What Does Luke 5:39 Mean in the King James?
No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Beneath “better” is χρηστός (chrēstos), “good” or “useful,” showing how familiarity can turn a taste into a verdict of worth.
THE MEANING
The familiar carries the weight of prior experience, so it can feel good before the unfamiliar is received. This verse makes that preference visible: what is already known becomes the measure of what seems worthwhile. It reveals how readily familiarity can shape judgment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that something must be better simply because it is familiar.
THE ROOT
χρηστός
chrēstos
GROWS FROM
χρηστ-
chrēst-
Good, useful, kind; what is beneficial or fit for use.
The word translated “better” carries the sense of what is good or useful. That lets the old wine’s familiar taste appear as a claim about its worth, not just a preference.
ALSO GROWS
chrēstotēs: Goodness or kindness.
χρηστότης
This related noun shows the root describing a quality recognized as good.
achrēstos: Useless or unprofitable.
ἄχρηστος
The privative form reveals the root’s connection to usefulness: what is not useful is described as lacking this quality.
παλαιός
palaios
GROWS FROM
παλαι-
palai-
Old, ancient, belonging to what has been for a long time.
The verse names the wine as old, then repeats the same word for “the old,” making age itself the subject of the judgment. A familiar taste has become a standard for deciding what is good.
ALSO GROWS
palaioō: To make old or become old.
παλαιόω
This verb shows the same root describing the process by which something becomes old.
palaiotēs: Oldness or a former state.
παλαιότης
This noun makes explicit the quality Luke’s repeated word places at the center of the drinker’s judgment.
THE PATTERN
Repeated experience trains perception, shaping what feels good and whether the new is recognized.
Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.THE THREAD
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.Romans uses the same Greek word, παλαιός (palaios), for “old.” Luke shows how the old can acquire the authority of “good” through familiarity; Romans shows that what is old can also name a former self whose hold is broken.
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