We are Saints

 It will indeed be ironic to hear someone call the people who lived in Corinth saints. But guess what, some already did! the apostle Paul. This is a big deal because those who have spent time reading the bible will tell you that they were one of the most problematic churches we have ever seen in scripture. The word saint simply means “one who has been set aside for God”. Sanctified for God or set aside for the purposes of God.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Paul says to us, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” Together, these two passages help us understand the biblical meaning of saint. It is someone whom Christ bought with His own blood on the cross and has separated unto Himself to be His own possession. Every new believer has been set apart by God, separated unto God to be transformed into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. In this sense, every believer is a saint — a person separated from his old sinful way of life and set apart by God to increasingly glorify God as his life is transformed. In the biblical sense of the term, sainthood is not a status of achievement and character but a state of being — an entirely new condition of life brought about by the Spirit of God. Paul describes it as “[turning] from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18) and again as having been “delivered … from the domain of darkness and transferred … to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13).

We don’t become saints by our actions. We are made saints by the immediate supernatural action of the Holy Spirit alone who works this change deep within our inner being so that we do, in fact, become new creations in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). This change of state is described prophetically in Ezekiel 36:26: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone [a dead, unresponsive heart] from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh [a living, responsive heart].

Why is there a disconnect between what God has seemingly promised and what we experience in our daily lives? The answer is found in such Scriptures as Galatians 5:17, which says, “The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”

So although 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Ezekiel 36:26 speak of a decisive change that always occurs in the heart of every new believer, the outworking of that change is not instantaneous and absolute. Instead, it is progressive over time and never complete in this life. However, the awareness of this internal struggle with sin should never be used as an excuse for sinful behavior. Rather, we should always keep in mind that we are saints called to live a life that is set apart for God.

So Paul begins his first letter to the Corinthian church by addressing them as “those sanctified [set apart by God] in Christ Jesus, called to be saints [set-apart ones].” Then he spends the remainder of his letter vigorously exhorting them to act like saints. In one sense, Paul’s letter could be summarized in this statement: “You are saints. Now act like saints!” Sometimes that idea is expressed more succinctly as, “Be what you are.” That is, be in your behavior what you are in your state of being. So although the word saint basically describes our new state of being as people separated unto God, it carries with it the idea of responsibility to live as saints in our daily lives.

 

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