What Exactly is a Saint, Anyway?

The word ‘saint’ conjures up many things…pale, sickly looking people with yellow circles behind their heads, an old lady from your church who never missed a service and had that sour, disapproving look…someone who did really great things 300 years ago…what’s a saint?

In the New Testament, we are called saints. We figure it’s a generic term for believer, or Christian, and have never really understood how important a term it is.

The Greek word translated ‘saint’ is hagios—it means most holy thing, a saint. Another translation of the plural term ‘saints’ is holy ones.

Most holy thing? Holy ones? What? Psalms 16:3 calls us majestic ones—the Hebrew word ‘majestic’ is addiyr, also translated great, of kings or nobles.

Yes, it’s true. This is how God sees us…as His most holy, majestic ones.

Ephesians 1:5,6 says ‘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.’

These verses says a few very important things about how God sees us.

We are important enough to Him to cause Him to bless us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world...Why? So that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself...Why? 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…

So remember...you are a holy, majestic saint of God now. Hallelujah!