Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

 ³⁸  “But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

 ³⁹  “And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.'”  Luke 5:36-39. 

It helps us to use the context to understand this Scripture.  In yesterday’s devotion, we read the immediate preceding Scripture of Luke 5:33-35:  “And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.”  And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?  “But the days will come;  and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”

The practices of the Pharisees can be compared to the old.  The practices of the disciples of Jesus can be compared to the new.  

The practices of the disciples of the Pharisees can be summarized as legalism:  “What can we do to achieve righteousness and salvation?”

The practices of the disciples of Jesus can be summarized as “living by the Spirit“:  “What has God done to give us righteousness and salvation?”

^“Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”  Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”  John 6:28-29.

Man does indeed think that ” ‘The old is good enough.”  “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” 

But, Jesus’ reply turns the question of legalism to the answer of “living by the Spirit”.  Jesus shifted the focus from man to God and from works to faith and from “what man could do” to “what God has done”.  “This is the work of God …” 

And yet, the Pharisees are not alone in preferring the old to the new.  Paul admonished the Galatians:  ^“Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?  Did you suffer so many things in vain–if indeed it was in vain?  So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?”  Galatians 3:3-5.

But, the new can not be tied down to the old despite the desires of the Pharisees and the Galatians and many today.  Jesus was emphatic in using the illustrations that if one does tie down the old to the new:  “he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old” and “the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined’.

That is why we “… we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”  Romans 7:6. 

But, if we insist on proving our own righteousness through old legalism, “even just a little to be safe”, as good as it may be in its distilled form of the Ten Commandments, then we will die.  “… for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”  But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.  I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died;  and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;  for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.”  Romans 7:7-11.

“For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.  “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.”  Galatians 2:18-19.  

“For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM.”  Galatians 3:10.       

What could be wrong with adding just a little of the old legalism to the new life in Christ? 

But, Paul’s response was sharp.   “Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.  And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.  You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”  Galatians 5:2-4. 

In conclusion, we must be careful.  ” A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.”  Galatians 5:9.  We can’t patch a little of the old legalism to the new life in Christ.  We can’t work just a little to be safe.  We trust God and wait for the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, “… not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith”.  Philippians 3:9.