Matthew 9:22

New wine. See on Luke 5:39. By “new wine” is meant wine in which the forces of fermentation have not begun their work, or in which the work has been begun but not completed. The representation of the gospel by “new wine” and its work by the process of fermentation resembles in essence the parable of the leaven, but emphasizes a different result (see on Matt. 13:33). The “new wine” represents the vital truth of God at work in the hearts of men.

Bottles. In ancient times these would be wineskins, which were skins of sheep or goats with the skin of the legs sewn up, and the neck serving as a mouth of the bottle.

“Old bottles” would have lost their original resilience, and become dry and hard. Such was the condition of Judaism in the time of Christ.

Burst the bottles. Jesus’ revolutionary teachings could not be reconciled with the reactionary dogmas of Judaism. Any effort to contain Christianity within the dead forms of Judaism, that is, to unite Christianity by forcing it to take the shape of, and be reconciled to it, would prove vain. Jesus taught that the principles of the kingdom of heaven applied to the souls of men would lead to the outworking of those principles in lives of active, radiant religion (see on Matt 5:2).

Wine is spilled. The attempt to unite the new with the old would result in two-fold destruction. The “wine” of the gospel would be “spilled,” and the “bottles” of Judaism would be “marred.”

New bottles. Probably either a reference to the people ready to receive the gospel or to the new type of church organization through which the gospel was to be promoted.