Who Are the “Saints”?
The Question before us is very
simple – “Who are the Saints”? Are they
a special group of Christians who have already passed into heaven and who have
later been formerly approved and cataloged as “saints” by those dwelling on
earth? This is the Roman Catholic view.
On the other hand are they all who are in
Christ Jesus whether on earth or in heaven, that is, all true children of
God? The question is very simple and
the two opposing views are very simple. Nothing is complex about either.
Both the Roman Catholic Church and
Baptists believe that the Holy Spirit is the Author of the Word of God. The
Holy Spirit claims that nothing is higher or more authoritative than God’s own
Name other than His Word.
I will worship toward thy holy
temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast
magnified thy word above all thy name.
(Psa 138:2)
Nothing else is ever said to be HIGHER than
God’s name other than His inspired Word. His “name” represents His “person,
character and authority.” Here is a simple but clear statement that there is NO
HIGHER AUTHORITY than God’s inspired Word. Just as there is no higher authority
to represent YOU than your own word of mouth there can be no higher authority
to represent God than His own word of mouth. All scripture is said to be
“inspired by God.” The word “inspired”
refers to the breath as it moves over the vocal chords. This is the strongest
way to say that the Bible was as though it was breathed over God’s own vocal
chords. Nothing could be more emphatic that the Bible is the very words of God
and hence nothing can be more authoritive than God speaking. This is the
picture God gives us concerning the Bible and how we are to perceive it and
receive it as the final authority for all faith and practice.
What does God say about the “saints” in His
Word, the Bible?
I.
Every New Testament Letter is addressed to “saints” located on earth as members
of New Testament Churches
Take special note that those addressed in
the following epistles are not only identified as “saints” but are described as
geographically located in churches on earth:
2Co 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at
Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:
Eph 1:1
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:
Phi 1:1
Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints
in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Col 1:2
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at
Colosse: Grace be unto you, and
peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The repetitive present tense “which are” demonstrates that he is addressing “saints” presently alive on earth at the time of writing. The repetitive preposition “at” restricts their location to earth not heaven.
Paul could and did address letters to “saints” at particular geographical locations on earth. Can the view of the Roman Catholic allow them to write such letters today? If not, then, obviously they must believe something different than what God’s word teaches. Who shall we believe? Shall we take God at His word or some human or human institution whom contradicts His Word?
II.
God’s Word Says that such “saints” not only dwelt on earth but could be visited
and ministered to.
Act 9:32
“And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints
which dwelt at Lydda. “
Rom 15:26-27
“For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain
contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.
It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles
have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to
minister unto them in carnal things. “
Peter actually traveled to the city of “Lydda” in order to visit “the saints which DWELT at Lydda.” They were not dwelling in heaven but “dwelt” at Lydda. Paul was taking up a collection for “saints” that were “poor’ who were located “at Jerusalem.” There are no “saints” in heaven that are “poor” and in need of “carnal” things as heaven contains nothing “carnal.”
Paul argues that the reason that Jesus
gives “Pastors and teachers” to churches on earth is for the “perfecting of the
saints.”
Eph. 4:11-12 “And he gave
some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors
and teachers; For the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
Christ:”
There are no IMPERFECT “saints” in heaven. Pastors and teachers are for the edification and maturing of the saved church members on earth. Here all saved church members are called “saints.” One kind of “perfecting” that Pastors and teachers are called to do to the “saints” is that of doctrinal stabilization:
“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro,
and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to
deceive; (Eph
4:14)
Paul tells the members of the church at
Corinth that they are to take their internal disputes before “the saints”
rather than before the unjust or lost world:
Dare any of you, having a matter
against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge
the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye
unworthy to judge the smallest matters? (1Co 6:1-2)
Notice that he provides them with only two
classes of men whereby they may take their problems before. Either they take
their problems “before the unjust” or “before the saints.” There are no other
options considered. The “unjust” are lost people or non-Christians. Hence, “the
saints” must be the opposite or “saved people” that is “Christians.” He could
not rebuke them if they had no PRESENT option to present their disputes before
the “saints.” Hence, it is not only possible but plainly commanded. Who are these “saints” they are to appear
before in order to reach true judgments concerning their disputes? He identifies them as those who “shall judge
the world.” Who are those that shall
judge the world? He positively identifies them as “YOU” - “and if the world shall be judged BY YOU,
are YE unworthy to judge in the smallest matters?” In other words, those “saints” whom they are commanded to appear
before are the other church members at Corinth. His argument is very clear. If
some day in the future “saints” will be judges over the world then the “saints”
should be qualified NOW to settle such matters between themselves.
