Does saint mean to be morally blameless? Strong’s says: “From hagos (an awful thing) (compare\u00a0hagnos,\u00a0thalpo); sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless<\/strong> or religious, ceremonially, consecrated) — (most) holy (one, thing), saint.”<\/p>\n\t I suspect that the difficulty is understanding the meaning of “blameless.” We tend to assume it means “without fault” or “sinless.” However, various people are called “blameless,” but being human, we know they have sinned. Interestingly, the one person whom we know was without sin (Jesus) was never called “blameless.”<\/p>\n “The word translated “blameless” conveys the idea of a life or covenant standing to which no legitimate charge can be attached. It does not teach sinless perfection on earth but the absence of grounds for accusation before God or men” [Topical Lexicon<\/em>].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Thus, a saint refers to a person who essentially lives a moral life, where people don’t readily charge wrongdoing against him. Not without sin, but mature. Not someone who follows the world, but who follows God. Because a saint lives by God’s law, he is viewed as an oddity by worldly people. “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised<\/em>” (I Corinthians 2:14). This is why the Greek word for “saint” emphasizes someone or something set apart because of its difference.<\/p>\n “40<\/b>\u00a0h\u00e1gios<\/i>\u00a0– properly,\u00a0different<\/i>\u00a0(unlike<\/i>),\u00a0other<\/i>\u00a0(“otherness<\/i>“),\u00a0holy<\/i>; for the believer,\u00a040\u00a0(h\u00e1gios<\/i>) means “likeness of nature<\/i>\u00a0with the Lord” because “different<\/i>\u00a0from the world.”<\/p>\n The fundamental (core) meaning of\u00a040\u00a0(h\u00e1gios<\/i>) is “different” – thus a temple in the 1st century was\u00a0hagios<\/i>\u00a0(“holy”) because\u00a0different<\/i>\u00a0from other buildings (Wm. Barclay). In the NT,\u00a040\u00a0\/h\u00e1gios<\/i>\u00a0(“holy”) has the “technical” meaning “different<\/i>\u00a0from the world” because “like<\/i>\u00a0the Lord.”<\/p>\n [40\u00a0(h\u00e1gios<\/i>) implies something “set apart” and therefore “different<\/i>\u00a0(distinguished\/distinct<\/i>)” – i.e. “other,” because\u00a0special<\/i> to the Lord.]” [Helps Word Studies]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Does saint mean to be morally blameless? Strong’s says: “From hagos (an awful thing) (compare\u00a0hagnos,\u00a0thalpo); sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated) — (most) holy (one, thing), saint.” Answer: I suspect that the difficulty is understanding the meaning of “blameless.” We tend to assume it means “without fault” or “sinless.” However, various…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1835,289,76],"class_list":["post-89040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-blameless","tag-saints","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91168,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-i-john-419-make-us-blameless-at-judgment\/","url_meta":{"origin":89040,"position":0},"title":"Does I John 4:19 make us blameless at Judgment?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence (boldness) on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. (I John 4:17). Does this verse make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30961,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-integrity-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":89040,"position":1},"title":"What does integrity mean?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What does integrity mean? Answer: Integrity means to be complete, upright, innocent of willful wrongdoing, a person with a clear conscience. For example, Job was a man of integrity. \"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24720,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-think-a-preacher-caught-in-adultery-should-continue-without-some-disciplinary-action\/","url_meta":{"origin":89040,"position":2},"title":"I don’t think a preacher caught in adultery should continue without some disciplinary action","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been reading your many posts on marriage and relationships. I am somewhat confused in regards to your reply to\u00a0 \"If a minister has committed adultery, should he step down even though he has repented of his sin.\" It seems that you say that the preacher can continue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41588,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-an-elder-an-elder-for-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":89040,"position":3},"title":"Is an elder an elder for life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A brother in our area is claiming to be \"an elder for life\" even though he has moved from one congregation to another and has not\u00a0been a serving elder in either. He was an elder for a congregation, but that eldership was dissolved because of his domineering attitude and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15074,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-satan-know-our-weaknesses\/","url_meta":{"origin":89040,"position":4},"title":"Does Satan know our weaknesses?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does Satan know our weakness? If so, does he use people in our lives in ways to get us to fall? I mean is he able to influence relatives, friends to cause one to stumble? Is he able to put people in our lives who seem to be genuine\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95485,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pauls-letter-to-colosse\/","url_meta":{"origin":89040,"position":5},"title":"Paul’s Letter to Colosse","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 7, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier Paul introduced his letter to the Colossians with a prayer for the disciples and a praise of their King. Then in Colossians 1:21-23, he outlines the plan for the rest of his letter, describing the relationship between the disciples and their king. However, he does so in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89040\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n