Thank God For Such A Man
by Hugo McCord

Thoughts on Titus 3:3-6

    A 66 year old gospel preacher, whom I would like to meet, writes that he recently was diagnosed with lymphoma, and he is praying for "a few more years" to preach, but "If not, I will still be a winner. I will see all the brothers and sisters who have gone home already. What a joy to contemplate." A person like him makes the world better! He writes that he would like a comment on Titus 3:3-6 that he may "more ably edify the brethren."

    The "works of righteousness which we have done" (as "many deeds of charity for the people" by Cornelius, Acts 10:2) cannot save us (Titus 3:5), else Christ died foolishly. But a work of righteousness, "the washing of regeneration" (Titus 3:5), is called for in the same verse of Scripture that eliminates "works of righteousness which we have done" (Titus 3:5). Moreover, many other "works of righteousness" the Lord requires of heaven-goers: "my reward is with me to give to each according to his work" (Revelation 22:12; 2:23; Romans 2:6; James 2:24; Galatians 5:6; 2 Timothy 2:21). Our works of righteousness are not tickets to heaven, for admission there is granted only to those whose garments have been made "white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14). But that precious blood will not save us if we refuse to "work out" our "own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12).

    The "washing of regeneration" of Titus 3:5 is a dipping in literal "water" (Ephesians 5:26; Hebrews 10:22), not to put "away the filth of the flesh" (1 Peter 3:21), but it is telling us that Jesus is washing "us from our sins in his blood" (Revelation 1:5; 7:14).

    The comma after "regeneration" in Titus 3:5 in the KJV removes the Holy Spirit ("Holy Ghost") from the "washing of regeneration," but actually it is by the teaching of the Holy Spirit to the apostles that we learn of the "washing of regeneration." From heaven on the day of Pentecost Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to the apostles "to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8; Acts 1:5; 2:1-4), and as a result those who respect Jesus continue "stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine" (Acts 2:42). In this way the teaching about the "washing of regeneration" goes back through the apostles to the Holy Spirit. Jesus told the apostles, "Indeed I assure you that whatever you bind on the earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on the earth will have been released in heaven" (Matthew 18:18). Penitent believers, being "born of the Spirit" (John 3:6), that is, those who pay attention to the teaching of the Spirit, are led to be "born of water" (John 3:5): "For by [the teaching of] the one Spirit are we all baptized into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13). That baptism cannot be Holy Spirit baptism, for to all people to the end of the world there is only "one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5; Matthew 28:18-20), which has to be the "washing of regeneration" ("See, here is water," Acts 8:36: Titus 3:5).

    The "regeneration" of Titus 3:5 Paul calls a palingenesia, which Thayer defines as a "new birth, a renewal, a re-creation," saying it is "the production of a new life consecrated to God, a radical change of mind for the better," which he says, is "effected in baptism" (p. 474).

    Besides the wholesome word "regeneration" in Titus 3:5 Paul also speaks of a "renewing of the Holy Ghost" (KJV): anakainosis, defined by Thayer (p. 38) as "a renewal, renovation, complete change for the better," being "effected by the Holy Spirit."

    What is the difference, if any, between "regeneration" (palingenesia) and "renewing" (anakainosis)? From one standpoint they are synonyms, having the same meaning. But why does Paul mention both in one verse of Scripture?

    Richard Trent (Synonyms of the New Testament, p. 65) says that the "regeneration," is "contemplated as already past, . . . while the 'renewal'. . . is a daily proceeding." As the regeneration of the mind is done before baptism by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, so by the teaching of the Holy Spirit the regeneration is retained and cultivated after baptism for the rest of a Christian's life. "These two," says Trent, the "regeneration" and the "renewing" "then are bound by the closest ties to one another; the second the following up, the consequence, the consummation of the first."

    After citizens of Rome had been led by the teaching of the Holy Spirit through the apostles to the physical accompaniment of their mental "regeneration" (palingenesia), being "buried with" their Lord "in baptism" (Romans 6:4), their "renewing" (anakainosis) also, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, for the rest of their lives, involved their "bodies" as a "living sacrifice," and "the renewing" of their "mind." Paul wrote:

Therefore, brothers, I beg you through God's mercies, to give your bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicated and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Do not be molded by this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may discover God's good and acceptable and complete will (Romans 12:1-2).

    After the citizens of Colosse had been led by the teaching of the Holy Spirit through the apostles to the physical accompaniment of their mental "regeneration" (palingenesia), being "buried with" their Lord "in baptism" (Colossians 2:12), their "renewing" (anakainosis) also, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, for the rest of their lives, involved their bodies and their minds (Colossians 5, 9). Paul wrote:

Put to death, therefore, your earthly members: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. . . . Do not lie one to another, since you have stripped off the old man with his deeds, and since you have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created him (Colossians 3:5, 9-10).

    After sinners are buried with their Lord in baptism, the Holy Spirit is "richly poured out on" the new Christians (Colossians 3:6; cf. John 7:39; Acts 2:38; 5:32) as a non-felt, mental comfort (paraklesis, Acts 9:31). This pouring out of the Holy Spirit into Christians' physical bodies makes each Christian a "temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Father sends the Holy Spirit into each Christian as a double assurance: (1) a certification (sphragis, Ephesians 1:13) that he has now become a son or daughter in God's spiritual family (Galatians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 6:18), and (2) a guarantee (arrabon, Ephesians 1:14) that he is going to heaven.

    However, the guarantee of a heavenly inheritance is conditional. Christians must keep their bodies sacred, temples of the Holy Spirit, free of "every defilement of flesh and spirit" (2 Corinthians 7:1), lest they "grieve the Holy Spirit," their heavenly guest (Ephesians 4:30). He who has been dispatched from heaven to be a comforter (Acts 9:31) will not stay in a person defiled in body or mind, in "flesh and spirit." Jude tells us of some backsliders the Holy Spirit had been forced to leave (v. 19). "It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn back from the sacred command delivered to them" (2 Peter 2:21).

    But to those who behave themselves, and know that they are never alone, that the Holy Spirit is always with them, day and night, and they are "faithful unto death" (Revelation 2:10), to them awaits an "imperishable and unstained and never-ending inheritance, reserved in heaven" (1 Peter 1:4). [12-29-2000]