Titus 3:5 | Washing of Regeneration?

Titus 3, 5, I want to look a little bit at context and have you help me develop this out.

So I'm actually going to look at starting verse 4 through verse 8. So we read,

But when the goodness and lovingkindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life, and this is important, the saying is trustworthy.

And I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

These things are excellent and profitable for our people. So there's a lot there that's actually important.

So the proof text is Titus 3, 5, and what is so important is that God saves, right?

God our Savior. In the contrast is not you. Not you,

Adam. You did not assist God in His work of redemption at all, and that's the same for me.

And this is where tongue -in -cheek again, remember how if someone could ask me, do I think water is involved in John 3?

Yeah, but not in the way that you think, right? It's actually a rebuke against Nicodemus for thinking those categories.

It actually comes back out in 1 Peter 3, 21. Is baptism present? Yeah, but not in the way that you think.

It's not the removal of dirt from the body, right? It's talking about something else. And so I could almost say this, yeah, baptism is somewhere involved.

Water baptism is involved in 3, 5, but not in the way that you think. Because God saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness.

That is where baptism would fall for us. Now we'll say this, with infants, they're not doing any works.

So they have me on infant baptism. I can't say, oh man, you're adding works to the gospel, because with infants, it's being done to them.

And so we just got to say, well, given the nature of the new covenant, it's for those that confess Jesus as Lord.

That's why infants shouldn't be involved in baptism. It's not to say that we don't love children. It's not to say we don't honor the verse where Jesus says, allow the little children to come to me, for such is the kingdom of God.

We love all those within their context, right? And so the deal is, and I tried to key in on this, and I think it worked really well.

I'm talking about adult baptisms. Those are participatory works that we work together in our sanctification.

And we're reminded, your justification is not based on what you brought to the table.

Something that you did rightly, that you were called to do. But don't get it twisted. That's not why you stand right before God.

Does that make sense? We can see baptism in Titus 3, 5, but not with the washing, regeneration, renewal of the

Holy Spirit. No, it's actually a work that you've done in righteousness, and that's not contributing to your salvation.

Oh yeah. Yes, I really enjoy that. I would also apply when they say that the baby's not doing nothing when he or she's being baptized.

Well, that's a misconception of Ergon there in Romans 4. It means whether you do something or the person that's taking you up there.

Yeah, and it's true. That baby may be crying, flailing its arms, and to their credit, it's not doing any works to assist in its baptism.

They're doing works like even pagans are doing work against God, right? I forget the quote.

Pastor Nathan probably knows it, but there was one theologian that talked about the only thing you contributed to your salvation were the sinful deeds that made it necessary to have a

Savior. Amen. You know, so that's why you've got to just be able to have a conversation about adult baptism and then infant baptism, because it's not going to be the same as you're approaching.

You know what I mean? But like you're saying, Ergon is so much broader and in -depth than what people realize.

It's anything that you do or accomplish. Oh, yeah. And so that's why adult baptism especially belongs in this category, not because of works done by us in righteousness.

And we kind of talked about this in your debate review video, because people said, well, baptism's not a work that we do.

It's a work of God. I get what you're saying in infant baptism. They're not doing anything positively in their baptisms.

It's all being done to them, even the being brought up into the baptism. But you can't make that case for adult baptism.

The Church of Christ, the way that they view baptism, and they're not going to explicitly say it's meritorious, but I'm just saying that's the fruit of their position.

They're making it legalism. And so with Lutherans, I get what they're trying to do.

They're trying to hold on to justification by faith alone, when you have faith. And then so we're just talking about inconsistencies that we think flow from that.

And so the reason why I think works done by us in righteousness would be talking about baptism, going to church, reading your

Bible, all these things that we do, is because of the context of what Paul is doing here. He's writing this pastoral letter to Titus, and it's intended to go to a church congregation.

And all throughout Titus here, he is talking about good works. He even starts in Titus 1, talking about the reversal, talking about those that have had their consciences defiled.

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

And so he already has this in mind in chapter 1. He's talking about being able to discern sound doctrine, right?

So it can basically edify the body. And that immediately ties into discipleship.

And verse 14 of chapter 2 says that Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness to purify for himself a people for his own possession who were zealous for good works.

And so all this is laying the foundation for understanding not by works done by us in righteousness.

And so this is the distinction with the Pharisees. They would be trying to follow the law, the letter of the law, but their heart's not in it.

And we understand from Luke chapter 18, that would be trusting in yourself. When you're not looking to God, resting in the finished work of Christ, then you're necessarily looking somewhere else to yourself.

And so you have that contrast going on. And so then this is the key. This is the same point that Jesus was making in John 3.

Not the things that you do, not the things of earth and below, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

Holy Spirit. And so this is a work of the Holy Spirit. When God has ordained that the

Spirit -filled Word go out in such a way to some, and we're going to get into this, it then also carries regeneration, right?

And so when that hits a dead sinner's heart, it brings them newness of life. And so I don't know if you want to speak any more to the context here, but it continues to talk about justification so we don't miss it, right?

Whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

I feel like this is such a connection with Romans chapter 3. Oh yeah. Yeah, Romans 3, 25,

I believe it is. I can't say it off the top of my head. We're justified by his grace.

Yeah, justified by grace. So the atonement there is always in categorical looking towards Christ, the one that he's our great

God and Savior. And he justifies us by his grace through faith, apart from our works.

And I keep bringing up works, righteousness done by us, right? Because in verse 8, this saying is trustworthy.

This is almost like a creed, if you will. This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

And so, so many things are going on here, and I love the consistency of what we're seeing with John chapter 3, 1

Peter 3, 21, everywhere we go, because infants can't do these things, right?

And we're seeing this is a work of God. This is something that has to be from above, that God says,