W. E. Vine on Regeneration
By Larry White
March 5, 2020
W. E. Vine on the word:
"Regeneration <1,,3824, palingenesia> [παλιγγενεσία]
"new birth" (palin, "again," genesis, "birth"), is used of 'spiritual regeneration,' Titus 3:5, involving the communication of a new life, the two operating powers to produce which are 'the word of truth,' Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23, and the Holy Spirit, John 3:5,6; the loutron, 'the laver, the washing,' is explained in Eph. 5:26, 'having cleansed it by the washing (loutron) of water by the word.'" [ῤήματι]
(Greek added, LW)Mr. Vine does fine as a scholar up to a point (italicized), when he literally defines the word regeneration as "new birth," but then he teaches us his denomination's doctrine of how this regeneration is produced. Mr. Vine's opinion of how this spiritual regeneration happens is what his denomination taught him because he didn't get it from the bible. I think he is trying to separate it from baptism, because the verse in which the word is found, Titus 3:5, links it to our salvation and calls it "the washing of regeneration" and baptism is the simplest interpretation because it occurs at the salvation of every person in the New Testament scriptures. Why he should suddenly turn to apologetics at all here can only be in order to support the doctrine of his Brethren Church, that Baptism is NOT a means of salvation (dia, διά) or for the remission of sins as Peter commands in (Acts 2:38).
That last reference by Mr. Vine in Eph. 5:26, he uses in error, since Paul is not referring to being saved by justification or regeneration, but rather, he is referring to sanctification of the church. Mr. Vine leaves out the context "even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; so that he might sanctify [it] having cleansed it by the washing of water by the word."
A reference that Mr. Vine should use when teaching about Eph. 5:26, which is referring to sanctification of the church, is John 15:3 "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." Jesus is also not referring to the past about the justification or the salvation of his disciples, or regeneration, since he has not yet paid the price for it on the cross. He is speaking of the sanctification of his disciples that he has done for their subsequent work about to begin. For us today, that type of cleansing is had every Sunday with the preaching of that same word. The same idea is mentioned when Jesus washed the disciple's feet in John 13:10; "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you."
This agrees with what Jesus said in his prayer to the Father in John 17:19 "And for their sakes I sanctify myself so that they also may be sanctified in truth." Jesus sanctified or consecrated himself to the death of the cross giving himself for the church and ascended to the spiritual realm so that all his followers could be sanctified in truth. As I understand it, "in truth" means in the reality of the spiritual realm. He brought us together into his marvelous light in which we enter and live along with him, (1Peter 2:9). Keep in mind that in Ephesians 5:26, Paul is speaking about the church of the saved and not the ungodly who need salvation through regeneration.
This daily cleansing is what Jesus referred to in Jno 17:17, "Sanctify them through your truth, your word is truth." We are sanctified by the Spirit, when we believe the truth. (2Thessalonians 2:13) This is why we have multiple services in our churches every week. On the first day of the week we assemble for instruction and admonition. This is the work of the church, to edify its members by the word. It's not brain washing, as some think it is, but it is heart and spirit washing as surely as that done by Jesus with his disciples. We need it, like we need our daily bread. The filth that we are exposed to in the world all day and every day, needs to be washed from us by the water of God's word. Those with faith find it refreshing and renewing, that is, if the preacher is building with gold, silver and precious stones. (1 Corinthians 2:12)
Paul in Titus 3:5-6 on the other hand, is not talking about sanctification but is concerned with justification by faith and regeneration in our salvation. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our savior." which Mr. Vine does not quote. It is Titus 3:5-6 rather, that explains John 3:5-6, being "born of water and the spirit" in the new birth.But this teaching of the doctrine of Christ is what Baptists, of all people, consider to be heresy; the teaching about immersion being for the remission of sins and the quickening of believers to spiritual life by the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) when they are raised from baptism along with Jesus, (Tit. 3:5-6; 1Pet. 3:21). "Heresy," they say. By this charge, they are holding up their own heresy of "the sinner's prayer" found in the back of most Baptist literature, as Orthodoxy.
What they tell you to do to be saved is not found in the Bible - anywhere; and that is the measure of a heresy. God is just, and not a respecter of persons. Every person in the New Covenant scriptures came to God to be saved the same way. They had someone teach them God's word about the sacrifice of Jesus, his son, and when they believed, they repented of their sinful pasts and confessing their faith in Christ, were baptized, that is, they were immersed in water for the remission of their sins and received the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38; 22:16)
But I wonder why I didn't hear of this washing of regeneration in all the sermons I listened to in the fifty-plus years in the churches of Christ. I'll do more research and polling of my brethren to get an answer to that.
LW