Matthew 9:17

The new parable of the wine and wine-skins is introduced, not merely because the Speaker is full of matter, but because it enables Him aptly to show both sides of the question, the twofold application of the principle. οὐδὲ βάλλουσιν : nobody puts new wine into old skins; νέος applied to wine, καινός to skins (ἀσκοὺς καινούς). νέος is new in time, καινός in quality. That which is new in time does not necessarily deteriorate with age; it may even improve. That which is new in quality always deteriorates with age, like skins or cloth, vide Trench's Synonyms, lx. εἰ δὲ μήγε (vide ad Matthew 6:1): two disastrous consequences ensue: skins burst, wine spilt. The reason not stated, assumed to be known. New wine ferments, old skins have lost their toughness and stretchableness. “They have become hard leather and give no more” (Koetsveld, De Gelijkenissen, p. 99). That is the one side keep the old to the old. ἀλλὰ βάλλουσι … συντηροῦνται : this is the other the new to the new; new wine in fresh skins, and both are preserved as suiting one another. With reference to the two parables, Schanz remarks that, in the first, the point of comparison is the distinction between part and whole, in the second form and contents are opposed to each other. So after him, Holtzmann in H.C. Weiss takes both parables as explaining the practice of John's disciples, Holtzmann as giving reasons why Christ's disciples differed from all others. The truth as above indicated lies between.