Mark 2:21

Mar_2:21-22

No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment.

New cloth on an old garment

Gods forces not to be fettered by man. You cannot thrust life into human moulds.

I. Every force has a definite mode of action. Spring does not produce the same results as autumn, nor can young converts yield the same fruits as aged saints.

II. To coerce these forces into human channels is impossible. No one dress will fit all men. If you want to alter mens habits begin by changing their principles.

III. It is only wise and safe to act with God. Learn the methods of the Spirits working and follow them. (D. Davies, M. A.)

The new supplanting the old

A missionary in India writes of a large tree near his home, in whose branches a second top of entirely different species appeared. The old was the bitter nim, the other the sacred fig. And this, on examination, was found to have thrust its root through the decaying heart of the great trunk to the ground. There, like a young giant in the embrace of some huge monster, each was engaged in a struggle for life. If the old could tighten its grasp, the young tree must die. If the young continued to grow it must at last split open and destroy the old. This it seemed already to be doing. So with the good seed of the gospel dropped into the rotten heart of some ancient system or practice. Thrusting its root downward and its branches upward, it is gradually to supplant all else and stand, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding her fruit every month; and the leaves will be for the healing of the nations. (De W. S. Clark.)

New things in Christianity

Christianity sets up a new kingdom-a kingdom within men-a reign over the spiritual in man. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. It publishes a new law, and gives men a new commandment. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Christianity introduces us into a New Jerusalem, the Jerusalem which is the mother of us all. Everything in the city is new. The Temple is new; it is a spiritual temple; spiritual men are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. What! know ye not that ye are the temple of God? The Altar is new; we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. The Sacrifice is new; it is the offering up of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. The Incense is new; the sacrifice of praise, even the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. The Priesthood is new; we have a great High Priest who is passed into the heavens for us, even Jesus, the Son of God. The Way into the Holiest is new; it is a new and living way consecrated for us. The Worship is new; the hour has come when the character, and not the scene of worship, is everything. The song is new; we sing a new song. The Ritualism is new; for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. God sustains a new relation to us; He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We come to God and say, Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not. Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant. The days have come when God has made a new covenant with man. The Spirit is new; even the Comforter, proceeding from the Father and the Son. The gospel is new; God hath spoken unto us by His Son. The phraseology is new; we preach Christ crucified. The symbolism is new; the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Since everything in Christianity is new, we must ourselves be new; we must be born again. There must be the passage from death to life. The life we live in the flesh must be a new life. Old things must pass away; all things must become new. (H. J. Bevis.)

New things in Christianity

I. That the spirit of Christianity is new. It is new wine. Judaism was the body; Christianity is the soul. The one was materialism; the other is spiritualism. The one was the letter; the other is the spirit. The one was a ministration of death; the other a ministration of life. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ. We have got beyond the shadow, we have the substance. We behold with unveiled face the glory of the Lord.

II. That the thoughts and words of Christianity are new. New thoughts require new utterances. The people said of Christ, Never man spake like this Man. New things want new words. The everlasting Son has taken our nature and become our brother. The gospel calls this the mystery of godliness. God hath given His Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might have eternal life. Even the gospel seems to want words here, and can only say, God so loved. The gospel takes us by the hand and leads us to the cross; and as we look on the Crucified, it unfolds the record, and bids us read, God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. We want not old forms. We have truth for the understanding; we have love for the heart. We have new thoughts and new words, the utterances of which are as the divinest music to the soul that is seeking a Saviour. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the chief.

III. The manifestations of Christianity are new. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. Christianity is from heaven. Gods work is not to be improved by man. Where there is real religion in man, its own manifestations will not be wanting in a Divine life, in all the graces of the Spirit, in godlikeness.

