<p>5:37<i> And no one puts new wine into old wine-skins, or else the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilt, and the skins will perish</i>- The new wine is a clear reference to Christ's blood of the new covenant.</p><p>Wine skins were made of goat skin. The goats speak of the rejected, the sinners, in the parable of the sheep and goats. The wine skins may therefore speak of our flesh of sin. It's no sin to be a human being and have human flesh, but because of the nature of the new wine, we must become wholly new- or we will be destroyed. The new wine fermented powerfully- similar to the Lord describing His Gospel as yeast which works through flour (Lk. 13:21). The new covenant will work powerfully in us if we let it, and our skins, the life structure we have, must be prepared to accept that. Each wineskin expanded slightly differently in response to the fermenting of the new wine poured into it; no two wineskins expanded to an identical shape or form. We too will individually and uniquely respond to the new wine.</p><p>The skins will be &quot;burst&quot;, Gk. to shatter, divide. The context is of John's disciples uniting with the Pharisees against the disciples of Jesus. He's saying that if His new wine is not totally accepted, if it is mixed with the old, then lives will be destroyed through further schism. The only basis for avoiding schism is a total acceptance by all parties of the blood of the new covenant.&nbsp;</p><p>&quot;Spilt&quot; is the same word used in Lk. 20:20 about the blood of the new covenant being &quot;shed&quot;. We can crucify Christ afresh (Heb. 6:6), His death can be &quot;in vain&quot; for us (Gal. 2:21)- if we refuse to respond and be renewed, or trust in our own works.&nbsp; Especially significant is the reference in Mt. 26:28 to Christ's blood of the&nbsp;<i>new</i>&nbsp;covenant being &quot;shed&quot;. Failed spiritual life, the life which only partially accepts the new wine of Christ but refuses to change, refusing to be new containers for it, results in the blood of Christ being as it were shed, the blood of Calvary wasted in the dust, and Christ crucified afresh by our apostasy (Heb. 6:6). This is the final tragedy of refusing to change upon receipt of the new wine.</p>