Titus 3:5

The ἡμεῖς and ἡμᾶς refer to the same persons as those mentioned in Titus 3:3, i.e., the apostles and those who have had a similar experience. The verse may be paraphrased as a statement of fact thus: God saved us by Baptism, which involves two complementary processes, (a) the ceremony itself which marks the actual moment in time of the new birth, and (b) the daily, hourly, momently renewing of the Holy Spirit, by which the spiritual life is supported and fostered and increased. And the moving cause of this exceeding kindness of God was not any merits of our own, but His mercy.

οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων : ἐκ here, as in Romans 3:30, expresses the source. See also the emphatic repetition in Galatians 2:16 of οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων νόμου. The δικαιοσύνη here is that which we can call our own, ἡ ἐκ νόμου (Philippians 3:9). Its existence as δικαιοσύνη must not be denied; but it does not pass as current coin in the kingdom of God. It has indeed no saving value whatever. Accordingly there is no question here as to whether we did, or did not do, works which are ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ. “Not the labours of my hands can fulfil Thy law's demands.” See note on 2 Timothy 1:9.

Bengel, comparing Deuteronomy 9:5, refers the negative to each term in the clause: we had not been ἐν δικ.; we had not done ἔργα ἐν δικ.; we had no works through which we could be saved. But this exegesis is too much affected by the controversies of the sixteenth century. The A.V., which we have done, confuses the thought by a suggestion that the works referred to are those “after justification”.

τῶν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ : δικαιοσύνη is the sphere in which the works were done, and to which they are related.

κατὰ … ἔλεος : The phraseology is borrowed from Psalms 108:26 (Psalms 109:26), σῶσόν με κατὰ τὸ μέγα ἔλεός σου. A remarkable parallel is furnished by 1 Peter 1:3, ὁ κατὰ τὸ πολὺ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος ἀναγεννήσας ἡμᾶς; and also by 2Es 8:32, “For if thou hast a desire to have mercy upon us, then shalt thou be called merciful, to us, namely, that have no works of righteousness”.

ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς : The N.T. seldom diverts attention from the main lesson to be taught from time to time by noting qualifications, even necessary ones. Here St. Paul is speaking only about the efficient and instrumental and formal causes of salvation, without any thought of man's part in co-operation with God. It is as when teaching the principles of mechanics, we do not confuse the beginner's mind by making allowances for friction, etc. Here, as in Romans 6 and 1 Peter 3:21, it is assumed that man co-operates with God in the work of his own salvation. On the force of the aorist, ἔσωσεν, see note on 1 Timothy 2:4.

διὰ λουτροῦ : the washing. λουτρόν may mean the water used for washing, or the process itself of washing. The R.V.m. laver would be λουτήρ. See Dean Armitage Robinson's note on Ephesians 5:26.

παλινγενεσίας : This defines the nature of the λουτρόν which God employs as His instrument in effecting the salvation of man; not any λουτρόν whatever, but that of new birth. It is sufficient to observe here that much of the controversy about regeneration might have been avoided had men kept before them the analogy of natural birth, followed as it is immediately, not by vigorous manhood, but by infancy and childhood and youth.

ἀνακαινώσεως : The genitive ἀνακαινώσεως depends on διὰ (which is actually inserted in the Harclean Syriac; so R.V.m., and through renewing), not on λουτροῦ, as apparently Vulg., per lavacrum regenerationis et renovationis Spiritus Sancti, f. Boh. Arm., followed by R.V. The λουτρόν, the washing, secures a claim on the Holy Spirit for renewing, just as birth gives a child a claim on society for food and shelter; but unless we are compelled to do otherwise, it is best to keep the two notions distinct. Birth, natural or spiritual, must be a definite fact taking place at a particular moment; whereas renewing is necessarily a subsequent process, constantly operating. Without this renewing the life received at birth is at best in a state of suspension. The references to ἀνακαίνωσις and ἀνακαινοῦν, and the similar passage, Ephesians 4:23, show that the terms are always used of those who are actually living the Christian life.