Lastly, for this reason was the grace and revelation of the Holy Spirit bestowed by the imposition of the apostles' hands after baptism. Our Saviour also, after the resurrection, when old things had already passed away, and all things had become new, Himself a new man, and the first-born from the dead, His apostles also being renewed by faith in His resurrection, says, Receive the Holy Spirit. This is doubtless what the Lord the Saviour meant to convey in the Gospel, when He said that new wine cannot be put into old bottles, but commanded that the bottles should be made new, i.e., that men should walk in newness of life, that they might receive the new wine, i.e., the newness of grace of the Holy Spirit. In this manner, then, is the working of the power of God the Father and of the Son extended without distinction to every creature; but a share in the Holy Spirit we find possessed only by the saints. (Book I, Chapter 3, Part 7)

Does renewal welcome grace or does grace welcome renewal?

In my own experience the Holy Spirit - the opportunity for grace - is always at hand, but I often keep it at arms length.

When I no longer keep my distance - whether the cause be fatigue, despair, or invitation - the Holy Spirit is with me and I am renewed.

Which comes first, the wine or the wineskin?

In those days the juice was fermented in the wineskin. To ask which comes first obscures that it is the encounter of each that results in transformation.