IV. The ritualism of Christianity is new. It has few symbols, but these are most expressive and appropriate. It meets us on the very threshold of life with its washing of water, and water is the universal and undying type of purity. It gives us, as Christians, the memorials of Christs death. The ritualism of your spirit must be left to the moods and feelings of your own heart. You may content yourselves with mere outward acts of reformation, but these are manifestly insufficient. This is but a new piece of cloth on an old garment. This is the worlds attempt to mend human nature. Christianity requires a new heart and a right spirit. You must be a partaker of the Divine nature, a new creature in Christ Jesus, to be a Christian. The inner man must have its new attire. You must put off the old garment and put on the new. You must put on Christ Jesus the Lord, and walk in Him. Do not try to mend the old nature Seek a new one. Old habits will not do for a new spirit, and yet we cling to them, or they cling to us There is often little agreement between our principles and our practice. (H. J. Bevis.)

Legal ceremonies superseded

Paul calls legal ceremonies beggarly rudiments; such are the popish-like a beggars cloak, full of patches. When the debt is paid, it is unjust to keep back the bond: Christ being come, and having discharged all, it is injurious to retain the bond of ceremonies. In the spring we make much of buds and flowers to delight the eye and cheer the sense of smelling; but in autumn, when we receive the fruits to content our taste and appetite, and to nourish us, the other are nothing worth The affianced virgin esteems every token her lover sends her and solaceth her affections with those earnests of his love in his absence: but when she is married, and enjoys himself, there is no regard of the tokens. It was something to have a ceremony or a sacrifice, representing a Saviour; but this made nothing perfect and all the life which those things had was from that Saviour whom now we, have. (T. Adams.)

Old bottles and new wine

Christ gave his replies to Johns disciples and the Pharisees. The first had a temporary application; the other a permanent one.

1. Fasting was a sign of sorrow; but how could these disciples sorrow while Jesus was with them? it was like trying to weep in the midst of a wedding feast. Christians have alternations of experience. Sometimes the Bridegroom is with us; sometimes far away.

2. The other answer sets forth the essential difference between the new dispensation and the impossibility of confining it by the old forms and ceremonies of religion. Now, these bottles represent religious forms, and wine represents religious spirit or life. Consider-

I. The superior energy of Christianity over Judaism. It is new wine. Judaism was wine; but this is newer, and also better. But this is not the point of comparison. The point is, that the gospel has a freshness, expansiveness, and power, beyond what we find in Judaism, so that it is like new, working and fermenting wine as compared with old acetic wine, now cold and still. See it in a few particulars:-

1. Its earnest aggressive spirit and aim. It was meant for the world, to go out to all nations. Judaism was for the Jews, or if for Gentiles, it was by these coming to the Jews as proselytes. Its agency is the same.

2. Its potent and stimulating motives. Christs love and death constrain us; and the apocalypse of the eternal world is made more impressive and influential. Compare these with Jewish types, etc.

3. The ardour of affection awakened in the followers of Christ. Their whole nature is elevated and vivified by a new love and a new hope.

4. The accompanying energy of the Holy Ghost.

II. The unsuitableness of old Jewish forms to the new Christian spirit. All are too narrow, cold, and cramping. As fastings, sacrifices, priestly exclusiveness, and even the Sabbath.

III. Yet Christianity has its own forms. The wine is not spilt on the ground, but kept in bottles-the Christian Church in its New Testament simplicity, the ordinances, the Lords day, spiritual modes of worship. All these naturally come out of the spirit of the gospel. The life makes its own body. Truly, this law has been tampered with most grievously by men, and the energy of the gospel has suffered; its freedom has been trammelled, and its life deadened. Lessons:

1. Our supreme concern should be to get the life of the gospel into our souls.

2. We should avoid a superstitious stickling for mere forms, however old and elegant, if they are but arbitrary and mechanical.

3. We should be willing to endorse and adopt the simple, natural, and living forms of the New Testament-joining the church, engaging in worship, etc.

4. We should apply it to our whole deportment and life-all must be renewed, and new wine put in new bottles. Let all our habits be determined and controlled by the inner spirit of piety. Things once pleasant to us will now be unpleasant and irksome. Many amusements and pleasures will be instantly abandoned, when we have got the right spirit within us; whereas, otherwise, it would be vain to contend and argue against them. (Congregational Pulpit.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:21-22 Old customs of the old covenant are incompatible with the new arrival of God’s Kingdom. Common experience shows that an unshrunken new patch sewn on old clothing will tear the old cloth as it shrinks. Similarly, brittle old wineskins will burst when new wine ferments in them. Jesus’ meaning was that the fasting of the old cannot mix with the feasting of the new.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar 2:21. Αἴρει τὸ πλήρωμα τὸ καινὸν τοῦ παλαιοῦ) This reading is a mean between extremes, brief, and likely to be genuine.[22] The meaning is: the new piece put in to patch up the rent, takes away with it some of the old cloth.

