NOTES for Luk 5:37-38

The Lord offers us something entirely new that the old cannot bear, just as old wineskins cannot hold new wine. Yet in the Gospel of Matthew He says, ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets: I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfil them’ (Mt 5:17). How can this contradiction be resolved?

When we encounter an apparent contradiction in God's word, we must understand that here the Lord expects us to step beyond our human nature, to be capable of rising a little above it. We must understand that both things are true. But this is not easy to understand, which is why a long debate about law and grace entered the patristic tradition: about which comes first and which comes second. Perhaps this question cannot be answered. These are different dimensions of life.

We often forget that the word ‘new’ in the expression ‘New Testament’ is not opposed to the word ‘old’ at all. No: it means ‘ever new’, ‘never growing old’. This is what we must understand: God is living, and no scheme can be applied to Him. He tears every scheme apart, like a new patch on an old garment.

One might ask why Mark and Matthew, unlike Luke, make no mention of the new wine that those drinking the old do not want to drink. This is apparently because Luke, Paul's disciple, knew only too well the difficulties of preaching among Jews.