Matthew 9:16

How is it, again, that he tells us that "a piece of new cloth is not sewed on to an old garment," or that "new wine is not trusted to old bottles," when he is himself patched and clad in an old suit of names? How is it he has rent off the gospel from the law, when he is wholly invested with the law,-in the name, forsooth, of Christ? What hindered his calling himself by some other name, seeing that he preached another (gospel), came from another source, and refused to take on him a real body, for the very purpose that he might not be supposed to be the Creator's Christ? Vain, however, was his unwillingness to seem to be He whose name he was willing to assume; since, even if he had been truly corporeal, he would more certainly escape being taken for the Christ of the Creator, if he had not taken on him His name.

The Spirit of God, and the Word of God, and the Reason of God-Word of Reason, and Reason and Spirit of Word-Jesus Christ our Lord, namely, who is both the one and the other, -has determined for us, the disciples of the New Testament, a new form of prayer; for in this particular also it was needful that new wine should be laid up in new skins, and a new breadth be sewn to a new garment. Besides, whatever had been in bygone days, has either been quite changed, as circumcision; or else supplemented, as the rest of the Law; or else fulfilled, as Prophecy; or else perfected, as faith itself.

By these examples He shows that neither our souls nor bodies, being so weakened by inveteracy of sin, are capable of the sacraments of the new grace.

Then what He had done before, this He doth here again. I mean, that as He, when they were attempting to prove Him blameable for eating with sinners, proved to them on the contrary, that His proceeding was not only no blame, but an absolute praise to Him: so here too, when they wanted to show of Him, that He knows not how to manage His disciples, He signifies that such language was the part of men not knowing how to manage their inferences, but finding fault at random.

"For no man," saith He, "putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment."

He is again establishing His argument by illustrations from common life. And what He saith is like this, "The disciples have not yet become strong, but still need much condescension. They have not yet been renewed by the Spirit, and on persons in that state one ought not to lay any burden of injunctions."

And these things He said, setting laws and rules for His own disciples, that when they should have to receive as disciples those of all sorts that should come from the whole world, they might deal with them very gently.

(V. 16, 17) However, no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. These words were spoken by him to them. What he means is this: Until someone is born again and the old self is removed through my suffering, and he puts on a new self, he cannot bear the stricter commands of fasting and continence, lest through excessive severity he lose even the faith that he seems to possess now. But he set forth two examples, both of the old and the new, and of clothing. By the old wineskins we must understand the scribes and Pharisees. The new patch of clothing and the new wine represent the teachings of the Gospel, which the Jews cannot bear, lest a greater tear be made. The Galatians also desired to do something similar, mixing the precepts of the Gospel with the precepts of the Law, and putting the new wine into old wineskins; but the Apostle speaks to them, saying: O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you into not obeying the truth? (Gal. III, 1) Therefore, the word of the Gospel should be infused into the apostles rather than the Scribes and Pharisees, who were corrupted by the traditions of the elders and could not keep the sincerity of Christ's teachings. For there is a difference between the purity of a virginal soul, untouched by the contamination of previous vices, and the filth of one that has succumbed to the desires of many.

Otherwise; By the old garment, and old skins, we must understand the Scribes and Pharisees; and by the piece of new cloth, and new wine, the Gospel precepts, which the Jews were not able to bear; so the rent was made worse. Something such the Galatians sought to do, to mix the precepts of the Law with the Gospel, and to put new wine into old skins. The word of the Gospel is therefore to be poured into the Apostles, rather than into the Scribes and Pharisees, who, corrupted by the traditions of the elders, were unable to preserve the purity of Christ's precepts.

