The noun anakainōsis (from ana, again + kainos, new) denotes a thorough renewal or renovation — not mere repair of the old but the making of something genuinely new from the inside out. It appears only twice in the NT (Romans 12:2 and Titus 3:5), but each occurrence is theologically momentous.
Romans 12:2 contains one of the most transformative commands in Scripture: 'Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing [anakainōsis] of your mind.' The passive 'be transformed' (metamorphousthe) indicates that this is not something we achieve by effort but something done to us by the Spirit as we expose our minds to the truth of God's word. Titus 3:5 parallels this: God saved us 'through the washing of rebirth and renewing [anakainōsis] by the Holy Spirit' — not by works but by regenerative grace. The word kainos in the background is the NT's word for 'new' that implies qualitatively new — not just chronologically fresh. Anakainōsis is God's ongoing project: the new creation that began at Pentecost continues in every believer's mind as the Spirit rewrites the software of human thinking according to the pattern of Christ.