[22] AΔ, later Syr., whom Tischend. follows, read αἴρει ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ πληρωμα. B reads τὸ πληρ. ἀφʼ εἁυτοῦ. L, whom Lachm. follows, has τὸ πλήρ. ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ. Dab Vulg. and Rec. Text have τὸ πλήρωμα (to which Rec. Text adds αὐτοῦ) τὸ καινὸν ἀπὸ (omitted in Rec. Text) τοῦ παλαίου—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 2:21 . ἐπιρράπτει , sews upon, for ἐπιβάλλει in Mt. and Lk.; not in Greek authors, here only in N. T.; in Sept [13] , Job 16:15 , the simple verb. εἰ δὲ μή : vide on εἰ δὲ μήγε in Mat 9:17 . εἰ δὲ μήγε , etc.: that which filleth up taketh from it ( ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ ) the new, viz. , from the old; the second clause explanatory of the first. καὶ χ . σ . γ ., and a worse rent takes place.

[13]Septuagint.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 21. No man - seweth] See Clarke on Mt 9:16. No man seweth a piece of unscoured cloth upon an old garment. In the common editions this verse begins with και, and, but this is omitted by almost every MS. and version of note. The construction of the whole verse is various in the MSS. The translation given here, and in Mt 9:16, is intelligible, and speaks for itself.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. new cloth] Literally uncarded or unteazled cloth.

else] i. e. if he do, the new piece taketh from the old garment, and makes worse its original rents.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And no man putteth new wine into old bottles,.... By "old bottles" are meant, the Scribes and Pharisees, the whole, which needed not a physician, and the righteous, Christ came not to call; and by new wine, either the love of God, which is not shed abroad in the hearts of such persons; or the blessings of the new covenant, which are not bestowed upon them; or the Gospel, which brings an account of both, which is not received by carnal men:

else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: the Gospel will only fill them with rage and fury, and they will despise it, and let it go; which will be an aggravation of their sin and misery, and so will prove the savour of death unto death unto them:

but new wine must be put into new bottles; into the hearts of sinners, who are called to repentance, and are renewed in the Spirit of their minds; are newborn babes, that desire the sincere milk of the word, and wine of the Gospel; in these the love of God is exceeding abundant, and it comes in with full flows into their souls; all grace is made to abound towards them, and the word of Christ richly dwells in them; in whom these things remain and abide, and they themselves are saved with an everlasting salvation; See Gill on Mat 9:17.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

21 No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.

Ver. 21. No man soweth] {See Trapp on "Mat 9:16"} {See Trapp on "Mat 9:17"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

No man seweth a piece of new cloth the Greek is (rakouv agnafou) undressed cloth, cloth newly woven, and before it has been dressed by the fulleron an old garment. The latter part of this verse is better rendered, as in the Revised Version, thus: Else that which should fill it up taketh from it, the new from the old; and a worse rent is made. The meaning of the words is this: An old garment, if it be torn, should be mended by a patch of old material; for if a patch of new material is used, its strength or fullness takes away from the old garment to which it is sewn; the old and the new do not agree, the new drags the old and tears it, and so a worse rent is made.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Two parables to emphasize His meaning:

v. 21. No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment; else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.

v. 22. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred; but new wine must be put into new bottles.

