Opposites and Equivalents – Part 5
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit [Titus 3:5].
Now let us move on to the second major teaching in our Bible verse. Let’s read the pertinent words of the verse together:
He saved us…according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.
Yes, the Lord saved us (grace). We don’t and cannot save ourselves (Law). Having said that, the Apostle Paul explained what this entailed. We learn this from the final part of the verse, beginning with the word “by”. God’s salvation entails two aspects, both of which are needed if we are to be truly saved. The two aspects are,
1. washing of regeneration
2. renewing by the Holy Spirit
To decipher the two aspects, we need to stay aware of what it is we are saved from. We are saved from a life of sin. We are saved from the sin nature inside each sinner. We are saved from being sinners.
Ergo, the Lord has to do two things, if He is to be successful in saving us. First, He has to get rid of the sin. Otherwise we have to die as the penalty for our sins, and that is the opposite of being saved.
But that alone won’t save us. No sooner are our sins removed than we are back in the pigsty committing more sins. To enable sinful man to live righteously, sinful man first needs a righteous life. So the Lord crucifies the old life of slavery to sin, but then He perfectly completes our salvation by giving us the new life of the Holy Spirit. And I can promise you, the Holy Spirit does live righteously!
When we wash our hands, we remove the dirt from them. When the Lord gives us His “washing of regeneration”, He removes the sin from us. After doing so, the Lord completes the salvation by giving us His Holy Spirit to live inside us.
This topic deserves much more of our attention. Indeed, it is exciting to delve into it! Accordingly we will pause and spend time alone with Jesus now, and return to the topic tomorrow to give it further attention.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Now let us move on to the second major teaching in our Bible verse. Let’s read the pertinent words of the verse together:
He saved us…according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.
Yes, the Lord saved us (grace). We don’t and cannot save ourselves (Law). Having said that, the Apostle Paul explained what this entailed. We learn this from the final part of the verse, beginning with the word “by”. God’s salvation entails two aspects, both of which are needed if we are to be truly saved. The two aspects are,
1. washing of regeneration
2. renewing by the Holy Spirit
To decipher the two aspects, we need to stay aware of what it is we are saved from. We are saved from a life of sin. We are saved from the sin nature inside each sinner. We are saved from being sinners.
Ergo, the Lord has to do two things, if He is to be successful in saving us. First, He has to get rid of the sin. Otherwise we have to die as the penalty for our sins, and that is the opposite of being saved.
But that alone won’t save us. No sooner are our sins removed than we are back in the pigsty committing more sins. To enable sinful man to live righteously, sinful man first needs a righteous life. So the Lord crucifies the old life of slavery to sin, but then He perfectly completes our salvation by giving us the new life of the Holy Spirit. And I can promise you, the Holy Spirit does live righteously!
When we wash our hands, we remove the dirt from them. When the Lord gives us His “washing of regeneration”, He removes the sin from us. After doing so, the Lord completes the salvation by giving us His Holy Spirit to live inside us.
This topic deserves much more of our attention. Indeed, it is exciting to delve into it! Accordingly we will pause and spend time alone with Jesus now, and return to the topic tomorrow to give it further attention.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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