282. What Is Meant by "New Wine in Old Bottles"?

Mark 2:21,22 is designed to illustrate the difference between the old and new economies, and the result of mixing up one with the other. The "new wine" was the evangelical freedom which Christ was introducing into the old spirit of Judaism. It was as though he had said, "These inquiries about the difficulty between my disciples and the Pharisees, and even John's disciples, serve to point out the effect of a natural revulsion against sudden change, which time will cure and which will be seen to be to the better advantage."