Saints (Benton)

by Terry Wane Benton

The term “saint” has been hijacked to mean something different from the way the Bible uses the term. Today, you can hear churches exalt a “Christian” after death to the status of a “saint.” This is not according to scriptural usage. Sometimes, we may hear someone say something like, “I’m a Christian, but I’m no saint.” Again, that represents a gross misunderstanding of both terms. According to the Bible, if you are a Christian (follower of Christ), then you are a saint (someone set apart from the world and separated from God).

You did not move from “Christian” to “saint” status. The same process that leads one to become a Christian is the same process that makes one a saint. If you are not a saint, then neither are you a Christian.

"For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints" (I Corinthians 14:32-33 NKJV).

If churches are composed of saints, then being a saint is not a special rank one reaches after the death of the body.

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 1:1 NKJV).

Paul wrote to brethren living in the flesh, who were all “saints.” The word saint implies they were “sanctified” (set apart for God). This happens when one is washed and justified (I Corinthians 6:11). If you have been washed (Acts 22:16) and justified, you have also been set apart from the world and dedicated to God. Every Christian is a saint, or they are not a Christian either.