Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Benjamin Fiore on Titus 3:5 Affirming Baptismal Regeneration

  

through the washing: The verb “you have been washed” (apelousasthe) at 1 Cor 6:11 describes the process of cleansing form 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 here refers to the initial, inner change in the believer 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 the renewal by the Holy Spirit” (loutron palingenesias kai anakainōseōs pneumatos hagiou).

 

rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit: Only at Matt 19:28 does the word “rebirth” (palingenesia) appear against in the NT. This is another indication that the verse belongs to the saying. There the gospel refers to Jesus Christ’s second coming and the new age he ushers in. Here the word describes the effects of the salvific cleansing that is a consequence of Jesus Christ’s first coming, although it looks to eternal life in the age to come. The words relates to similar NT expressions of the idea of rebirth such as “to be born again” (1 Pet 1:3, anagennēsas, 23, anagegennēmenoi; John 3:3, 7, gennēthenai anothen); “to be born from God” (John 1:13; 1 John 5:1, ek tou theou gennēthenai), Paul at 2 Cor 5:17 speaks of the Christian believer as a “new creation.”

 

Matthew 19:28 reflects the Stoic use of the term, where it refers to a periodic restoration of the world after its consumption by fire (Philo, Eternity 89; Marcus Aurelius, Ant. 11.1). The rebirth of souls (more like the use in Titus) is paralleled in Plutarch, De esu. 2.4 (2.998C) and Lucian, Musc. Laud. 7. Cicero, Att. 6.6, finds his return from banishment to a “rebirth” (palingenesia), signalling widespread use of the word. It is not used in the LXX. A word from the Greco-Roman context thus applies to the Christian reality of an inner transformation. Romans 12:2 marks the only other NT use of the word “renewal” (anakainōsis). There Paul encourages an inner transformation, away from the present age and toward doing what pleases God. That usage, like the verbal use at 2 Cor 4:16 and Col 3:10, speaks of gradual inner renewal (and compare Heb 6:6). Romans 12:12 and Col 3:9-10 detail both a moral and noetic renewal. The passage in Titus contrasts the life of renewal with the foolish and immoral life that preceded it (v. 3). The noun is parallel with “rebirth” (palingenesias) as descriptive of the purpose of the washing (BDF 166). The absence of a second preposition recommends this interpretation. The renewal, like the rebirth, characterizes the initial transformation, although progressive continuation is also implied.

 

A subjective genitive indicates that the Holy Spirit effects both the renewal and the rebirth. The Spirit’s indwelling (2 Tim 1:14 and see Acts 2:33) enables the faithful to live pure lives as the new creation. (Benjamin Fiore, The Pastoral Epistles: First Timothy, Second Timothy, Titus [Sacra Pagina 12; Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 2007], 219-20)

 

Further Reading


"Born of Water and of the Spirit": The Biblical Evidence for Baptismal Regeneration (2021) (if anyone wants a free PDF copy, drop me an email at ScripturalMormonismATgmailDOTcom)

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