He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Titus 3:5-7

In Paul’s epistles, he uses the idea of renewal multiple times to express what God is doing in his Church to change us from what we used to be into what we have the potential to become.

Not only did he save us in his mercy, but God has richly poured out his Spirit to us. Notice that this is plural; the Spirit has been poured out to the Church, to enrich her, nourish her and transform her into the Body of Christ that God has planned. We can attain transformation, not by our own righteousness, but by the Spirit. We can attain transformation, not as individuals, but as a Church (congregationally and globally) being filled with the Spirit of regeneration and renewal.

Ethan Kirl