Titus 3:5

not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

Before taking up a line-by-line analysis of this, it is profitable to glance at other Scriptures which are admitted by scholars to be parallel to the teaching here. Scripture is always the best comment on Scripture.

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Galatians 3:27).

Of this verse, Spence said, "The apostle has grandly paraphrased his words here in Titus 3:5."[9]

And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).

Of this verse, Beasley-Murray said, "The relation of baptism to justification in 1 Corinthians 6:11 and in Titus 3:5 is fundamentally the same: the grace that baptizes is the grace that justifies, inseparably one, and experienced as one."[10]

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of the water with the word (Ephesians 5:25,26).

Of this passage, Lenski said:

Paul's other great passage regarding baptism is Ephesians 5:26, where we discuss at length "the bath of the water in connection with the spoken word," and reject the English Revised Version (1885) marginal translation "laver."[11]

There are a number of other very important passages bearing upon the subject Paul introduced here, namely, John 3:5, Acts 2:38,1 Peter 3:12; Matthew 3:16; Romans 6:3-5, etc. With the background of the passages cited here, it is impossible to miss Paul's meaning in this verse.

Not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves... God's unmerited grace is the source of all salvation, and all the good works of a hundred lifetimes could never earn or merit the saving grace of God. These words have been made the excuse for denying that such ordinances as baptism and the Lord's supper are in any wise essential to salvation; but that class of deeds commanded by Christ as prerequisite to redemption simply do not lie within the periphery of this statement here. What Paul spoke of here was "the righteousness of men," the works "which we did ourselves." It is imperative to notice that "the washing of regeneration" mentioned at once is by that very citation excluded from the "works done in righteousness" which are contrasted with it.

But according to his mercy he saved us... It is customary for commentators at this point in their exposition to take five pages explaining how this means that God's mercy saves us without our being baptized, despite the fact that the very next line says that "God's mercy saved us through baptism!"

Saved us through the washing of regeneration...

The ASV margin gives "laver" in this clause instead of "washing"; but as Spence said, "Laver here can only signify the baptismal font."[12] The allusion, of course, is to the great bronze laver that stood at the entrance to the Jewish temple, in which priests washed themselves before engaging in their duties within the sanctuary. The analogy in the Christian religion is the baptistery, the same being the only laver connected with the holy faith, and being the place where sinners are cleansed and justified prior to their entry into the true sanctuary, which is the Lord's church. The use of the term laver is very fortunate, because the primary meaning of it, in context, is the baptistery, standing in a figure (metonymy) for baptism, for which alone a baptistery is used, and adequately translated as "washing." But please note the significance of this. It is a thundering, emphatic denial of the nonsense that "The washing referred to is wholly spiritual."[13] Is a baptistery needed for that?

The Expositor's Greek New Testament sums up the meaning here thus:

God saved us by baptism, which involves two complementary processes, (a) the ceremony itself which marks the actual moment in time of the new birth, and (b) the daily, hourly, momently renewing of the Holy Spirit.[14]

It is inexcusable to say that baptism "is only setting the seal on the essential act of faith"... or that baptism is little more than a purifying act; as Beasley-Murray stated it, "Neither of these contentions is worthy of discussion."[15] In the verse we are considering, as the same writer added, "Baptism is efficacious by itself."

But isn't baptism only a symbol? This has been shouted so loudly and so frequently and for so long that many believe it; but it is untrue. Lenski sets the matter straight. Commenting on the affirmation that "Man submits to baptism after the new birth to picture it forth to men," he has this:

Paul excludes this idea in a double way. "God saves us by means of the bath, etc. - this is the bath of regeneration. How can anyone think Paul would say, "God saved us by means of a picture of regeneration? Compare Jesus' own words in John 3:5.[16]

And renewing of the Holy Spirit. . ." The twin elements of the new birth, as set forth in John 3:3-5, are present here. One birth with two elements in it, the bath in water (baptism) and the Holy Spirit of promise - this is the teaching of the New Testament. The same twin elements in the new birth are evident in Peter's Pentecostal command to "Repent and be baptized... receive the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38,39). It is appropriate that Paul should have mentioned this other element (the renewal of the Spirit) in connection with baptism; because, as Beasley-Murray said, "Baptism is the occasion when the Spirit works creatively in the believer."[17] It should not be thought strange that Paul thus emphasized the place of baptism as a means used in our salvation by the mercy of God. Jesus himself said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:15,16). Note too that baptism is God's means, not man's. Baptism is not a work of men; no man ever baptized himself; only God can do that, and even then, only for those who will believe and repent; and every true baptism in all history was a work of Almighty God himself; to this solemn ordinance alone is conjoined the sacred triple name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All who despise it or downgrade it do so at their eternal peril.

[9] H. D. M. Spence, op. cit., p. 261.

[10] G. R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), p. 216.

[11] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 933.

[12] H. D. M. Spence, op. cit., p. 261.

[13] William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary ... Titus (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1957), p. 391.

[14] Newport J. D. White, op. cit., p. 198.

[15] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 213.

[16] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 934.

[17] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 211.