(Serm. 210. 3.) Otherwise; Every one who rightly fasts, either humbles his soul in the groaning of prayer, and bodily chastisement, or suspends the motion of carnal desire by the joys of spiritual meditation. And the Lord here makes answer respecting both kinds of fasting; concerning the first, which is in humiliation of soul, He says, The children of the bridegroom cannot mourn. Of the other which has a feast of the Spirit, He next speaks, where He says, No man putteth a patch of undressed cloth. Then we must mourn because the Bridegroom is taken away from us. And we rightly mourn if we burn with desire of Him. Blessed they to whom it was granted before His passion to have Him present with them, to enquire of Him what they would, to hear what they ought to hear. Those days the fathers before His coming sought to see, and saw them not, because they were placed in another dispensation, one in which He was proclaimed as coming, not one in which He was heard as present. For in us was fulfilled that He speaks of, The days shall come when ye shall desire to see one of these days, and shall not be able. (Luke 17:22.) Who then will not mourn this? Who will not say, My tears have been my meat day and night, while they daily say unto me, Where is now thy God? (Ps. 42:3.) With reason then did the Apostle seek to die and to be with Christ.

(De Cons. Ev. ii. 27.) That Matthew writes here mourn, where Mark and Luke write fast, shows that the Lord spake of that kind of fasting which pertains to humbling one's self in chastisement; as in the following comparisons He may be supposed to have spoken of the other kind which pertains to the joy of a mind wrapt in spiritual thoughts, and therefore averted from the food of the body; showing that those who are occupied about the body, and owing to this retain their former desires, are not fit for this kind of fasting.

He says that the fabric of the old law was worn away by Judaic zealousness, corrupted by the senses, split apart by factions and worn out by impure actions. The shrunk cloth of the gospel he calls a garment. But make note of the cloth, not simply the tear but the beginning of the weave. First of all, the fabric of Christ's royal garment was woven out of wool that came from a lamb: "The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." The royal vestment was a woven vestment, which the blood of his passion tinged with purple splendor.

By the old garment He means His disciples, who had not yet been renewed in all things. The patch of undressed, that is, of new cloth, means the new grace, that is, the Gospel doctrine, of which fasting is a portion; and it was not meet that the stricter ordinances of fasting should be entrusted to them, lest they should be broken down by their severity, and forfeit that faith which they had; as He adds, It taketh its wholeness from the garment, and the rent is made worse.

The different comparisons all refer to the same thing, and yet are they different; the garment by which we are covered abroad signifies our good works, which we perform when we are abroad; the wine with which we are refreshed within is the fervor of faith and charity, which creates us anew within.

"No man putteth a piece of unshrunk cloth unto an old garment, for the patch teareth from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old wineskins: else the skins burst, and the wine runneth out, and the skins are destroyed: but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved." The disciples, He says, have not yet become strong, and therefore require forbearance. The heavy burden of commandments ought not to be laid upon them. Jesus also said these things to teach the disciples that later, when they would go out into all the world to make disciples, they too should use forbearance. The "piece of unshrunk cloth" means fasting, as does the "new wine." The "old garment" and the "old wineskins" mean the weakness of the disciples.

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Here he presents the other argument, the one on the part of the disciples. He gives two examples; one is explained by Augustine and the other by Jerome. According to Augustine he means to say: While Christ is present, the disciples were not to fast on account of their condition, because heavy burdens should not be imposed on the imperfect. Therefore, since they are imperfect, they should not be commanded to fast. So in order to stress this he touches upon it in metaphors dealing with cloth and wine. Because righteousness consists in external works and in newness of affection, he gives two examples. He says, therefore, No one puts..., i.e., if he wanted to add the new cloth, he would not sew a piece of new cloth on the old garment, because it would take away from the beauty; so, if someone imperfect has certain customs in his life, and you impose a burden on him, he abandons what he is accustomed to and a worse tear is made, as is indicated below.

(ap. Anselm.) As much as to say, An undressed patch, that is, a new one, ought not to be put into an old garment, because it often takes away from the garment its wholeness, that is, its perfection, and then the rent is made worse. For a heavy burden laid on one that is untrained often destroys that good which was in him before.