... Reflection on Christ’s death continues in Titus 2:14c, where the metaphor of “washing/cleansing” echoes another cluster of Old Testament covenantal texts linked to the preceding by the term anomia: “and to cleanse for himself a people of his own.” The new metaphor, “cleansing” (katharizō), leads some to think of baptism. But the sense is that of cultic purification, which the Old Testament already extended figuratively to describe God’s action of purifying his people, so that they may be his people. The “cleansing” imagery gives access to a catena of Greek texts from Ezekiel 36–37, already anticipated in the anomia of the last clause: Ezekiel 37:23: They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding [apo pasōn tōn anomiōn autōn], and I will cleanse them [katharō autous]. They will be my people [esontai moi eis laon], and I will be their God ...