Bible Highlighter
Well-Known Member
Some would say we go from sinner to saint as soon as we are born again, I say it is a process, and a journey, a path every believer must walk in their own unique way.
When we are born again, we are Justified, declared righteous, imputed the righteousness of Christ upon us, thus we are instantly sanctified in the eyes of God. We are given the "earnest" which literally means a down payment of the Holy Ghost, and what we do with this "earnest" from this point on determines our place in the Kingdom.
A New born believer, though made righteous is yet to be Holy. this is the process, the journey we are all on. This theological terms is known as progressive sanctification. This is the work of the Holy Spirit which is given in earnest working in us to cleanse us from the inside out, making our motives and heart holy and not self-serving and proud.
Thus a a born again believer is made righteous by the blood of the Lamb, and made Holy by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The big hinderance to the latter of these things is the belief that the born again believer is already a saint, I am here to tell you they are not.... They are counted among the faithful, but they remain on the journey to becoming saints from the sinners we were all born as.
Do not let Satan hinder your journey from sinner to saint by being satisfied with merely being righteous. None of us are perfect, but we are being made perfect as the love of God is perfected in us.
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:23)
As for your view on what a saint is:
Ephesians 2:16-19 says,
16 “And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;”
Clearly Ephesians 2:16-17 is tying in Provisional Atonement verses in how believers are first saved by God's grace mentioned in Ephesians 2:8-9 (which is the 1st aspect of salvation in our being saved initially by God's grace without works). Verse 18 mentions how through Jesus both the Jew and Gentile both have access by one Spirit unto God the Father. Verse 19 says we (Gentiles) are no more strangers and foreigners to God, but we are fellow citizens with the saints and the household of God. Nothing is said here about how we had to reach near the end of our Sanctification in order to be called a saint one day.
Ephesians 2:13 says,
“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
Romans 3:25 says,
“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;”
So we are brought near to God by the blood of Christ, and Christ is the propitiation (atoning sacrifice) by our having faith in His blood (for salvation). This is being saved by God's grace.
For Romans 3:26 says,
“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
For through Jesus we have access by one Spirit unto God the Father and have become fellow citizens with the saints.
The word “with” the saints is defined in the 1913 Webster's as “among.”
Source:
With | Definition of With by Webster's Online Dictionary
Among can be defined as (According to Websters):
Conjoined, or associated with, or making part of the number of; in the number or class of.
Source:
Among | Definition of Among by Webster's Online Dictionary
So Ephesians 2:19 is saying that we are fellow citizens associated with the saints or we are fellow citizens making a part of the number of the saints, etcetera. How so?
Here is another witness:
1 Corinthians 6:1-3 says,
1 “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?”
Here Paul talks to the Corinthian believer(s) or the Corinthian church. Please take note that the Corinthian believers were in great error. Yet, Paul says that we should not go to unbelieving courts to resolve a dispute between brethren but we should go before the saints to resolve the matter instead. Paul then says to the Corinthian reader or the church at Corinth: “Know you-all not that you shall judge angels?” Yet, in verse 2 Paul says that the saints shall judge the world. Paul switches to speaking to the Corinthian church (you) and asks if they are unworthy to judge the smallest matters. Paul is going back and forth between you (referring to the Corinthian church who were in various errors) and how they are to judge their own brethren instead of going to unbelieving courts and comparing it the concept of the saints judging. In short, Paul is calling them saints. Granted, folks seem to fail to realize that one can be in the Kingdom and yet later cast out, though.
For Matthew 13:41-42 says:
“41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Just as those Israelites who were taken out of captivity of Egypt did not all make into the promised land.
So it's not just how you start that matters alone, but it is how you finish, too.
But the point I wanted to address with you is that a saint is not in the way you suggest it, brother.
A saint is anyone who is brought near to God by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Granted, we must believe in His blood for salvation (Romans 3:25), but we must also walk in the light as He is in the light for the blood of Jesus to cleanse us, too (1 John 1:7).
Only by doing so... can we as saints have the assurance that we will truly be with God for all eternity.
For we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).