February 1, 2006, Vol.5, No.3.

Baptism

Part 11

Keith Sharp

The author appeals to 1 Corinthians 12:13 as a parallel to Titus 3:5. (Ibid) The passage reads:

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

The King James Version, New King James Version, New International Version, and New American Standard Version all render the preposition before "one Spirit" as "by." The American Standard Version translates it as "in." Why is this significant? The preposition "by" has the idea of instrumentality. The apostle is thus saying the Spirit is the one who leads us to be baptized. It is not that we are baptized "with the Spirit" to get into Christ but that the Spirit leads us to be baptized into Christ. The Holy Spirit leads us by the instrument of the word He revealed to be baptized (cf. 1 Peter 1:22-25) into Christ. This baptism, the one New Testament baptism, is water baptism.

Mr. Lane contends:

This statement is consistent with all the others which contain the idea of baptising with the Spirit, for all refer to the work of regeneration which John the Baptist admitted he could not perform but which Christ could and did. Thus baptism is a sign of this aspect of salvation too. (Ibid)

John the Baptist never said one word about the new birth (regeneration). He said Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16) Jesus specified this promise was to His apostles. (Acts 1:1-5) It had nothing to do with their salvation but enabled them to do their work as apostles. (Acts 1:8)

Titus 3:5 says nothing about baptism being a sign of anything. It teaches we are saved by two things: "the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit."

Yes, "regeneration" is a reference to the new birth. What are we washed in? Jesus taught Nicodemus to be "born of water and the Spirit." (John 3:5) What a beautiful parallel between Jesus’ teaching and Paul’s. Is it not obvious the washing is in water?

Is this not perfectly consistent with other passages that make our salvation dependent on a washing?

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27)

What part does the Holy Spirit play in our regeneration (new birth)?

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because "All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the Lord endures forever." Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:22-25

The Holy Spirit revealed the word, the gospel, which is preached to us. When we are led by the gospel to be baptized in water for the remission of sins, we are "born of water and the Spirit." This is the "washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit."

Sometimes, to get around the washing in water of John 3:5 and Titus 3:5, psuedo-scholars contend that the conjunction "and" should be translated "even," making "water" a reference to the "Spirit." The word is translated "and" rather than "even" in both Titus 3:5 and John 3:5 by the King James Version, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Version, New King James Version, New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, and English Standard Version. Obviously, the scholarship of the English speaking world recognizes the word should be rendered "and."

Some appeal to John 7:38-39 as proof that water represents the Holy Spirit. We know water represents the Holy Spirit in this passage because the apostle John so states. But there is no such statement in either John 3:5 or Titus 3:5. Thus, the position that water in these passages represents the Holy Spirit is mere assumption and assertion devoid of scriptural proof.

Mr. Lane concludes on Titus 3:5:

The Holy Spirit is the water of life - without him we lie ‘dead in trespasses and sins’. But through him we are born again and receive a new life which is spiritual and eternal. Baptism symbolises this too, for the Holy Spirit is called not the ‘water’ but the ‘bath’ of regeneration. (104-05)

The Holy Spirit gives life through the word He revealed. (John 6:63) The passage doesn’t even hint that water represents the Holy Spirit. It identifies two elements in our salvation: "the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." When the Holy Spirit, through the word of the gospel, leads us to be baptized in water, we are born again and saved.