ACC ~ Titus 3 v5b

REBUILT FROM THE FOUNDATION. CHRYSOSTOM: Strange, isn’t it, how we were so drowned in wickedness that we could not be purified? We needed a new birth! For this is implied by “regeneration.” For as when a house is in a ruinous state no one places props under it nor makes any addition to the old building, but pulls it down to its foundations and rebuilds it anew. So in our case, God has not repaired us but made us anew. HOMILIES ON TITUS 5.

AS WATER AND BLOOD CAME FROM HIS SIDE. CHRYSOSTOM: “There came out from his side water and blood.”Beloved, do not pass this mystery by without a thought. For I have still another mystical explanation to give. I said that there was a symbol of baptism and the mysteries in that blood and water. It is from both of these that the church is sprung “through the bath of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit,” through baptism and the mysteries. But the symbols of baptism and the mysteries, water and blood, come from the side of Christ. It is from his side, therefore, that Christ formed his church, just as he formed Eve from the side of Adam. BAPTISMAL INSTRUCTIONS 3.17.

WASHED CLEAN. AUGUSTINE: If the forgiveness of sins were not to be had in the church, there would be no hope of a future life and eternal liberation. We thank God, who gave his church such a gift. Here you are; you are going to come to the holy font, you will be washed in saving baptism, you will be renewed in “the bath of rebirth.” You will be without any sin at all as you come up from that bath. All the things that were plaguing you in the past will be blotted out. SERMONS 213.8.

SAVED IN HOPE. AUGUSTINE: It is true we have not yet risen as Christ has, but we are said to have risen with him on account of the hope which we have in him. So again he says: “According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration.” Evidently what we obtain in the washing of regeneration is not the salvation itself but the hope of it. And yet, because this hope is certain, we are said to be saved, as if the salvation were already bestowed. REPLY TO FAUSTUS THE MANICHAEAN 11.7.

Tit