In Titus 3:5-7 we see that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the means of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 6 says that God poured out the Holy Spirit “upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” The Holy Spirit, who is the Triune God reaching man, has been not only given to us but poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Savior, to impart to us all the divine riches in Christ, including God’s eternal life and His divine nature, as an eternal portion for us to enjoy.
In verse 5 Paul says, “Not out of works in righteousness which we did but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Works in righteousness refer to works of righteousness done in the element and sphere of righteousness, denoting genuine works of righteousness. Even such genuine works of righteousness are not sufficient to be the basis and condition of our salvation. Only the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, brought to us by God’s mercy, are sufficient to cause us to be saved.
The Greek word for regeneration here is different from that for regenerated in 1 Peter 1:23. The only other place the word is used is Matthew 19:28, where it is used for the restoration in the millennium. Here it refers to a change from one state to another. Being born again is the commencing of this change. The washing of regeneration begins with our being born again and continues with the renewing of the Holy Spirit as the process of God’s new creation, a process that makes us a new man. It is a kind of reconditioning, remaking, or remodeling, with life. Baptism (Rom. 6:3-5), the putting off of the old man, the putting on of the new man (Eph. 4:22, 24; Col. 3:9-11), and transformation by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23) are all related to this wonderful process. The washing of regeneration purges away all the things of the old nature of our old man, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit imparts something new—the divine essence of the new man—into our being. In this is a passing from our old state into a wholly new one, from the old creation into the status of a new creation. Hence, both the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit are working in us continually throughout our life until the completion of the new creation.
Regeneration is a washing in God’s salvation. This washing is a great renewing of the believers by God’s salvation to enable them to eliminate all that is of their natural life and the old creation and to become God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). The washing of regeneration begins with our regeneration and continues with the renewing of the Spirit, both of which are the aspects of the organic salvation and are matters of life. In the washing of regeneration there is the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Following the washing of regeneration, the Holy Spirit continues to work within us to recreate us that we may become a new creation, thus renewing us.
We need not only the judicial washing by the Lord’s redeeming blood to cleanse us from every sin (Heb. 1:3; 1 John 1:7) but also the organic washing, the washing of regeneration, which begins with our being born again and continues with the renewing of the Holy Spirit. We receive an organic washing by daily experiencing God’s organic salvation. The washing of regeneration washes away the old elements, the old nature, and the old things that are within us; the renewing of the Holy Spirit imparts new elements, a new essence, and new things into us. Both the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit are working in us continually throughout our life until the completion of the new creation so that we may be built up in God’s organic salvation.
Such a washing, such a renewing, in God’s organic salvation is being carried out continually in us by the renewing Spirit spreading into our mind, by our walking in newness of the divine life, and by our being consumed by the environmental sufferings. The renewing in God’s organic salvation is by the renewing Spirit mingling with our regenerated spirit as one spirit to spread into our mind (Eph. 4:22-24) and infuse our inward parts with God’s attributes, which are forever new and never become old, thereby renewing our entire being (5:26-27; Rom. 12:2a). Our God is newness itself. In the entire universe, God alone is new and everything else is old. This God, who is forever new and who never becomes old, infuses His ever-new essence into us to renew our entire being.
The renewing in God’s organic salvation is also by our walking in the newness of the divine life in the resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:4). In order to walk in newness of life, we need, on the one hand, to put off the old man, and on the other hand, to put on the new man (Eph. 4:22, 24). To put off the old man is to deny and renounce our old self and to apply the cross to the self. Furthermore, we need to put on the new man, that is, to apply what Christ has accomplished in creating the new man, by living and magnifying Christ through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19-21). This is what it means to walk in newness of life. All these matters are for the renewing Spirit to renew us by imparting the new essence and new element into us that we may be renewed day by day.
The renewing in God’s organic salvation is also by our being consumed by the environmental sufferings for the killing of our outer man and the renewing of our inner man day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). God’s renewing us is accomplished through the consuming by the outward environmental sufferings. Our sufferings are for us to be renewed. Although our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day. In order to renew us, God has arranged all kinds of environments to come to us for a positive purpose, that is, to dispense God’s new essence and new element into us. We should have such a daily subjective experience of our outer man decaying and our inner man being renewed day by day. Through such a renewing we are built up in God’s organic salvation to ultimately become as new as the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2). We are in the process of being renewed day by day with the divine element by the renewing of the Holy Spirit through sufferings to become the New Jerusalem.
In 1 Timothy the church is stressed (3:15-16), in 2 Timothy the Scripture (3:15-16), and in Titus the Holy Spirit. The church is the house of the living God, expressing God in the flesh, and is the pillar and base of the truth, the divine reality of the great mystery—God manifested in the flesh. The Scripture is the breath of God, containing and conveying His divine essence for our nourishing and equipping to make us perfect and complete for His use. The Holy Spirit is the divine person, washing and renewing us in the divine element to make us a new creation with the divine nature, that we might be heirs of God in His eternal life, inheriting all the riches of the Triune God.