New Cloth and New Wineskins

*Bible verses from the KJV then AMP version.
*Verse by Verse Commentary from Adam Clark, Matthew Henry, Charles Spurgeon and John Gill.

*Matthew 9:16–17/Mark 2:21–22/Luke 5:36–39

M9:16 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.

“But no one puts a piece of unshrunk (new) cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.
No man putteth a piece of new cloth - No man putteth a patch of unscoured cloth upon an old garment. Ρακος αγναφον is that cloth which has not been scoured, or which has not passed under the hand of the fuller, who is called γναφευς in Greek: and επιβλημα signifies a piece put on, or what we commonly term a patch.

M2:22 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.
“No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the [fermenting] wine will [expand and] burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the wineskins. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

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, ... the love of God, ....the Gospel, 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; 
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.

L5:39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.
“And no one, after drinking old wine, wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is fine.’”

for he saith, the old is better - old wine is more grateful, more generous, and more reviving to the spirits, than new wine is. 

This is a proverbial expression, and which Luke only records; which may be applied to natural men, who having drunk the old wine of their carnal lusts and pleasures, do not desire the new wine of the Gospel, and of the grace of God, and of spiritual things, but prefer their old sins and lusts unto them: carnal lusts may be signified by old wine, both for the antiquity of them, being as old as men themselves, and therefore called the old man. 

Scribes and Pharisees, who have drank of the old wine of the traditions of the elders, do not desire the new wine of the Gospel.

"The skin bottles which were used as vessels to contain the new wine, after a time became dry and brittle, and were then worthless to serve the same purpose again. 

In this familiar illustration Jesus presented the condition of the Jewish leaders. 

--Priests and scribes and rulers were fixed in a rut of ceremonies and traditions. Their hearts had become contracted, like the dried-up wine skins to which He had compared them. 

--While they remained satisfied with a legal religion, it was impossible for them to become the depositaries of the living truth of heaven.

--They thought their own righteousness all-sufficient, and did not desire that a new element should be brought into their religion. 

The good will of God to men they did not accept as something apart from themselves. They connected it with their own merit because of their good works. 

The faith that works by love and purifies the soul could find no place for union with the religion of the Pharisees, made up of ceremonies and the injunctions of men. 

The effort to unite the teachings of Jesus with the established religion would be vain. 

The vital truth of God, like fermenting wine, would burst the old, decaying bottles of the Pharisaical tradition." 

Desire of Ages (White)