined! 38 But new wine must be put into a new wineskin. 39 And no one who drinks the old wants the new. He says, ‘The old is better.’” (Luke 5:33-39)
Comments:
33:
“They said to him”: In the previous section, the Pharisees and teachers of the law criticized Jesus’s behavior because he ate with tax collectors and sinners. Now the conversation is carried forward. They find fault with his behavior in other areas. They did not like Jesus’s free-wheeling and free-dealing license of living it up, while the disciples of John and the Pharisees don’t do such frivolous things. They fast and offer prayers. Fasting was commanded on special occasions (Lev. 16:29-34; 23:26-32; Num. 29:7-11). Individual fasts were done for God’s deliverance (2 Sam. 12:16-20; 1 Kings 21:27; Ps. 35:13; 69:10. Others fasted to turn aside calamity (Judg. 20:26; 1 Sam. 7:6; 1 Kings 21:9; Jer. 36:6, 9; 2 Chron. 20:3-4). Isaiah said fasting should be done accompanied by justice and good works and releasing those in bondage (Is. 58).
“disciples”: see v. 31 for more comments.
“prayers”: it means “entreaty, supplication, prayer” (see Luke 1:13 and 2:37).
Let’s look at the practice of fasting from a biblical point of view.
There are all sorts of ways to fast:
Eating no food, but drinking water, which is standard;
No food and no water, but only for a short time (Acts 9:9);
No delicacies (Dan. 10:3);
And anything in between.
In the OT the purposes of fasting were, as follows:
Preparing for God’s law (Ex. 34:28; Dt. 9:9, 18);
Preparing for the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29, 31);
Showing grief at time of death (1 Sam. 31:13; 2 Sam. 1:12);
Showing remorse for sin (1 Kings 21:27; Neh. 9:1; Ps. 35:13);
Praying in time of national need (2 Chron. 20:3; Ezr. 8:21; Est. 4:16; Joel 2:15-17);
Praying for personal reasons (2 Sam. 12:16, 21; Neh. 1:4; Dan. 9:3-4);
But be warned: prophets criticized fasting for outward show (Is. 58:3-7; Jer. 14:12; Zec. 7:4-10).
In the NT, the purposes of fasting were as follows:
Jesus fasted to overcome temptation and prepare for his ministry (Matt. 4:1-11 // Luke 4:1-13);
Saul fasted after his conversion to humble himself and work out the massive change in his worldview (Acts 9:9);
Part of worship (Acts 13:2);
Preparing for ministry (Acts 13:1-3; 14:23);
Sending off for ministry (Acts 13:3; 14:23);
Jesus’s disciples did not fast while he was there, but when he was gone, they would fast (Matt. 9:14-15);
Jesus criticized fasting for its outward show (Matt. 6:16-18; Luke 18:9-14).
The Right Attitude and Practice in Fasting
You can look up those verses to expand on those reasons. It is interesting, however, that nowhere does it say in the NT that believers should fast to prove their remorse and sorrow for sin. Forgiveness is not added to or enhanced by our outer show of works (fasting is a religious work). Forgiveness of sins is received by repentance and faith in Jesus (Acts 13:38).
In this verse, “by combining prayer and fasting, the hope was that God would answer, as often fasting accompanied confession and intercession” (Bock, p. 515).
What Is Biblical Intercession?
34:
In this section about the old and the new, from here on, Jesus will be the center of these illustrations. He will be the bridegroom and the new.
Jesus is the bridegroom. The kingdom of God has broken through, by his coming. While he is with the wedding guests (literally “sons”), it would be out of place for them to be severe and austere with fastings and offering prayers of pleading and begging. It is time to celebrate. In Greek the question is formulated to expect the answer, “No, no one can make them fast.”
“The images of the groom and wedding express God’s relationship to his people and are often used to allude to messianic times (Isa. 54:5-6; 62:4-5; Jer. 2:2; Ezek. 16; Hos. 2:14-23 …) The end-time association existed in Judaism, and the image was also used by John the Baptist (John 3:29). Interestingly enough, Jesus’ questioners make reference to John’s disciples. Jesus is alluding to the nature of the times and to his own role by this picture. The end has begun to draw near” (Bock, p. 517).
35:
So when will the bridegroom be taken? It is his death on the cross and burial in the tomb. The disciples were scared. Would they be arrested also, as revolutionaries? No doubt they fasted, though not ritually, and offered prayers. The point is that the celebrations were over. Now what happens at the resurrection? Relief and celebrations. He even ate fish with them, after he cooked it. Then what happens at the ascension? They had to get on with the work of preaching Jesus and the kingdom of God. Now it is time for regular fasting and prayer. Jesus was not against regular prayer and fasting after his ascension. So why mention this issue at all?
Let’s take a step back. The image of the groom and wedding often comes in the context of messianic times (Is. 54:5-6; 62:4-5; Jer. 2:2; Ezek. 16; Hos. 2:14-23). Even in Judaism at the time of Jesus the association between the metaphor of wedding and the Messianic Age was known. God is portrayed as the bridegroom of his people. Fasting was appropriate to usher in the Messianic Age, but now it is here. No need to fast to bring it in. Jesus is hinting—for those with enough biblical knowledge—that the Messiah is right here, in front of them. While he is, let’s celebrate. Jesus presence with them is the key. No fasting. When he is taken from them, then fasting can be done.
