COMMENTARIES ON TITUS 3:5
3:5 He saved us from the guilt and penalty of all our sins—past, present, and future. They were all future when the Savior died, and His death covered them all. But one of the simplest, clearest truths of the gospel is the most difficult for man to receive. It is that salvation is
not based on good
works; one doesn't become a Christian by living a Christian life. It is not good people who go to heaven. The consistent testimony of the Bible is that man cannot earn or merit salvation (
Eph. 2:9;
Rom. 3:20;
4:4,
5;
9:16;
11:6 Gal. 2:16;
3:11). Man cannot save himself by good works; all his righteous deeds are like polluted rags in God's sight (
Isa. 64:6). He cannot become a Christian by living a Christian life for the simple reason that he has no power in himself to live a Christian life. It is not good people who go to heaven; it is sinners who have been saved by God's grace!
Good works do not earn salvation; they are the
result of salvation. Wherever there is true salvation there will also be good works. So we read that God did not save us because of
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy. Salvation is a work of
mercy—not justice. Justice demands that the deserved punishment be administered;
mercy provides a righteous way by which the punishment is averted.
God saved us by
the washing of regeneration. Conversion is really a new creation (
2 Cor. 5:17), and here that new creation is presented under the figure of a bath. It is the same figure used by the Lord Jesus when He taught the disciples that there is only one bath of regeneration but many necessary cleansings from defilement (
John 13:10). That bath of regeneration has nothing to do with baptism. It is not a bodily cleansing by water, but a moral cleansing by the word of God (
John 15:3). Baptism is not even a symbol of this bath; it rather depicts burial with Christ into death (
Rom. 6:4).
Our new birth is also spoken of as a
renewing of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God brings about a marvelous transformation—not putting new clothes on the old man, but putting a new man in the clothes! The Holy Spirit is the
Agent in regeneration and the word of God is the
instrument.
Believer's Bible Commentary: A Thorough, Yet Easy-to-Read Bible Commentary That Turns Complicated Theology Into Practical Understanding.
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3:5. God in His grace saves those who believe, not because of any righteousness in them (cf.
Rom. 3:21-24;
Eph. 2:8-9;
2 Tim. 1:9), but
because of His mercy. The three words, "kindness," "love," and "mercy" (
Titus 3:4-5) all represent aspects of God's grace. The dual means of grace through which He accomplished this salvation are (1) the
rebirth spoken of as a
washing from the filth of sin, and (2) the
renewal by the Holy Spirit (cf.
2 Cor. 5:17). No mention is made here of the role of faith in the process because Paul's entire focus was on what God has done, not on human response.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty.
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In this short passage Paul sweeps across the glorious truths of salvation, every facet of which is sovereignly initiated and empowered by God alone. There are doctrines here that could be studied and pondered for months without mining all their truth.
We are now radically different from the way we once were, and from the way the unsaved still are, solely because of God's
kindness, His love, His mercy, His
washing of regeneration, His
renewing by the Holy Spirit, His Son
Jesus Christ our Savior, and
His grace.
Among other things, remembering our salvation should motivate us to keep in mind that the only reason we are different now is that
He saved us.
. . .
Every aspect of salvation is from God and from God alone. First, we should remember that we were saved by
the kindness of God our Savior. Chrēstotēs (
kindness) connotes genuine goodness and generosity of heart. Our salvation from sin and lostness and death issued wholly from God's
kindness, His loving, benevolent, and entirely gracious concern to draw us to Himself and redeem us from sin forever.
MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The - MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Titus.
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2. Sound Doctrine (3:5-11)
3:5 not by works. Salvation has never been by works (see
Eph. 2:8, 9; cf.
Rom. 3:19-28.)
according to His mercy. Cf.
Ephesians 2:4;
1 Timothy 1:13;
1 Peter 1:3;
2:10.
washing of regeneration. See notes on Ezekiel 36:25-31; Ephesians 5:26, 27; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23. Salvation brings divine cleansing from sin and the gift of a new, Spirit-generated, Spirit-empowered, and Spirit-protected life as God’s own children and heirs (
v. 7). This is the new birth (cf.
John 3:5;
1 John 2:29;
3:9;
4:7;
5:1).
renewing of the Holy Spirit. Cf.
Romans 8:2. He is the agent of the “working of regeneration.”
The MacArthur Bible Commentary.
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"Not by works of righteousness which we have done."
Verse 3 gave us a picture of how we were before we came to know Christ. It is important to understand that becoming a Christian doesn't mean just turning over a new leaf -- you will find yourself writing on the new leaf the same things that you wrote on the old leaf. Making New Year's resolutions and promising to do better doesn't make you a Christian. Nor are you saved on the basis of works of righteousness, good deeds, which you have done.
"But according to his mercy he saved us." Because Christ died for us and paid the penalty for our sins, God is prepared to extend mercy to us; it is according to His mercy that He saved us. And He is rich in mercy, which means He has plenty of it. Whoever you are, He can save you today because Christ died for you. He paid the penalty and makes over to you His righteousness!
"By the washing of regeneration." "Washing" means laver -- it is the laver of regeneration. In the Old Testament the laver, which stood in the court of the tabernacle and later the temple, represented this.
This washing of regeneration is what the Lord was speaking about in the third chapter of John: "...Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (
John 3:5). The water represents the Word of God -- the Bible will wash you. It has a sanctifying power, a cleansing power. We are cleansed by the Word of God. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God -- "born of water and of the Spirit." That is the way we are born again.
"And renewing of the Holy Ghost" -- He regenerates us.
Thru The Bible with J. Vernon McGee.