Regeneration
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Palingenesia means regeneration, new birth, or renewal into a new state. Jesus uses it for the coming renewal when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, and Paul uses it for the washing of regeneration by which God saves according to mercy.
Reader summary
Full entry for παλιγγενεσία (G3824) · Open the biblical lexicon
Palingenesia means regeneration, new birth, or renewal into a new state. Jesus uses it for the coming renewal when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, and Paul uses it for the washing of regeneration by which God saves according to mercy.
The BSB source-word alignment has 2 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include of new birth (1), renewal of all things (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 19:28. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (1), Titus (1).
Palingenesia means regeneration, new birth, or renewal into a new state. Jesus uses it for the coming renewal when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, and Paul uses it for the washing of regeneration by which God saves according to mercy. The two occurrences hold personal new life and cosmic restoration within one redemptive horizon without collapsing them.
Regeneration is not self-reform, inherited religious identity, emotional intensity, or a second chance produced by discipline. God grants life by the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ, justifies by grace, and makes heirs of eternal hope. That inward renewal belongs to the kingdom Christ will openly renew, so it produces present allegiance, holiness, hope, and participation in God's restored people.
Palingenesia names God's making-new work at personal and cosmic scales: merciful new birth by the Spirit and the future renewal ordered beneath the enthroned Son of Man.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Matthew 19:28 places the regeneration in the coming order when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne and the Twelve share a role in Israel's judgment.
He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Titus 3:5 says God saved us, not because of our righteous works but according to mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
So that, having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs with the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:7, immediate supporting context rather than another occurrence, identifies the result: justification by grace and heirship according to the hope of eternal life.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Cosmic restoration or spiritual rebirth; in Matthew denotes the future renewal of all things at Christ's return.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
2 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a new birth, regeneration
Read versea new birth, regeneration
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 2 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 2 lexical occurrence verses.
παλιγγενεσία is built from these roots:
Salvation involves inner renewal, not mere moral improvement. Titus 3:1-7
Palingenesia announces more than improvement. In Titus, people once enslaved to passions do not rehabilitate themselves; God's kindness appears, He saves according to mercy, and the Holy Spirit renews through Jesus Christ. Justification and heirship frame this new life as gift. In Matthew, the same rare noun looks toward the renewed order in which the Son of Man reigns in glory.
Personal regeneration therefore belongs to God's larger purpose for creation, while cosmic hope reaches individuals through merciful new birth. The distinction matters: a renewed society cannot replace the Spirit's work in persons, and private conversion cannot be severed from Christ's kingdom. Regenerated people learn to live now as heirs of the world God will set right.
Titus.3.5
Palingenesia joins palin, again, with genesis, birth or coming into being. The compound can describe rebirth or renewal, and context determines whether the focus is personal salvation or the renewed age.
The prophets promise new hearts, the Spirit within, restored creation, and a righteous Davidic reign. These hopes converge without erasing the difference between renewed persons and the renewed world.
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