Here a matter of common experience is applied to the case in hand. To sew a patch of new cloth upon an old garment is not only incongruous, but usually aggravates the trouble and causes a further tear at the seam; And to put new wine, grape juice that is in the process of fermentation, into old wine-skins; may easily become disastrous, since the skin is no longer strong enough to withstand the process going on inside. The old, dead orthodoxy of the Pharisees, their righteousness of works, did not fit with the doctrine of Jesus of the free mercy of God in and through Christ Jesus. He that trusts in his works and then intends to patch this up with a few scraps of the Gospel, he that wants to cover up some vice with Christ’s merit, will soon find out that his is a poor comfort. In his heart he is still adhering to the old religion of works, which will drag him down to perdition. And the new wine of the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake does not suit the hearts that are still bound up in self-righteousness. If the sweet Gospel of God’s grace is preached to proud, self-righteous hearts, it will surely be wasted, for they cannot and will not accept and believe it, and it is a mystery to them how other people can take delight in that old Gospel of free grace. But where the hearts have been renewed, made entirely new by the power of the Word, there the Gospel will find the reception which it ought to have, there the hearts accept the glorious news of their redemption and are prepared for life eternal.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. No man also seweth, etc. On this figure and that of old and new bottles see notes on Matt. 9:16, 17.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

21. οὐδεὶς ἐπίβλημα. This parable and its companion are a further reply to the criticism in Mar 2:18. All three have the pair in this connexion. Both parables set forth the truth that a new spirit requires a new form, and the second expresses it more strongly than the first. Possibly the allusion to a wedding-feast in Mar 2:19 suggested lessons from garments and wine.

ἐπίβλ. ῥάκους ἀγνάφου. A patch of undressed rag, a patch torn from new cloth. Lk. augments the folly by representing the patch as torn from a new garment. Nowhere else in Bibl. Grk does ἐπιράπτω occur. Vulg. here has adsumentum for ἐπίβλημα, in Mt. and Lk. commissura; other Latin renderings are insumentum (a) and immissura (d). Similarly, for αἴρει τὸ πλήρωμα and χεῖρον σχίσμα, Vulg. here has auferet supplementum and major scissura, in Mt. tollit plenitudinem (as if τὸ πλ. were acc.) and pejor scissura.

εἰ δὲ μή. “But if a man acts not so,” i.e. if he does commit this folly. Cf. Joh 14:2; Rev 2:5. Syr-Sin. has “else the new filling up draws away the weakness of the worn-out one.”

αἴρει τὸ πλήρωμα ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ. The filling takes away from it. The new material shrinks and tears the old garment on which it is sewn.

τὸ καινὸν τοῦ παλαιοῦ. Explanatory of τὸ πλ. ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ, the new from the old (R.V.); or possibly, the ἀπό not being repeated, “the new complement of the old” (Swete, Gould). The contrast between παλαιός and καινός is found Eph 4:23; Heb 8:13. See Westcott on Heb 8:8.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21.] Render, the filling-up takes away from it, the new from the old, and a worse rent takes place. See note on Matt. The addition here of τὸ καινόν confirms the view taken of the parable there.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. οὐδεὶς ἐπίβλημα π̔άκους ἀγνάφου ἐπιράπτει ἐπὶ ἱμάτιον παλαιόν εἰ δὲ μή, αἴρει τὸ πλήρωμα ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ το͂ καινὸν τοῦ παλαιοῦ—no one sews a patch of undressed cloth on an old garment; otherwise the new filling of the old takes from it.

Omit καὶ before οὐδεὶς Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א ABCKLS D 1. 13, 33, 69, mss. of Lat. Vet. Memph. Vulg. Pesh. Harcl. etc. ἱμάτιον παλαιόν, instead of dat., Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BCDL 33. ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ, instead of αὐτοῦ, Tisch. WH. RV. א BL, also A 33.

The RV. translates else that which should fill it up taketh from it, the new from the old. But this seems to require a repetition of the prep. ἀπὸ before τοῦ παλαιοῦ. τὸ καινὸν τοῦ παλαιοῦ is in apposition with τὸ πλήρωμα, so that it would read literally, the filling takes from it, the new of the old. The substitution of unfulled for new is necessary to make the parable an exact fit. It is the shrinking of the undressed cloth that strains and tears the old cloth to which it is sewed.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Seweth [επιρραπτει] . A word found in Mark only. Matthew (ix. 16) and Luke (v. 36) use ejpiballei, throweth upon, as we speak of clapping a patch upon.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.