Let not a widow be taken into the
number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
(1Ti 5:9)
Well reported of for good works;
if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she
have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if
she have diligently followed every good work. (1Ti 5:10)
Paul qualifies what kind of widow the
churches can support. One qualification is that she has “washed the saints
feet.” How can she wash the feet of
those in heaven? He does not say that she
had to wash someone’s feet that later became a saint. No, the feet she washed
were the feet of saints. Every other qualification has to do with her
relationships with those on earth not in heaven.
Are we to suppose that this was something
she did in the past but was no longer able to do presently? If so, then to be
consistent, then so also must we consider it to be the same with all the other
qualifications as they are all in the past tense. How would it sound if we said
she must have “followed every good work” in the past but she no longer has to
do that in the present? Or, in the past
she has relieved the poor but no longer does she have the responsibility in the
present? Or she has lodged strangers in the past but no longer is responsible
to do that in the present? Or she was “well reported of good works” in the past
but no longer responsible to do so in the present? Or in the past she has
“brought up children” but is no longer responsible to help her daughters or the
younger women do that in the present? Most children are “brought up” by the
help of their grandparents.
Better yet, if washing the feet refers
only to those who died and became saints and this is necessary to be qualified
as a supported widow by the church, then, who today can be qualified? How would you know whose feet would later
belong to a “saint”? How would the Church keep track of such
washings to insure that such a widow had indeed washed the feet of one who
later became a saint?
The common sense interpretation is that this
woman is one who ministered to the needy and to other Christians in the
following ways.
III. In the New Testament “saints” are those who have been “sanctified” in Christ Jesus
Unto the church of God which is at
Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call
upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
(1Co 1:2)
And such were some of you: but ye
are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (1Co 6:11)
By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
(Heb 10:10)
For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Heb 10:14)
Who are the sanctified in
Christ? The Word of God answers that
they are all for whom Jesus offered up His body as a sacrifice for sins? For whom did He offer His body as a sacrifice
for sins? God answers that question by
saying “WE are sanctified” (Heb. 10:10).
Who are the “we” that is being addressed? The context goes on to answer that question. All who have found
forgiveness of their sins by the blood of the New Covenant are those which have
been sanctified.
But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right
hand of God; (Heb 10:12)
This is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their
minds will I write them; And their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more.
(Heb 10:16-17)
Notice that before God calls the members of the church at
Corinth “saints” He first says they are “sanctified in Christ Jesus”
Unto the church of God which is at
Corinth, to them that are (1) sanctified in Christ Jesus, (2) called to be
saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our
Lord, both theirs and ours: (1Co
1:2)
The term “sanctified” and the word “saint” translate the very same Greek
root word. That word simply means “to be set apart.” When translated as a verb “sanctified” it refers to the action or
state of being “set apart” but when translated as a noun “saint” it refers to
the persons that have thus been “set apart.”
Hence, if you have been “set apart” (sanctified) you are of the “set
apart ones” (saints). All those who have found forgiveness of their sins by the
sacrifice of Christ have been “set apart” for that by faith in His sacrifice.
Hence, they are the “set apart ones” (saints).
Furthermore, the term “sanctified” is a
translation of the perfect tense in the Greet text. The perfect tense refers to
an action that was completed in the past at a certain point of time and stands completed
right up to the time of writing. Hence, the inspired grammar demands that at
some point in the past they were completely sanctified and remain sanctified
right up to the point when Paul penned those words to the church at Corinth. It
is called the “perfect” tense because the action has been perfected or
completed. Hence, all who have been thus “sanctified” are “saints”.
Notice carefully that the phrase
“called to be saints” does not describe their future hope but rather their
present reality. The present infinitive “to be” describes the present state. It
is the same as when Paul repeatedly says of himself “called to be an
apostle” (see Romans 1:1). He is not hoping to be an apostle at some future
time but rather he is describing his present state as an apostle. In both cases
the word “called” is an Aorist tense and refers to a completed action in the
past. In other words, they already became saints at some point in the past and
therefore presently are saints just as Paul was “called” at a certain point in
the past “to be” an apostle and therefore already was an apostle at the time of
writing.
Now this completed sanctification and
sainthood does not mean they are PERSONLLY perfect or sinless as those to whom
he says have already been “sanctified” and already called “saints” are
personally very imperfect:
And I, brethren, could not speak
unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even
as unto babes in Christ.
