he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
There are two operative words here and let us deal with one at a time. Yesterday I spoke of renewal, so let us begin there.
Vines definition of renewal in this passage reads this way; the adjustment of the moral and spiritual vision and thinking to the mind of God, which is designed to have a transforming effect upon the life; in Tts 3:5, where “the renewing of the Holy Spirit” is not a fresh bestowment of the Spirit, but a revival of His power, developing the Christian life.
What most of us learn later in this walk with Christ is that it is the power of the Holy Spirit that is responsible for the changes in us. At first we do not even know what God wants of us. There is a real desire to be right and do right but unfortunately we begin seeing it as our responsibility to do the changing. Cooperation yes, but real change comes from God and not anything we do as noted above; ‘not because of works done by us”.
Just to emphasize how difficult that is, let me remind you of Eve’s desire.
For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Being in God’s presence every day made Eve want to be like God and Satan tempted her with her own desire with a lie. Now here we are with God in us and the very presence of the power of the Holy Spirit generates a desire to be more than sinners saved by grace. While that is a sincere sentiment, it is not within our power to become God or wield the power which works in us during the renewal process.
Romans 16:25-26 English Standard Version
Doxology
25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—
The Word has been given to us, to reside in our hearts for the purpose of obedience of faith. How does the power of the Holy Spirit remind us of His Word if we have not read it? To have the mysteries revealed in us, we need to read the mystery novel, the bible.
That is just the beginning. Our regeneration is the other operative word above.