Dave spoke this morning from Hebrews 11 and Ephesians 1:15-18, looking at the topic of who are saints. Often in our modern thinking, a saint is perceived as one who has led a holy life, done great things for God (including miracles), suffered greatly… and who is (invariably) dead! The term is often used as ‘a posthumous reward for faithful service’, but this is certainly not the Biblical definition of the word. A saint, to the New Testament writers, is one set apart for God, one made holy by the blood of Jesus, not by their own merit, valour or faithfulness.
The term is used almost 50 times in the New Testament, first of all in Acts 9:13 and finally in Revelation 19:18. In Hebrews 11, many saints from the Old Testament are listed, but again, though these were people of faith, they were by no means perfect (the list includes Moses and David, who were murderers, Gideon who was a coward, Samson who was a womaniser and Rahab who was a prostitute!) It is not enough to consider a holy person to be one whose life is dedicated to God per se, for Saul of Tarsus is the classic example of one who was zealous for God but who persecuted the church! Only when he received the good news of Christ personally did he become a saint.
There are undoubtedly responsibilities placed on us as believers: to live our lives to glorify God and to be separated from the world, for example, but it is the presence of God within us by His Spirit which gives us the power to live this life. All of us are ‘ordinary’ in ourselves, but we become extraordinary through God’s work within us. God has chosen us to be saints before the creation of the world so that we can live holy and blameless lives (Eph 1:4) and His work in us has made us to be sons and daughters of the living God. (Gal 4:4) As we recognise our true identity in God, we can live as saints now, not waiting for a future canonisation! As the old hymn declares, ‘I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in!’