In Matthew 9:15-17, we find several important teachings from Jesus Christ.
In verse 15, Christ is admonishing those who criticize the disciples for spending their time following Christ rather than prayer and fasting. Christ provides two important answers to their objections. First, the disciples should not be criticized for spending time with Christ. After all, He would not be with them for long. Second, they will give themselves to fasting and prayer. This is important because it is another urging from Christ not to ignore these spiritual disciplines. We cannot ignore these disciplines because Christ says “they will fast.” As disciples of Christ, we will engage in prayer and fasting.
Verse 16 carries a different meaning than verse 17, even though they appear to speak similar words. The distinguishing feature of the two verses is continuing to use the old versus doing away with the old.
In verse 16, the old garments continue to be used. The caution is about using brand new fabric to patch worn clothing. Try patching old clothing with unshrunk cloth and then putting it in the dryer. The patch can shrink, would which cause a bigger problem, as Christ alludes to here. The inference appears to be that we should not throw brand new believers in Christ into leadership and expect them to thrive. The disciples were new to the kingdom of heaven as Christ teaches it to be, and expecting them to be perfect in every way is unreasonable. They needed to go through a time of preparation, and so do we.
The specific concept Christ raises is applying a fuller’s soap to the cloth, which involved very rough scrubbing on a washboard-type instrument. Another inference is thoroughly preparing a new believer into sanctification or Christian perfection to complete the process of grafting the believer in the kingdom of heaven.
In verse 17, there are at least two inferences from Christ. One is that the old covenant must be done away with to accommodate the new covenant. Christ came to bring an end to the old covenant and usher in the new covenant.
A second, parallel inference is putting away the old self and becoming new; dying to self and surrendering to Christ; disposing of sin and seeking Christian perfection. Galatians 2:20 The notion that we can continue in the old life while on the way with Christ is debunked by Christ. 1 John 2:1,3-6 By putting new wine (the life of Christ) in new wine skins or wine bottles, we put off the old, and the old involves the life of sin, darkness, and all that is of the world. If we have put off the old, then we are not going to continue engaging in sin. By imitating Christ, we are being diligent about obeying God and avoiding sin.
To those who believe it is not possible to stop sinning, the Bible clearly teaches that we are not to sin. If it were not possible to break sin’s hold, the Bible would not tell us to seek complete regeneration. The problem with continuing to excuse sin is that we become desensitized to it and will eventually compromise and let sin regain the upper hand. We cannot live both in darkness and light at the same time. We cannot practice righteousness and sin at the same time.
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