What Is a Saint?
By James Beddows
A study prepared a couple of years ago by a research group made the surprising observation that much of the recent growth among the ranks of born-again Christians is attributable to Catholics! It also found that some 26% of Mormons say they have made a personal commitment to Christ, believing that salvation is theirs by virtue of having confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.Ephesians 1:1-5 The report also stated that Baptists, as expected, claimed the largest number of born-again believers at 28 million, while Catholics ranked second with 15 million.Non-denominational Christian churches, which until recently had attracted little attention, were now said to have a high proportion of adherence claiming to be born again70%. Only Assembly of God churches ranked higher, with 80%.
Mass ignorance. When I saw an article like that, it raised all kinds of questions in my mind. Perhaps one question might be: Why is there so little theological understanding among Americans, and professing Christians in particular, of what the term born again means? Or, why is there such an ignorance abroad concerning the fundamental nature of a Christian?
These thoughts came back to me the other day when I read this book "Knowing God" that I picked up from the library. This book was published by Inter-Varsity Press. IVP used to be the bastions of good Christian publishing, as was for a time Zondervan.
But today both are publishing books by individuals who claim to be Christians but who promote the so-called new evangelical theology. God is changing, it says, He's accommodating Himself to our changing culture. In essence, the book suggests that God doesn't know everything. Together with us, He's learning and developing as history unfolds. God is agonizing with us in tackling today's social programs.And that is what's being published in the name of evangelical Christianity. And people are buying it by the hundreds and thousands because, you see, it is lightweight stuff. It is really a repeat of the old heresies of previous centuries, but out it comes because nobody knows anymore what a Christian is. Frankly, that's why the professing Christian churches are in such a mess.
Key question. What then is a Christian? What in God's estimation is a Christian? The answer can be found, I believe, in the little word "saint" that the Bible uses repeatedly to allude to the child of God. The opening verse of Ephesians reads, for example: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus."
The Book of Ephesians, as you know, is packed full of high doctrines. In just the first seven verses you find terms like chosen, holy, predestinated, adoption, grace, redemption, blood, forgiveness of sins and so on. The letter was not written to ivory-tower theologians or individuals with a huge IQ. It was written to your common everyday Christian. That should teach us something about what we ought to be doing in the church of Jesus Christ locally. The point is, God doesn't even countenance the idea that someone could be a genuine Christian and not have a handle on these fundamental truths.
Back to our original question: What is a Christian? Since this letter is addressed first to the saints, let me deal with that right away. What is a saint?
I. One who has been set apart.
The word "saint" is derived from a Greek word that has the root meaning of separation, consecration and devotion to the service of God.In the Old Testament a variety of objects were set apart or consecrated to God. In Exodus 28:2-4, for instance:
And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. Andthey may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. Andthey shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.We find here that the garments to be made are described as being holy. The Hebrew word translated holy also means to consecrate, to set apart, to dedicate. What we need to appreciate is that neither the Hebrew word for "holy" in the Old Testament nor the Greek word for "saint" in the New Testament has in itself ethical and moral qualities. Primarily both words simply mean to set apart.So, while the garments that had to be made were holy, they did not have the character of Christ. They were not godly; they were objects after all. And when it says that the garments were "to consecrate him", it does not mean then that as soon as Aaron put them on, he became like Christ. No, he was simply set apart for God.
God's action. The saint does not set himself apart to God. Only God can do it. So, a person is not a saint just because he chooses to receive Christ or just because he has been baptized in water. What does that point us to right here and now? Predestination. Only those whom God has predestined to be adopted as children of God can be so separated. We read in verse 5:
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.We can say then that a person is set apart and becomes a saint when God in His glorious grace and through the Holy Spirit convicts that person of sin, regenerates his soul, grants him justification, clothes him with the righteousness of Christ and sets him apart for Himself. That's what a saint is.Notice how this applied to the nation of Israel in Exodus 19:6: "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel."
Again, the word "holy" in front of "nation" does not have an ethical connotation. It doesn't mean that Israel was going to be a really godly nation. It just means that this is a nation that God has chosen to set apart for His own special purpose, a nation that He would use as the vehicle through which He would make His glory known to the whole world through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today's church. And that's what it should mean to today's church as well. We are the body of Christ that has been set apart to God, by God and for God. As such, we ought to be altogether different from the world.
