5. διὰ λουτροῦ] For the stress on baptism, cf. 1 Co 6:11, Eph 5:26 (the instrument of cleansing), 1 P 3:21 (of salvation, as here), Jn 3:5 (of new birth). There is probably a conscious reference to 1:15 and 2:14. We needed cleansing, but with more than Jewish ceremonial ablutions, with a washing that would entirely renew our nature.
λουτροῦ] “washing” rather than “a laver” (RV margin), “fountain,” Tynd.; cf. Robinson on Eph 5:26. Justin. Mart. Apol. 1:61 τὸ ἐν τῷ ὕδατι λουτρὸν πολοῦνται . . . καλεῖται τοῦτο τὸ λουτρὸν φωτισμός, 66 λουσαμένῳ τὸ εἰς ἀναγέννησιν λουτρόν.
παλιγγενεσίας, here only in NT of spiritual birth: cf. ἀναγεγεννημένοι, 1 P 1:3 and 23, both perhaps suggested by the Lord’s saying, afterwards recorded in Jn 3:3–5. Cf. Justin Mart. Apol. 1:61 ἄγονται ὑφʼ ἡμῶν ἔνθα ὕδωρ ἐστὶ καὶ τρόπον ἀναγεννήσεως . . . ἀναγεννῶνται: Aug. de pecc. mer. iii. 9, “Christianos non facit generatio sed regeneratio.” Other associations may have led to the choice of the word. (1) The analogy of the Rabbinic title for a convert to Judaism, “a new creature,” καινὴ κτίσις (Gal 6:15, ubi v. Lightfoot). (2) The thought of the new birth of one initiated in the Greek mysteries, a rebirth which followed a ritual bathing; cf. Apul. Met. xi. 23-25. (3) The Stoic use of the word for the periodical restoration of the world after its periodical destruction by fire: this is less obvious, but there may be a conscious contrast between the Stoic and the Christian παλιγγενεσία—“the one by fire the other by water: the one physical, the other spiritual; the one subject to periodical relapses and renewal, the other occurring once for all and issuing in an endless life” (Swete, The Holy Spirit in N.T., App. M). Philo seems to apply this Stoic thought to the Flood (vit. Mos. ii.12 of Noah, οὐ μόνον αὐτοὶ σωτηρίας ἔτυχον . . . ἀλλὰ καὶ παλιγγενεσίας ἐγένοντο ἡγεμόνες καὶ δευτέρας ἀρχηγέται περιόδου, cf. 1 P 3:21 and Clem. Rom. 9, Νῶε παλιγγενεσίαν κόσμῳ ἐκήρυξεν (cf. Dalman, The Words of Jesus, p. 177; Trench, Syn. N.T., § xviii.).
ἀνακαινώσεως] (Ro 12:2 only in N.T. ἀνακαινοῦν, 2 Co 4:16, Col 3:10 only; both perhaps coined by St. Paul, M.M. s.v.), probably governed by λουτροῦ, “per lavacrum regenerationis et renovationis,” Vulg., referring to the moment of baptism; cf. Jn 3:5, Acts 9:17–19, 2 Co 5:17, Gal 6:15 καινὴ κτίσις, Ezek 36:25, 26 ῥανῶ ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς ὕδωρ καθαρὸν . . . καὶ δώσω ὑμῖν καρδίαν καινὴν καὶ πνεῦμα καινὸν δώσω ἐν ὑμῖν. If governed by διά it might add the thought of subsequent daily renewal, or of the fuller gift of the laying on of hands in Confirmation (Chase, Confirmation in the Apostolic Age, p. 98). (Walter Lock, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles [Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1924], 154-55)