Saints - Part Two

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:1-2)

Yesterday I was thinking about who the saints are and want to continue my thoughts. Religious dogma has altered the meaning of “saint” to restrict it to a few people whom their particular sect considers to be more righteous than other folks…even praying to them on occasion. It appears to me, however, that to God all mankind are holy to Him and set apart…therefore Saints….despite the fact that He also clearly says, “there is none righteous, no not one”, and “all have sinned”. God created mankind to be made into His image. At least that is how I read the Scripture. But only a few of these saints have been “faithful” since their creation.

Paul was chosen to reveal the glorious future of all mankind to those who God has predetermined to hear and believe in this present evil age…and it has been my experience that those who hear and believe the good news of the eventual reconciliation and salvation of all rejoice. They are at peace with God, giving Him praise and thanksgiving for this promise. Some of them are driven to tell others about it...like Paul who said…

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He PREDESTINED us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of HIS WILL, to the praise of the glory of His GRACE, which He FREELY bestowed on us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:2-7)

But whether the faithful saints are destined to tell anyone or not, one future day, after the final resurrection of both the just and unjust, and after death has been abolished, ALL people will be completed by God into His righteous spiritual image…and ALL will believe and rejoice in their Salvation…God’s plan will be complete and He will be "ALL in ALL".

“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive….The last enemy that will be abolished is death….so that God may be ALL in ALL.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-28)

I get the impression sometimes that we Christians do not think it fair that God would save everyone. But we should have the same kind of attitude about it as Christ Jesus had…

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus… He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-7)

And why did he have this attitude? Paul again tells us it was to demonstrate the LOVE of God for mankind (Saints) and that He would deliver mankind from His wrath (death)….

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him…for the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:8-9; 6:23)

Sorry Christians, but we do not have the franchise of God’s love as a result of any wise decision we make in this life…God loves everyone the same and Jesus died for ALL and as a result of his faithfulness God has highly exalted HIM and every knee will eventually bow and confess him as the Lord of their Salvation…

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that EVERY TONGUE WILL CONFESS that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11)

This makes a “faithful” saint happy.

Saints - Part One

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the SAINTS who are at Ephesus who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:1-2)

Paul had no choice in the matter of becoming an apostle, it was the WILL of God for him. And he wrote this letter to saints “who are FAITHFUL”. Not to all Saints, but to the faithful saints…meaning of course that there are also saints who are unfaithful…which made me start to think about the term “saints” in the Scripture.

The Hebrew word for Saint is “qodesh” and the Greek word for Saint is “hagios” and both are translated not only “saint” but “holy” in the English versions of the Bible. The short definition is “set apart” or “holy” or “sacred”. But it has nothing to do with a person’s goodness or righteousness as Christian dogma implies but simply refers to any person or thing God sets apart, and is therefore “unique” or “special” just because God says so. The Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple was simply the most special place of the special places in those structures. It was where God met with the High Priest once per year and where the Arc of the Covenant with Israel was kept.

The Bible says that when God created mankind He set them apart as a unique or special class of “living souls” to be made into God’s own image…

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a LIVING SOUL…Then God said, Let Us make man in Our IMAGE, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them…” (Genesis 2:7, 26-27)

ALL those descended from Adam and Eve are set apart…or “SAINTS”, special animals who are to receive salvation as a gift of God’s GRACE…not according to their Godly works.

Listen to both Peter, the apostle to Israel and Paul the apostle to both Jew and Gentile as they talk of this Salvation….

Peter: “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the GRACE that would come to you…fix your hope completely on the GRACE to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ...you shall be holy...” (1 Peter 1:10-15)

Paul: “For the wages of sin is death but the free GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord…It is by GRACE you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is a GIFT of God, not of works…” (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-10)

Mankind is a special creation of God (saints) because He says so…we all become sinners and miss the mark in this life...but He is mighty to save!

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not UNDER law but UNDER grace.”(Romans 6:14)

I recently posted about how a saint is one who believes what God says in his Word. How does that relate to obedience? And what does Grace have to do with believing God and being obedient to God?

It is simpler than you might think. What Paul is saying is that our eternal destiny is no longer dependent on “obedience” to the law, but is solely dependent on the “grace” of God. ALL mankind is UNDER the umbrella of God’s GRACE, not UNDER the condemnation of the LAW.

And when we are obedient to BELIEVE what God says…we are designated saints.

And what does God tell us about salvation, justification and reconciliation? That it was all secured by Jesus Christ on our behalf purely and solely by His merciful love and grace.

AS FOR ISRAEL: 

"For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 35:24-26; 37:23)

AS FOR ALL GENTILES:

“I am entreating, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, pleadings, thanksgiving be made for all mankind…for this is ideal and welcome in the sight of our SAVIOR, God, Who WILLS that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator of God and mankind, a Man, Christ Jesus, Who is giving Himself a correspondent Ransom for ALL, the testimony in its own eras, for which I was appointed a herald and an apostle, I am telling the truth, I am not lying, a teacher of the GENTILES in knowledge and truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1-7)

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, through the will of God, and brother Timothy, to the saints and believing brethren in Christ…Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Colossians 1:1-2 CLNT).

I once heard a Preacher say that “every believer is a saint”. That is not necessarily true.

He would be more accurate if he had stated that “a saint is one who believes WHAT GOD SAYS". You may believe what your pastor, priest, rabbi, sheikh, mom or dad says, but that does not make you a “saint”. We have many who are “believing” what their various religious doctrines say…but that does not make them one of God’s saints if what they are believing does not line up with what God actually says.

Sooo it is REAL important that we know what GOD says and not just what men say God says…read it for yourself…follow the example of the Berean Jews. Do not learn what God has said from men, but from reading it or having it read to you.

“Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true (or your pastor, priest, rabbi, sheikh, mom, dad or me)” (Acts 17:11).

All will know and believe what it says eventually and become the "saints" that God has determined mankind will be.