he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
Paul has just described the kind of people he and Titus once were, and the picture is not flattering. Then God becomes the subject of the sentence: if our own record ruled us out, what did He act on instead?
Works Ruled Out
Paul does not say our works were too few. He says the kind of works needed were never there at all.
William KellyGod rules out a man's works as a ground for salvation, and how merciful that is. By nature we stood before God as unrighteous. How could an unrighteous man do works in righteousness? There is indeed one work done in righteousness, and it is infinite. Christ, the Righteous One, came to do God's will and did it all perfectly. As He said when dying, "It is finished."
Mercy Comes Down
God acted on His own mercy instead. Nothing in us could change our nature — Cretan or otherwise.
The Christian's FriendThe Holy Spirit begins by excluding all works of righteousness of our own, for these could not change the nature of a Cretan, nor of any other son of Adam. Mercy would come down to us where we were; there was divine pity and compassion for such wretches.
Saved by a Work Done In Us
In most passages salvation is a work achieved outside us. This one is different.
F. B. HoleIn Scripture salvation is generally connected with a work accomplished for us... This passage, however, is an exception to that general rule. Here we are saved by a work done upon us and in us. The work in us is quite as necessary as the work for us. This is very plain if we consider the picture of Israel's deliverance from Egypt. God's mighty work for them saved them out of the land of slavery. Yet despite all the wonders done on their behalf, the vast majority of them fell in the wilderness and never reached the land of promise.
What "Regeneration" Means
The word "regeneration" appears just once more in the New Testament, and that other use shapes its meaning here.
F. B. HoleThe word is used in only one other place in the New Testament, Matthew 19:28. There it points to the new order of things that God will set up in the day of Christ's glory. We do not have that new order yet. But we have come under the washing, the cleansing, the moral and spiritual renewal that fits that day.
Commentators differ on what the "washing" itself points to. Some read it as the new birth, the thing Jesus explained to a man named Nicodemus, and they rule out any link with baptism:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe washing (or bath) of regeneration is the new birth. Of this our Lord spoke to Nicodemus (John 3)... The washing has nothing whatever to do with water-baptism. Water-baptism cannot save a sinner, or help save him, or produce regeneration.
Others read it as a change of standing, with baptism as its picture rather than its cause:
The Bible TreasuryThe "washing of regeneration" does not refer to that inward work done in the soul when a person is born through the word of truth. That inward work comes in the next clause, "the renewing of the Holy Spirit." The washing refers instead to the new place or position into which God brings the believer through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And of this, baptism is not the means but the sign, or "figure," as Peter speaks (1 Peter 3:21).
Two Things, Not One
Whichever reading you take, the two phrases do not repeat each other.
William KellyIt is not to be thought that these two things are exactly the same. The washing of regeneration looks at our old condition, and it places us outside of that condition. The renewing of the Holy Spirit looks more at that inward work which the Spirit of God makes ours.
That inward work does not stop at the new birth.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWhat is the renewing of the Holy Spirit? It is distinct from regeneration. The Holy Spirit is the active agent in the new birth. He gives the new nature and then lives in the believer, and He does His blessed work by renewing the inward man day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16).
Why Paul Presses It
Paul tells Titus to keep insisting on this, and the reason is practical.
William KellyThe apostle is laying down the only ground of power for a life that bears fruit. So he urges Titus to insist, always and fully, on the sure but exclusive truth of salvation by grace, in all its fullness and reality... Without it there is no readiness or power for good works. Without it the conscience is clouded and the heart hardened.
Summary
- Mercy, not merit. Works in righteousness were never an option for the unrighteous; Christ alone did the one perfect work.
- Mercy came down. Nothing in us could change our nature, so God's compassion reached us where we were.
- Mercy works inside. Here salvation is a work done upon us and in us. Israel was saved out of Egypt by a work done for them, yet most of them fell in the wilderness.
- Mercy in two parts. The washing puts us outside our old condition; the renewing is the Spirit's inward work. Commentators differ over whether the washing is new birth itself or a change of position pictured in baptism.
- Mercy produces fruit. Grace received in full is the only power for good works; where it is unknown, the conscience stays clouded.