In this lesson we want to see the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit spoken of in Titus 3:5.
The Greek word for regeneration in Titus 3:5 is different from that for regenerated in 1 Peter 1:23. The only other place the word is used is in Matthew 19:28, where it is used for the restoration in the millennium. Regeneration in Titus 3:5 is a change of position, a new state of things. When a person is reborn, the divine life gets into him. Then there is a change of position and the state of things becomes new. Titus 3:5 speaks of the washing of a changed position, a state of things that has become new. Being born again is the commencing of a change from one state to another.
Titus 3:5 speaks of the "washing of regeneration." The Greek word for washing here is literally laver. The same word is used in Ephesians 5:26 for washing—"the washing of the water in the word." The laver of the Old Testament tabernacle was for the washing away of uncleanness. The washing of regeneration is a laver to purge away the old things of our natural life on the negative side. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new." Everything of our natural life is old. These old things of our natural life are purged away by the washing, the laver, of a changed position and of a new state of things.
This washing is organic, not something of doctrinal knowledge, outward correction, or outward regulation. The washing of regeneration is altogether related to another life that enters into our being organically. If a person swallowed a pearl, it would enter into his being in an inorganic way because the pearl does not possess any element of life. But when a person eats nourishing food, the food is digested and assimilated by him. The food gets into his being as his life supply in an organic way, and it even becomes the constituents of the tissues of his physical being. Food gets into us organically. It is absolutely related to life. The washing of regeneration, of the changed position and new state of things, is also absolutely in life and with life. It is an organic, inward washing in life that carries away all the negative things, purging away all the things of the old nature of our old man.
Furthermore, this washing is metabolic because it imparts something new into us, and the new things of the divine life replace the old things of our natural life. In the metabolism of our physical body, the old, negative things are carried away and replaced with the new supply of life so that we may be strengthened and grow. The washing of regeneration is also a metabolic process, a metabolic washing, in which the old, negative things of our natural life are carried away and replaced with the new things of the divine life for our supply and growth in the divine life.