Shocking! Preposterous! The audacity of someone to say they are a saint. It smacks of egotistical thinking. I just did an internet search on ‘what constitutes a saint.’
According to the results, a saint is:
- A person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization;
- A person of exceptional holiness;
- In general, the term Saint refers to someone who is exceptionally virtuous and holy. It can be applied to both the living and the dead and is an acceptable term in most of the world’s popular religions. The Saint is held up by the community as an example of how we all should act, and his or her life story is usually recorded for the edification of future generations;
- A person whose virtue and holiness was considered to be proven and who was already with God; a saint was considered capable of interceding with God on behalf of a person who prayed to them, and of performing miracles;
- A dead person upheld by as having lived a virtuous or exemplary life on Earth and granted a special place in Heaven by the Christian Church.
- A person of great holiness and virtue, revered by the Christian Church as having attained an honored place in heaven;
- A born-again believer.
- A saint is a special person who lived a holy life. The life of a saint shows us how to follow Jesus.
Do any of the above definitions meet with your approval? More importantly, are any of the above definitions Scriptural? The second one from the bottom got a “Yessssssssssss!!!!” out of me.
I was just reading 1Corinthians 1:2. Paul said he was writing to …
called to be saints,
with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place,
their Lord and ours:”
I’m a saint and I’m not even dead yet. I was set apart from the godless world when God saved me. The moment I exercised faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, was the moment I became a saint. Anyone who has been saved from their sins and saved for the Lord is a saint. The word just means: set apart, holy or consecrated.
Some one has said ‘the weakest, most unlearned, and fragile believer has exactly the same relationship in grace as the most illustrious saint.’ If you are in Christ, the Bible teaches you are a saint. Set apart from the world and set in Christ. It is one thing to be a saint positionally but being saintly in our every day life is another matter. Over there in London, some of the royal princes have not always acted princely. What I am in Christ can never be altered or changed. But how I live from day to day for Christ can always improve. Some days we do not act very saintly.
May the Lord help us today to live more holy and saintly lives that glorify His Name. As saints may we act more saintly.
Comments
Indeed your second last answer was correct. All born again Christians are Saints. However there is a problem of perception.We as believers know that any sainthood we would claim is not of ourself but through repentance and faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross. As your internet survey indiciates however, nine out of ten people associate saintleness with some form of personal goodness or good works,and so when blood bought sinners claim to be Saints there is a perceptiom that we are a tad self righteous Herein lies the problem. I guess we could solve the problem by walking the walk
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