For we also once were foolish ourselves,
disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our
life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of
God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis
of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by
the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out
upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. (Titus 3:3-6 NASB)
Commenting
on Paul’s teachings on the intimate, sacramental relationship between water
baptism and a believer becoming a new creature (regeneration), J.V. Fesko
wrote:
Paul writes that God “saved us, though the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on
us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (3:5-6). Paul has in view
baptism and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s use of the term παλιγγενεσια (regeneration) and ανακαινωσις (renewal) of a particular
relevance. Historically, some have interpreted παλιγγενεσια as a reference to the ordo salutis. John Calvin, for example,
explains, “It is God’s Spirit who regenerates us and makes us new creatures,
but since His grace is invisible and hidden, a visible symbol of it is given to
us in baptism.” More recently, others have made similar suggestions. True, the
work of the Holy Spirit in the application of redemption most certainly makes a
person a new creature. However, it does not appear that these terms refer to
the ordo salutis as much as to the
new creation; the reference is primarily redemptive-historical.
While caution is necessary with the
employment of extra-biblical sources to define biblical Greek terms, according
to the Stoic use, such as in the writings of Philo, παλιγγενεσια referred to periodic
restorations of the world. This is a kind of new creation, though obviously
entrenched in the Stoic cyclical view of history, a view foreign to the Bible. However,
this idea of new creation seems to be similar to the only other use of the term
in the New Testament: “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration [εν τη
παλιγγενεσια], when the
Son of Man sis on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also
it on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt 19:28) Here Christ
speaks of the eschaton, when the Son of Man will rule over the renewed
creation, a statement entrenched in the Old Testament’s linear view of history
(cf. Gen. 1:28; Pss. 2, 8; Dan. 7). Both Paul’s and Matthew’s use of the term
has roots in the Old Testament expectation of the eschatological new creation.
In this vein, Vos explains Matthew 19:28: “In this saying the word cannot be restricted to the more or less individualizing application of the resurrection as a whole
and even the renewal of the universe as is shown from the parallels in Mark and
Luke which have as its equivalent descriptions the final state” (cf. Mark
10:29-30; Luke 3:20b-21; 22:29-30) (Vos, Pauline
Eschatology, 50).
The conclusion also seems to be borne out by
the use of the terms in other second-temple contexts. For example, Josephus
uses the term παλιγγενεσια interchangeably with the term αποκασταστασις (restoration). Josephus also use
these terms to describe the second exodus, the return from exile: And all that
Cyrus intended to do before him relating to the restoration [αποκαστασεως] of Jerusalem, Darius also
ordained should be done accordingly . . . So they betook themselves to drinking
and eating, and for seven days they continued feasting, and kept a festival,
for the rebuilding and restoration [παλιγγενεσιαν] of their country” (Josephus, Antiquities 11:63-66). Coincidentally,
when Clement of Rome (30-100) wrote to Corinth, he spoke of the flood as
re-creation in this way: “Noah, being found faithful, preached regeneration [παλιγγενεσιαν] to the world through his
ministry” (1 Clement 9). Παλιγγενεσια as new creation seems to be a legitimate
conclusion considering the other terms Paul uses in Titus 3:5, ανακαινωσις. The renewal of the Holy Spirit is connected to His eschatological work,
and the one who receives baptism—the sacramental counterpart to the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit and the acknowledgement of the presence of faith—becomes part
of the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Hence, even in the writings of Paul there is
the intimate connection between baptism and new creation. (J.V. Fesko, Word, Water, and Spirit: A Reformed
Perspective on Baptism [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Reformation Heritage Press,
2010], 224-26, emphasis added)