We were hateful, hating one another, but according to God's mercy he saved us ( Titus 3:3-4). He saved us through "the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit " (Titus 3:4-5). Regeneration is the making of a new person. Renewing is to make new, or refresh. I see the two as identical twins. They are only distinctive as we get to know them better.
God removes the sinful nature and makes us to be partners of his Divine Spirit (2Corinthians 5:17; 2 Peter1:4). Yet in another sense he has made us who we were designed to be. Sin led us into rebellion, which in turn chained us so that we were no longer free to be ourselves. The Holy Spirit revives us, resuscitates God's original design.
How marvelous the thought is that, no matter what we have experienced in life, no matter how much we have failed, God is still able to make us into the person he designed us to be in the first place.
