THE WASHING OF REGENERATION
[p. 194] THE WASHING OF REGENERATION
The washing of regeneration involves the recognition that everything was wrong in which we lived before, but the kindness and love to man of a Saviour God has made it possible for us to come on to new ground in this world. The Lord said, “He that believes and is baptised shall be saved”, Mark 16: 16. Baptism identifies the one baptised with the Lord Jesus and with His death. The baptised person is committed to the Lord Jesus, to Christ, and to the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is really a matter of the kindness and love of God.
In the days of Noah death was coming in on all flesh, but in entering into the ark “eight souls were saved through water”. They passed from the old corrupt world; the water came between them and it. It is noticeable that he does not say ‘through the ark’, as we might have expected, but “through water”. How they must have felt that the vast and mighty depth of that water was between them and the world of the ungodly! “Which figure also now saves you, even baptism”. That is, God would have His people to see the death of Christ between them and the world, as the only answer to what a good conscience demanded. But it is “by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” being known that the soul is prepared for this.
“The washing of regeneration” is that we are put into relation to an entirely new order of things. We are to walk in newness of life, not serving sin, reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. It is through that that God saves men.
But then there is also the “renewal of the Holy Spirit”. It is this which brings about moral suitability for that new order of things. There is entire renewal, and the character of that renewal is “of the Holy Spirit”. We are on the divine side here, and it is good to be there, for there we see things according to the kindness and love to man of a Saviour God. The renewal of the Holy Spirit is part of that action of mercy by which we are saved. It gives us, perhaps we might say, the largest measure possible of the thought of renewal. There could be no greater thought of renewal than renewal of the Holy Spirit. The gospel side of things is always the greatest [p. 195] side, for all on that side is according to a divine measure — the Spirit, the children’s place, sonship, the inheritance, all given because of the love of God, and because nothing less would suit His mind.
The Holy Spirit is “poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour”! What a wonderful Person is Jesus Christ our Saviour! Through Him God can pour out on us richly the Holy Spirit. At the beginning of each gospel He is introduced as the One who baptises with the Holy Spirit. All His own are really immersed in one Spirit and thus constituted one body. We need to ponder these things. We have such meagre thoughts of what Christianity is because we take our thoughts so much from what we see around us, and from what we experience, rather than from the kindness and love to man of a Saviour God. There is no thought of any scanty or feeble supply here; it is a pouring out richly, so that men may be renewed in a divine and spiritual way — saved not only positionally, but by being renewed in the positive energy of the Holy Spirit. A different character of man is introduced here by the kindness and love of God. We know how man in the flesh moves — he always moves under the power of evil. But how does man move under the rich outpouring of the Holy Spirit? He moves in the energy of good; he is a divinely saved man. He can not only show people the way of salvation, but he is a sample of a divinely saved man. He will move on the line of kindness and love to man. He will be a true philanthropist — not merely doing good to men in their circumstances here, but doing them good in relation to God.
The renewal of our mind (Romans 12: 2) refers to something which takes place subsequently to the reception of the Spirit, for there is power to effect transformation. We get the mind in three distinct ways in Romans. First, the reprobate mind in chapter 1, which is the judicial result of men not thinking it good lo have God in their knowledge. God gave them up to a mind void of moral discernment. Then, second, in chapter 7 we see what may be called an exercised mind. The law of the mind — the real principle of the mind as to its moral judgment — is a desire to practise what is right and pleasing to God. But there is another law in his members, the law of sin. In his flesh good does not dwell, and the evil always seems to get the upper hand practically. God is not yet known to him in the grace that delivers. But in chapter [p. 196] 12:2 we see the renewed mind — a mind that forms an entirely new estimate of things which is practically effective in the way of transforming or transfiguring the person who has it. The renewal of the mind comes about through moral exercises. It is the result of having come under the sway of grace, and of having found liberty in the knowledge of God, and of having been brought to realise the purpose of God’s sovereign love, and the sovereignty of His compassions. The mind being brought to discern these divine realities, and rightly to estimate them — I do not say fully, but in measure truly — constitutes its renewal. It is brought about by intelligent moral exercise, and therefore it becomes a subject of exhortation. The whole of the epistle might be regarded as that which, when discerned, renews the mind. The judgment, the understanding, the moral discernment, are all renewed. Thoughts are entertained that were never known before.