4. Washing as spiritual cleansing is the means by which the Holy Spirit works out rebirth and renewal. This takes the genitive “of the Holy Spirit” as marking the Holy Spirit as agent for both rebirth and renewal that in turn are taken as synonyms. The agent of washing may also be the Holy Spirit, and this information may be made explicit in the translation. However, this is not in focus in the text. This last option is what is preferred in this Handbook. A possible translation is “God saved us through
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