4. " The washing of regeneration" (\ovrpov ttoXij- ytvtoiac) is a phrase naturally connected with the foregoing. It occurs Tit. iii, 5. All ancient and most modern commentators have interpreted it of baptism. Controversy has made some persons unwilling to ad- mit this interpretation ; but the question probably should be, not as to the significance of the phrase, but as to the degree of importance attached in the words of the apostle to that which the phrase indicates. Thus Calvin held that the " bath" meant baptism ; but he explained its occurrence in this context by saying that "Baptism is to us the seal of salvation which Christ hath obtained for us." The current of the apostle's reasoning is this. He tells Titus to exhort the Christians of Crete to be submissive to authority, showing all meekness to all men : " for we ourselves were once foolish, erring, serving our own lusts ; but when the kindness of God our Saviour and His love toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we performed, but according to His own mercy He saved us by (through the instrumentality of) the bath of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost (cut Xovrpov TraXiyytviaiaq Kai dvaKaivdimoig ni'ii'jxuTOQ ayiov), which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that, being justified by His grace, we might bo made heirs of eternal life through hope (or according to hope, kcit iXiriSa)."' The argument is, that Christians should be kind to all men, remembering that the}' themselves had been fc r- merly disobedient, but that by God's free mercy in Christ they had been transplanted into a better state, even a state of salvation (tvwatv )//<«<_'). and that by means of the bath of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. If, according to the more ancient and common interpretation, the laver means baptism, the whole will seem pertinent. Christians are placed in a new condition, made members of the Church of Christ bjr baptism, and the}- arc renewed in the spirit of their minds by the Holy Ghost.
There is so much resemblance, both in the phrase- ology and in the argument, between this passage in Titus and 1 Cor. vi, 11, that the latter ought by all means to be compared with the former. Paul tells the Corinthians that in their heathen state they had been stained with heathen vices ; " but," he adds, "ye were washed" (lit. ye washed or bathed yourselves, cnrtKovtmatii), "but ye were sanctified, but yc were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 1 y the Spirit of our God." It is generally believed that lure is an allusion to the being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ; though some connect "sanc- tified" and "justified," as well as ••washed," with the words " in the name," etc. (see Stanley, in loc). But, however this may be, the reference to baptism seems unquestionable.
Another passage containing very similar thoughts, clothed in almost the same words, is Acts xxii, lo', where Ananias says to Saul of Tarsus, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord" (uraffTctg jid-Tirrcn rcri air'XiWcai
BAPTISM
643
BAPTISM
Tt)g iipapriaQ gov, iTTiKaXtaai.itvoc. to uvofia aixot). See Calvin's Commentary on this passage.
5. " Illumination" (</>wr«x/«Jc). It has been much questioned whether QtoriZtoOai, "enlightened," in Heb. vi, 4 ; x, 32, be used of baptism or not. Justin M., Clement of Alexandria, and almost all the Greek fathers, use (tnoriapoc as a synonym for baptism. The Syriac version, the most ancient in existence, gives this sense to the word in both the passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Chrysostom, Theodorct, Tlieophylact, and other Greek commentators so inter- pret it; and they are followed by Ernesti, Michaelis, j and man}' modern interpreters of the highest author- i ity (Wetstein cites from Orac. Sibyll. i, vean 0wri's«T- 6ai). On the other hand, it is now very commonly alleged that the use is entirely ecclesiastical, not scrip- ] tural, and that it arose from the undue esteem for bap- tism in the primitive church. It is impossible to enter '■ into all the merits of the question here. If the usage be scriptural, it is to be found only in the two passages in Hebrews above mentioned ; but it ma}' perhaps cor- respond with other figures and expressions in the New Testament. The patristic use of the word may be seen by referring to Suicer, s. v. 0(or<<T/u<ic, and to Bingham (A'. .1 . Ik. xi, ch. i, § 4). The rationale of the name, according to Justin Martyr, is, that the catechumens, '[ before admission to baptism, were instructed in all the | principal doctrines of the Christian faith, and hence " this laver is called illumination, because those who learn these things are illuminated in their understand- ing" (Apol. ii, 94). But if this word be used in the sense of baptism in the Epistle to the Hebrews, as we have no mention of any training of catechumens in the New Testament, we must probably seek for a different explanation of its origin. It will be remembered that fpoiTayojyia was a term for admission into the ancient mysteries. Baptism was without question the initia- tory rite in reference to the Christian faith (comp. rpia flaTZTtcpaTu iliac uvr\mtnQ, Can. Apost. i). Now that Christian faith is more than once called by Paul the Christian '-mystery." The "mystery of God's will" (Eph. i, 9), "the mystery of Christ" (Col. iv, 3; Eph. j iii, 4), "the mystery of the Gospel" (Eph. vi, 19), and other like phrases, are common in his epistles. A Greek could hardly fail to be reminded by such lan- guage of the religious mysteries of his own former heathenism. But, moreover, seeing that "in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," it seems highly probable that in three memorable pas- sages Paul speaks, not merely of the Gospel or the faith, but of Christ himself as the great Mystery of God or of godliness. (1) In Col. i, 27, we read, "the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you," rod /.w(TT>ipiov tovtov, oq tmiv Xpicsroc Iv vfjlv. (2) In Col. ii, 2, Lachmann; Tregelles, and Ellicott, as we j think on good grounds, adopt the reading too pvoTi]- piov rov Ofof', XpifTToi; rightly compared by 15]). El- licott with the preceding passage occurring only four verses before it, and interpreted by him " the mystery of God, even Christ." (3) It deserves to be careful- ly considered whether the above usage in Colossians does not suggest a clear exposition of 1 Tim. iii, 10, to r»/£ tvatjhictc /ivryTiiptov o£ i<j>avip<i>6T] k. t. A For, if Christ be the " Mystery of God," he may well be called also the "Mystery of godliness;" and the masculine relative is then easily intelligible, as being referred to Xoiotoc. understood and implied in uvo~Ti\- piov; for, in the words of Hilary, "Ueus Christus est Sacramentum."