engaging what’s new

I had the distinct privilege of sitting under the tutelage of Dr. Carl B. Hoch while in seminary. Dr. Hoch was a professor of New Testament theology; he was a master linguist employing an exhaustive understanding of biblical Greek. It’ll be hard to forget the two-week course diagramming Galatians for four hours a day; I don’t think he ever wore out! He was an avid reader abounding in an abundance of books of all sorts…and beyond the realm of theology. Around the seminary, his personal library was talked about in hushed and reverent tones, becoming the stuff of legend. Added to that he was an accomplished pianist, displaying his skill at tickling the ivories in our chapels. He was a truly gifted man.

In one of his classes we were discussing the importance of Jesus’ teaching on the New Covenant using the illustration of new wine with new wineskins. The story comes from Matthew 9 (parallel passages are also found in Mark 2:21-22 and Luke 5:36-38):

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

Matthew 9:16-17 (ESV)

Everyone in the first century would have understood this conundrum: wineskins stretch out with usage, so any patches that might need to be added will have to go through a similar weathering process first; otherwise, there’ll be tearing and ruining of the wineskin itself, losing the costly delicacy inside. And shame on anyone who might attempt to put fresh new wine into an old skin: splash!

Dr. Hoch says in his book All Things New (p. 56), “Jesus seems to be saying that there is a fundamental incompatibility between his ministry and the ‘old.’ This is not to deny that there is no continuity between Judaism and Christianity. But the old containers and old coverings that were good for their day are not capable of containing the dynamic new content that Jesus is introducing.” A few sentences later, he adds, “The old skins of Judaism accommodated old wine of the old covenant. But the time has come for a change. The old forms have been extended to the limits of their elasticity.”

Jesus’ purpose in coming inaugurates something radically new for all humanity, not merely an attempt to patch up Judaism. The new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel are now upon us because of Christ’s salvific work. By faith in Him, His word (law) is implanted within us; His Spirit living inside of us and giving us birth unto newness of life, the beginning of a great harvest to come. That which is implanted, sprouts forth into a life lived for God’s glory in the efficacy of His enablement. We are new creations, laying aside the old with its inept regulations and taking up the new with its regenerating vitality.

Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

James 1:18 (ESV)

Once that is our understanding, then living accordingly naturally follows. We will seek to engage what’s new in us because of Christ, trusting the Lord in all things while persevering through trials and awaiting the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.

Strive on, my friends!