I have fed you with milk, and not
with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it,
neither yet now are ye able. For ye are
yet carnal: for whereas there is among
you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as
men? (1Co
3:1-3)
All “saints” on earth are imperfect as to
their own person. However, the completed sanctification that occurred at some
point in their past and continues up to the present refers to their POSITION in
Christ Jesus. Their position before God is that of absolute perfection IN
CHRIST. What does that mean? It means that when they believed in the good news
that Jesus lived and died for them as a substitute, that at that precise moment
in time they were SET APART unto a new POSITION before God. They no longer were
in the position as condemned sinners but rather they took the POSITION of
Christ before God. In that position they became sinless because He was sinless.
In that position their sins were paid in full because Christ died for sins and
paid the bill in full. This completed action of being “set apart” unto this new
position “in Christ” before God is what the word “sanctified” means in I
Corinthians 1:2. Hence, all believers in Christ are “set apart ones” or
“saints.”
Not only are all believers “set apart”
positionally “in Christ” when they believed the gospel but they had already
been “set apart” personally by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. All
believers in the gospel of Christ have been born again by the Spirit of God:
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also
that is begotten of him. (1Jo 5:1)
Hence, they are not only “saints” (set
apart ones) positionally before God but they are “saints” (set apart ones)
personally by the new birth. The new birth is the creative work of the Holy
Sprit within every true believer that causes them to desire to please God and
obey Him:
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. And I will put my spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. (Eze 36:26-27)
It is this “new birth” or regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that set
us apart once and for all unto holy living when we believed in the gospel.
Hence, we are “saints” (set apart ones) by the new birth.
In addition to this positional and personal
setting apart that occurred once and for all time at the time of faith in the
gospel we are also BEING “set apart” by the progressive work of the Holy Spirit
within us. He is working in us both to “will” and to “do” of God’s good
pleasure:
For it is God which worketh in you
both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
(Phi 2:13)
He works within and through the new
inner man He has created within us by the new birth. He uses the Word of God to
progressively set us apart unto good works:
For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them. (Eph 2:10)
This progressive work of the Holy Spirit within us sets us apart from
the world through our obedience to the Word of God. We are thus changed from
“glory to glory” by the Holy Spirit
into the likeness of His dear Son:
But we all, with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord. (2Co 3:18)
For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
(Rom 8:29)
This setting apart unto good works by the indwelling Holy Spirit is
progressive and ongoing and will never be completed in this life as it finds
its completion in the resurrection when we shall be like Him when this
corruption puts on incorruption:
Beloved, now are we the sons of
God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he
shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
(1Jo 3:2)
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for
the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed. For this corruptible must
put on incorruption, and this mortal must put
on immortality. So when this
corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is
swallowed up in victory. (1Co
15:51-54)
Hence, we have been positionally set
apart “in Christ” once and for all by faith in the Gospel. We have been
personally set apart once and for all by the regenerating work of the Holy
Spirit. Thus we are “set apart ones” or “saints.” In fact, if we had not been “set apart” from the world by these
things we would still be of the world. Furthermore we are BEING set apart by
the Holy Spirit progressively by being conformed to the image of Christ through
obedience to His Word. One day we shall be COMPLETELY set apart by
glorification of our bodies so that we are entirely (spirit,soul and body) set
apart unto God. Hence, we have been
sanctified, we are beig sanctified and we shall be sanctified. Therefore, every true believer is a “set
apart one” in the truest sense of the word “saint.” We have not mentioned the fact that we were “set apart” by God’s
eternal purpose in Christ Jesus before the world began (Eph. 1:4, 2 Thes.
2:13).
Who are the Saints? The Word of God repeatedly describes them as those living on planet earth that received and read the letters written to them by Paul. The Bible repeatedly describes them as those living on earth as members of particular churches AT some specified geographical location (at Corinth, at Jerusalem, at Philippi, etc.). The Bible repeatedly defines them as every member of every New Testament church in the New Testament. The Word of God repeatedly defines them as all who have been SEPARATED or SET APART from the world by (1) God’s eternal purpose in Christ; (2) by faith in the Gospel (3) by the work of regeneration; (4) by the progressive indwelling work of the Spirit (5) by obedience to the Word; (6) by membership in His churches (7) by glorification of the body. Every believer is a “set apart one” (saint) whether they are on earth or in heaven.
The idea that only some believers in heaven have been specially chosen to be “saints” by those on earth is not only absurd to any reasonable and rational person but is entirely false as far as God’s Word is concerned.