Grailhunter
Well-Known Member
Are you a saint?
What is a saint? It might surprise you?
The Catholic definition of saint includes four cardinal virtues: prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice; Sinlessness would be a good thing. If a person displays these qualities in a consistent and exceptional way. Then there is an investigation. When someone is proclaimed a saint by the pope – which can happen only after death – public devotion to the saint is then authorized for Catholics throughout the world. But from start to finish, nearly everything in this process is political.
The common Protestant view of saint, is over shadowed by the dislike of Catholics and Mormons? Protestants generally do not refer to their groups or congregations as saints. They do not designate individuals as saints. If someone would designate themselves as a saint, it probably would not go over well.
The biblical definition of saint as a whole does not agree with either of these two perspectives. Most would say that the word saint mean holy one or very good person, which to some degree would make sense. But actually in the Bible it means those that believe in Christ as God and Savior. The word Christian only appears 3 times in the Bible and the word Christianity does not appear at all. The word saint(s) on the on the other hand appears over 60 times and occurs in nearly every book outside of the Gospels, referring to those that believe in Christ. It is an important point because we should apply the concept of saint to ourselves, because that is how Christ expects us to act and thereby a light to the world, and support for each other. What is in a name or a label? The mind knows, and that is how it perceives. Most of us know, for good or bad, names can set our opinions, views, and feeling on things. Beyond that accuracy is important.
The term saint is mostly used by Paul. Matthew and James are not going to refer to Christians as saints, because they still are going to consider themselves Jews and their writings are going to have some Jewish perspectives, because they are juggling both religions. John eventually uses the term in Revelation.
The point of this is….and yes there is a point, sinning saints? Friends of Christ that sin? That the members of the family of God are sinners? That the body of Christ are sinners?
We all sin and fall short of the Glory of God….but to call the forgiven sinners categorically, I am not sure about that. The Trinity had a plan, the situation so serious and there was such a need that a God had to go through the Passion. Not enough room to go into detail on all that…but if the Son of God had to die to accomplish this plan you can bet it had good chance of being successful….My yoke is easy and My burden is light…so forgiveness is another long topic but…When your son steals a hundred dollars from a bank…it is a federal offense and prison time maybe in his future, but when he steals a hundred dollars from you, you handle that a little differently. Our sins...transgressions are between us and Christ, and in many ways that is where the context of sin is at.
Of course there are different severity of sins and there is an important consideration of morality. Paul said, All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 1st Corinthians 6:12 and Christ said, You are My friends if you do what I command you. John 15:14 Oddly enough, both of these statements are correct and not in contradiction. It is one of the reasons that I brought up the topic of saints. We are a lawless bunch! But we have an affinity for morals and those morals cannot be written in laws. Not everyone comes to Christianity a wretched wreak, some of us were raised that way and have had an interest in morales since we can remember.
Have you ever had anyone define the Law of Christ, the Law of Liberty, and the Royal Law…The Royal Law is easy because James sites a Mosaic Law…Love thy neighbor. James 2:8 Usually if you ask about the Law of Christ and the Law of Liberty, their answer will be Love God and love your neighbor Matthew 22:36-40 Again sighting Mosaic Law. Do you think this is the Law of Christ? The answer is yes, but in that particular case, Christ turned the tables on the Jews that were testing Him, effectively saying that His teachings were the summation of all Laws. People do not like the idea of calling Christ’s teaching philosophy because of its connection to the Greeks. So what are you going to call it? Away of thinking? Away of the heart? Whatever makes you feel good. Away of thinking is better than any written Law. A system of Law calls for a system of lawyers. It didn’t work. Away of thinking…is the way to go.
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 2nd Peter 1:5-7
Peter sums it up, so is it all about obedience? Some would say so. But that is not what Peter was saying. Peter is talking about the application of Christ’s teaching to our lives. A path to learn, the journey we call life. I call it the walk, that is, shoulder to shoulder with Christ. There is no way Christ could tell you all the things you should not do or all the things you should do. He taught by example, live your life by His example. Then again you can be obedient and live in a closet and only come out on Sundays, maybe that is the safe way, because if you do the walk, you are going to get into trouble, if you tell the truth, you are going to get into trouble, along the way you are going to fall sometimes. But if you are walking shoulder to shoulder with Christ … guess who is going to help you back up on your feet.
When we look at harmonizing the scriptures pertaining to salvation and sin, one of the things we have to consider is that even as early as the Bible we are working with two different Christian beliefs. The Jewish-Christians are somewhere between Judaism and Christianity. They are not only juggling the concepts of Christ’s teachings and the Mosaic Law, but also Jewish traditions, festivals, and holy days. And yes, the concepts of sin and salvation. So their take on sin and salvation, like it or not is going to be different. That is something you have to sort out. Usually it is not the scriptures that are in contradiction, but rather two somewhat different beliefs being expressed. Still some would rather live with the dozens of apparent contradictions than to admit this, in which case you will chase your tail for eternity.
I am not going to say that Paul preached against the other Apostles, but then there was a reason for the council at Jerusalem. With in the teachings of Paul he addressed and warned about the snares of sin. For example; 1st Corinthians 6:9-10 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God…
This is a valid scripture and not a contradiction. But it does have a context. Christ is still going to heaven even though he drank some wine. This verse is sighting habitual sins. A lesson that is important on both sides of the coin. Sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it. A person that lives his life as an adulterer is not going to heaven…because as we all know, repentance cannot be accomplished with habitual sins.
Sin also brings its own punishment!….where did that come from…the movie, The Shack. Sinning brings pain and suffering to our life and to the lives of those around us, and you may not end up where you want to be. Most of the scriptures that warn of sin are referring to habitual sin, not a single instance, or even a few instances. Forgiveness is a tenet of faith in Christianity. Christ’s compassion to forgive will always exceed our’s. God's unconditional willingness to offer forgiveness had to be part of the plan because at best we will fail from time to time.
The fact is, the salvation that Christ provides, is solid…if that was not part of the plan, He would not have died for it. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1st John 1:9 But in the interest of proving my point I need to go through the scriptures and discuss the individual points. I believe it will be a worthy discussion. So I will continue with a few more posts. And for here I have some “trivia” on saints.
Last edited:
![thumbup1[1].gif](https://www.christianityboard.com/data/attachments/33/33771-3c6b26485b350618916838a7a8f4387e.jpg "thumbup1[1].gif"){kind=small}
