Titus 3:5

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;

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Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

Who is the one who is born of the Spirit and is made Spirit? It is one who is renewed in the Spirit of his mind. It is one who is regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit. We receive the hope of eternal life through the laver of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And elsewhere the apostle Peter says: “You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” For who is he that is baptized with the Holy Spirit but he who is born again through water and the Holy Spirit? Therefore the Lord said of the Holy Spirit, “Truly, truly, I say to you, except a man be born again by water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” And therefore he declared that we are born of him into the kingdom of God by being born again by water and the Spirit. .

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

For if anyone should ask of me whether we have been saved by baptism, I shall not be able to deny it, since the apostle says, “He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” But if he should ask whether by the same washing he has already in every way immediately saved us, I shall answer: It is not so. Because the same apostle also says, “For we are saved by hope.” .

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

Little children alone who have performed no deeds of their own, either good or bad, will be condemned solely because of original sin, unless the grace of the Savior has freed them from it through “the laver of regeneration.” All others [are condemned], who have used their free will to add their own sins to original sin, but also for the deliberate acts of their own will. This is so unless they are delivered from the power of darkness and translated to the kingdom of Christ by the grace of God. .

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

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.

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

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.

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

For this reason, charity, which has more regard for the common good than for its own, is said “not to seek the things that are its own.”… Hence, this charity is practiced now in the good works of love, by which it reaches out to give aid in whatever direction it can, and this is its breadth. It bears adversity with longsuffering, and perseveres in what it holds as true, and this is its length. But it does all this in order to attain eternal life which is promised to it on high, and this is its height. This charity, indeed, is hidden in the place where we are founded and, so to speak, rooted in depth. Hence we do not search into the reasons for God’s will, by whose grace we are saved. This has come “not by the works of justice which we have done but according to his mercy.” “For of his own will he has begotten us by the word of truth,” and this will of his is hidden. .

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Cyprian of Carthage

AD 258

But what a thing it is, to assert and contend that they who are not born in the Church can be the sons of God! For the blessed apostle sets forth and proves that baptism is that wherein the old man dies and the new man is born, saying, "He saved us by the washing of regeneration."

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

Not by the works St. Paul in this verse alludes to the sacrament of baptism. This text is brought by divines to prove that baptism, like every other sacrament, produces its effect by its own power, (or, as it is termed in the schools, ex opere operato) independently of any disposition on the part of the receiver. We are saved, says the apostle, not by the works of justice, or any good works we have performed, but our salvation must be attributed solely to the mercy of our Saviour, God, manifested to us by the washing itself of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Spirit. By the laver of regeneration That is, baptism, by which we are born anew the adoptive children of God, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, whom he hath poured (Witham)

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

“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.

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

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.

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Methodius of Olympus

AD 311

Is the Spirit of truth, the Paraclete, of whom the illuminated. and they are not ashamed to run counter to the Spirit, but, as though born for this purpose, they kindle up the smouldering and lurking passion, fanning and provoking it; and therefore he, cutting off very sharply these dishonest follies and invented excuses, and having arrived at the subject of instructing them how men should behave to their wives, showing that it should be as Christ did to the Church, "who gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing. And all this was, not of works of righteousness

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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220

Modesty which is being shaken to its foundation-(Christian modesty), which derives its all from heaven; its nature, "through the layer of regeneration; "

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