Luke and other NT authors use the “already” and “not yet” aspect of the kingdom through the wedding and marriage imagery. It is already here, but it is not here in its fulness: (Luke 12:35-36; Matt. 22:1; 25:1; Eph. 5:23-33; Rev. 19:7; 21:2). Those verses in the Revelation describe the kingdom that is here in its fulness.
See my post about the already and not yet of the kingdom
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
36:
“illustration”: What is a parable?
A parable puts two or more images or ideas alongside each other to produce a clear truth. It is a story or narrative or short comparison that reveals the kingdom of God and the right way to live in it and the Father’s ways of dealing with humanity and his divine plan expressed in his kingdom and life generally. Here you must see yourself in the parable.
The next illustration is designed to look absurd. It is abrupt. No one tears off a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old one! Leave the new one intact. If you do not, then the new and old will not match.
“match”: In this verse, the new and the old don’t fit or match. Jesus is the new, and the old is Judaism and the old law. The way of the Pharisees and the teacher of the law, with their interpretations and maintaining the traditions—one interpretation piled on top of another—has to be thrown out. Or at least the new garment cannot be used to repair the old. There’s a mismatch.
“The continuation of the story in Acts makes it evident that it is only an exclusionary Judaism that focuses only on preserving the old, that is at odds with the new. Jesus’ emphasis on inclusion and growth stretches the fiber of Judaism to its limits until it rips” (Garland, comment on 5:36).
“The Book of Acts will chronicle the growth understanding in some detail, especially as it related to circumcision, food laws, and Gentiles. Acts will argue two points at once. A good Jew should become a Christian in continuity with the OT promise (Acts 13:16-41), but what comes is new, too (Acts 10:1-11:18). Jesus brings discontinuity in the midst of continuity” (Bock p. 520).
37:
Wineskins were made of treated and groomed animal skins, and the neck of the animal was used for the opening of the large container. After a while, the skin became brittle. Putting new wine, which expanded with fermentation, would burst the old brittle skin.
Obvious parallel: Jesus is the new wine, and old Judaism is the brittle wineskin. God is doing a new thing. You see, you have to imagine Pharisees and teachers of the law roaming the country and going into towns—sometimes living in them—dishing out rules and regulations on how to keep the law. As noted, they read their history in the Hebrew Bible. They knew that God had judged their nation because the ancient Israelites broke the laws of the covenant (together called the law of Moses). So their motives were honorable. But things just got too complicated.
Now Jesus comes along, to take God’s way with man in a new direction. He is currently ushering in the new kingdom, the new covenant. God is in the process of leaving behind the old. With the cross, the resurrection and the ascension, the departure from the old will be completed, and the new direction will go full force.
Here are these links again:
What Does the New Covenant Retain from the Old?
Do Christians Have to ‘Keep’ the Ten Commandments?
Ten Commandments: God’s Great Compromise with Humanity’s Big Failure
One Decisive Difference Between Sinai Covenant and New Covenant
Jesus’s point here is that old Judaism is on the way out. In the Gospel of Luke, when national Israel rejects its Messiah, God will place Judaism and the whole Levitical system under judgment (Luke 19:41-45; 21:20-24; 23:26-31; Matt. 21:33-45), though numerous individual priests (Acts 6:7) and thousands of Jews of Jerusalem and Judea converted (Acts 21:20). God loves people, but he is not enamored with systems.
Bock: “All the accounts [of Matthew, Mark and Luke] have the same basic point: the mixture of the old and the new is destructive and cannot really be done, because the damage is done to both pieces of cloth. Mark and Matthew say in effect that to mix the old and the new makes matters worse. Luke says that to mix them is not good since the new is ripped and the old and the new do not fit together” (p. 519).
38-39:
Those verses drive home the previous one. New wine is for a new container. Discard the old, brittle container.
This is a strong rebuke. Yes, people prefer the old fermented wine, because it intoxicates. Will they accept the new wine? Some will, but as noted in v. 37, the old religious system and the establishment in Jerusalem will keep the old because it is comforting and intoxicating. However, it is better to choose the new wine. It may not intoxicate, but the new will open up a greater horizon as to who God is.
Marshall states the obvious meaning of v. 39: “The verse expresses the viewpoint of those who are content with the old, because they think it is good, and make no effort to try the new. It is thus an ironical comment on the Jews who refused to taste the ‘new wine’ of the gospel which was not hallowed by age” (comment on v. 39).
GrowApp for Luke 5:33-39
1. This entire passage is about the new replacing the old. Jesus is the new, and the old Sinai Covenant and the Judaism of his day is the old. In your life today, what drew you to the new way, to Jesus, and away from your old life?
2. Fasting is a biblical discipline. If you fast or are interested in it, study Isaiah 58. What are your motives? How do you do it? What are the results?
RELATED
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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