Thursday, June 1, 2023

Benjamin Fiore on "washing" in Titus 3:5 as a Reference to Water Baptism

  

through the washing: The verb “you have been washed” (apelousasthe) at 1 Cor 6:11 describes the process of cleansing from immorality and being “justified” (edikaiothēte) in the name of Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God. Acts 22:16 identifies the process of “washing” from sins (apolousai) with “baptism” (baptisai, and compare Eph 5:26 and Heb 10:22).

 

The action of the Holy Spirit in connection with baptism is commonplace (Eph 4:30; Acts 2:15–17; 10:47; Mark 1:8; John 3:5), although the relationship between the Spirit and the ritual has been a subject of controversy since the Reformation. Nonetheless, the Spirit’s action in connection with the washing here suggests that the washing is baptismal. The same is the case with the mention of the three divine persons, God (v. 4), Holy Spirit (v. 5), Christ Jesus (v. 6), for baptism was done in their name (Matt 28:19). The saying refers to the initial, inner change in the believer that baptism symbolizes. The saying conveys fundamental beliefs in a terse formula suitable for a liturgical acclamation. God’s pouring out the Holy Spirit is spoken of as already done in the past (aorist verbs, and see Joel 3:1–2 and Acts 2:17–18). However, only exaggerated literalism would demand a present tense to assert the connection of the outpouring with the ritual washing. The washing is the means of God’s saving action, and it brings rebirth and renewal, of which the Holy Spirit is the agent. Jesus Christ mediated the outpouring of the Spirit, and all of this leads to the justification of the believer. The saving washing is thus a reference to baptism and the saying fits a baptismal setting and lays the ground for the sacramental understanding of the baptismal ritual. The meaning of the ritual process comes to expression in the phrase “the washing of rebirth and of renewal by the Holy Spirit” (loutron palingenesias kai anakainōseōs pneumatos hagiou). (Benjamin Fiore, The Pastoral Epistles: First Timothy, Second Timothy, Titus [Sacra Pagina Series 12; Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2007], 219–220)

 

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