`Repent, and be baptized every one of you ... for the remission of

sins' (Acts 2:38),

and if this be `truth' for the present dispensation, many who read these

lines are still in the state of unforgiven sin.  We cannot believe that Paul

would have had any hesitation in saying `the baptism of regeneration' if that

was what he wished to teach.  Instead, he used the word loutron `laver'.

This word he had already employed in Ephesians 5:26:

`The loutron (washing) of water by the Word'.

`The washing of water' is readily understandable, but the washing of

water by the word involves the use of a figure of speech.  So also does the

employment of the word loutron, for this in the form louter is found in the

Septuagint as the translation of the Hebrew word kivvor mostly translated

`laver', both of the one used in the Tabernacle (Exod. 30:18) and in the

Temple (1 Kings 7:38).  When speaking of the Tabernacle in the epistle to the

Hebrews the apostle speaks of it as a `figure for the time then present', the

gifts and sacrifices of which never made the offerer perfect `which stood

only in meats and drinks, and divers Washings (baptisms) and carnal

ordinances, Imposed on them until the time of reformation' (Heb. 9:9,10).

The apostle having said this, and having affirmed that in the Mystery there

is but `one baptism', could not possibly intend baptism in water when he

wrote Titus 3:5; he used the `laver' in its symbolic intention, setting forth

the cleansing that accompanies regeneration without recourse to any

ordinances whatever.  While the word `shed' can refer to the outpouring of

the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:33), it is also used of the shedding of blood

(Rom. 3:15), and most of all the vials of wrath `poured out' in the day of

the Lord (Rev. 16).  In Titus it is the `renewing' not the gifts of the Holy

Spirit that are in view.

`Being justified by His grace' (Titus 3:7).

We remember Sir Robert Anderson once saying that he was in conversation

with a Roman Catholic Priest, and although they may mean something different

from each other, they, Protestant and Catholic alike, could use the term

`Justification by Faith' because of the meaning put upon the word `faith',

but, said Sir Robert, no Roman Catholic can really take to himself the term

`Justification by Grace' for that not only includes faith, but it excludes

merit and works of all description.  The `hope of eternal life' appears in

Titus 1:2; `that blessed hope' appears again in chapter 2, and now we read

that as a result of this justification by grace, all such are `made heirs

according to the hope of eternal life' (Titus 3:7).  Having so definitely set

aside `works of righteousness' as a procuring cause of salvation, the apostle

now sets the balance by insisting that believers thus justified Without

works, should be careful to Maintain good works as the fruit and evidence of

their regeneration.  He prefaces this with the words `This is a faithful

saying' an expression that links the Pastoral epistles together.  Once the

A.V. translates the same Greek original by `This is a true saying' which,

unobjectionable as it may be as a translation, is unpardonable in that it

robs the English reader of the full count of passages.  Let us see what Paul

considered `faithful sayings':

`This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ

Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief' (1 Tim.