Sadly, though, in the name of seeking to have an impact upon the unbelieving world, today's churches have bent over backwards in a whole variety of ways trying to communicate to the world that we really are not that different. Come check us out, we say, we're just like you. We're normal people like youbut we also have Jesus.
That is simply awful. We believers have absolutely no business trying to look like the world for the purpose of accommodating the world. We should not want to be thought normal of by the unbelieving world. That's to diminish what God has done.
Restored. A saint is someone whom God has graciously delivered from this present evil world and restored to a right relationship and fellowship with God. This is not some minor inconsequential difference. Jesus emphasizes in John 17:14, "I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."
It is an absolute affront to God, therefore, for you and me to go around thinking that we are just like the world, and that the only wee bit difference is that we've got Jesus. People ought not to meet men and women who claim to be Christians and find that they are the same as the people they see on television.
II. One who has been cleansed.
While the original Hebrew and Greek words for "saint" and "holy" strictly mean someone who's been set apart, nevertheless when they are applied to those whom God has set apart to be His people, they became over a period of time associated with such ethical qualities as godliness and purity, devotion and cleansing.So, to be set apart to God and for God is first and foremost an external act by God, it also involves something God has done inside us. And that internal work can be summed up in the word "cleansed". So, a saint is someone who has been cleansed by God.
First of all, a saint is cleansed from the guilt of sin. Guilty sinners cannot enter into the holy presence of God; instead, they are subject to eternal damnation in hell. To escape from that punishment, we need to be cleansed from that guilt. And saints are cleansed by the precious blood of Christ. Yes, we still sin as Christians, but no longer are guilty sinners in God's eyes. With our guilt covered by Christ's blood, we have become right with God now.
Pollution of sin. A saint has also been cleansed from the pollution of sin. Every one of us is born with a wicked nature that pollutes every part of our being. We are also polluted by the corrupt values of the world that surrounds us. This pollution is set before us in Ephesians 4:17-19:
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.Now, that tells us something about the condition of man apart from Christ. But the saints whom God has set apart for Himself are those whose hearts have been purified from the pollution of sin and in whom God has placed new desires for the things of God. We read about this in Ezekiel 36:25,26:Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.That's how God deals with this pollution of sin, the work that He does in us that makes us a saint.III. One who lives a holy life.
Moving into the ethical realm of the word "saint" or "holy", we read in verse 4: "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." You see, the saints are set apart to be holy and without blame. A saint is someone who lives a holy life.When we see loved ones who profess faith in Christ but who do not live godly lives, we might like to believe that some saints are holy and without blame and some saints are not. We'd like to think that because it makes us feel good. Feel good, fine;
but it's not true, because without exception, those on whom God has done His work, setting them apart and cleansing then from sin, are also those in whom God has been doing His sanctifying work. To them He says, "Now, you are going to live for me; you are going to show the consequence of that which I have done within you."In other words, when God in His grace saved us, He also begins in His grace to work in us to live a holy life. So, it's impossible for someone to be called of God, set apart to be a saint, but shows no evidence in their new lives in Christ. God's grace that makes a person a saint continues to operate in the saint's life, producing increasingly holy and blameless internal attitudes and external behavior. That's the grace of God at work.
God says in II Corinthians 7:1, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
God is saying there that every nook and cranny of your Christian life is an area which saintliness and holiness and blamelessness of life is to be perfected by the grace of God. And then He adds, "in the fear of God", or out of reverence for God. The implication of those few words is that if we are not pursuing increasing holiness in every aspect of our lives, then we don't really fear God. Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." In the Bible, fools are those who do not know God, those who are not saved.
Conclusion. So, if you are a saint, then you have been set apart for the glory of God, you have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, and you have been given the grace to live a particular lifestyle. This lifestyle is to be earnestly pursued with the enabling grace of God in every aspect of our Christian life without exception.
You see, it's when we start applying the word of God like this to our lives that we gaze at Christ and say: Thank You, Lord, thank You for Your love, Your mercy, and Your grace. Every part of Your life was absolutely perfect. You did fulfill the law totally, but You became my substitute and died for me. You set me apart, saved me, are now molding me into Your image. May I always live to serve and please You. o
Rev. James Beddows is pastor of Candlewood Church, 52 Stadley Rough Road, Danbury, CT 06811.