I was raised in the Roman Catholic church and was taught that “saints” were Superstar Christians who lived and died a long time ago. They worked miracles and are “officially” (by the authority of the Roman Catholic church) in a position in heaven to take our prayers and intercede for us to the almighty God. The “saints” were the statues along every wall of the church building, ancient people wearing long flowing robes and equipped with a golden halo. The “saints” were the many names sung by the priest at a funeral or other special service to which the congregation sang back, “pray-ay for us.”
Read the following verses in the Bible and check out the “comments” to find out what a “saint” really is:
Romans 1:7; 16;15; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; 13:13; Ephesians 1:1; 6:18; Philippians 1:1; 4:21; Colossians 1:2; Philemon 4.
The New Testament was originally written in Greek and then translated into many languages, including English. To find out what a “saint” really is, let us start with a look at the Greek language before we get confused, like every American, with the English.
The term “saint” is used about 62 times in the New Testament (KJV) and is the translation of the Greek word “a{gio~” (hagios) which simply means “holy” or “something holy.” This same Greek word is translated into English as “holy” approximately 166 times in the New Testament (KJV). This term, whether translated as “holy” or “saint,” is thus used over 200 times in the New Testament to refer to God (the Father, the Christ, and the Spirit) and anything that is pure or worthy of approaching God (e.g. the city of Jerusalem, angels, meat, the sanctuary, and humans).
As we read the greetings and farewells of Paul’s letters to the various churches, we see quite clearly that every believer in the various local churches is referred to as a holy one or “saint.” Thus, the idea that a “saint” is a superior class of Christian who is given special powers and privilege is completely against what God says in His word. “Saint” refers to any and everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. By this definition, Paul’s famous companions like Barnabas, Luke, and Timothy, Paul’s not-so-famous acquaintances like Jason, Sosipater, Gaius and Erastus (Rom 16:21, 23), Christ’s closest apostles like Peter, James, and John, and even Christ’s first anonymous convert, the thief on the cross – who never did anything worthy of praise – are all saints and holy ones.
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ today, you too are a saint, even though you don’t work miracles, you didn’t live a long time ago, you don’t have a statue made in your image with a halo, and you will never have your name chanted laboriously in a Catholic church.