Intro
Christians often use the phrase “We’re just sinners saved by grace” to counteract the claims that we’re all a bunch of “holier-than-thou” people who think we’re “perfect”. Consequently, many Christians tell the non-Christians that “We’re just sinners who have been saved by God’s grace.” And while there’s truth to that, there is also a greater truth: We are saints. But many Christians will shy away from that word because of the images that word stirs up. Images of people who are somehow greater than the average Christian or can be prayed to for different things. Unfortunately, the Catholic church perpetuated these images by making Sainthood something difficult to be achieved rather than an identity you automatically receive in Christ. But at the same time, should we as Christians be saying that we are sinners and saints, as so many do?
Definitions
First of all, I’m going to define the two words “sinner” and “saint”. Just plain, simple, English dictionary definitions. After that, I’ll dive into how the Bible uses these two words and how they apply to people. I’ll also explain the key difference between sinning and being a sinner.
Sinner
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a sinner is “a person who sins” (link). By that definition, you can classify everyone on Earth a sinner. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 (NIV). Pretty cut and dry. No real wiggle room here. Let’s see how Merriam-Webster defines saint.
Saint
Merriam-Webster lists more definitions for saint than it does for sinner (link). The very first one reads “one officially recognized especially through canonization as preeminent for holiness” – the very definition that I believe leads a lot of Christians (myself included) to shy away from claiming this word as a part of their Christian identity. Some of the other definitions include “one of the spirits of the departed in heaven” (number 2), “one of God’s chosen and usually Christian people” (number 3), and “one eminent for piety or virtue” (number 4). I list all these out for the benefit of seeing how society is most likely to mentally respond to hearing the word “saint”. Now let’s take a look at how the Bible uses these words, especially towards Christians.
Are Christians Sinners or Saints?
To this heading, I could add “or both” at the end. I think a lot of people think of themselves as both a sinner and a saint – at the same time. And frankly that’s how a lot of people live. They believe that they have two natures “the flesh” – or sin nature – vs the “the spirit”. However, the Bible teaches that once you are saved, that sin nature dies! It ceases to exist. Paul explains this in Romans 6, but I’ll just put verse 6 here “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin”. Our old self – the sin nature – died on the cross with Christ. We are now new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).
But Christians Still Sin, so….
Okay, but Christians still sin, and the dictionary says that a sinner is someone who sins. Therefore, Christians are sinners, right? Some people will claim semantics with what I’m going to tell you. But there is a difference between a person who sins and a sinner. For the person who sins, the sinning is something they do, but for the sinner, sinning is a lifestyle. Another word that the Bible uses in place of sinner is evildoer. I don’t think there are any Christians who claim evildoer as a part of their identity! That word conjures up images of people who commit truly vile acts on a regular basis.
Do you see the difference? Christians still sin, yes, that is true. However, as Paul says in Romans, we are no longer slaves to sin. We no longer bear the title of “Sinner”. Christians no longer pursue the sins of their past or the sins of the world because it’s no longer in our nature to do so. The sinful nature we left behind couldn’t help but sin. Now as God’s saints, we can’t help but avoid sin. Not right away, not in a year or two, but gradually over time – as long as we allow Holy Spirit to work in us – we will find ourselves sinning less and less. And instead, the lifestyle we pursue, and embrace looks more like the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
Does the Bible Really Call Us Saints?
To answer the question in a word, yes! The Old Testament uses it a handful of times when referring to those who love the Lord and follow after Him. Sounds like Christians, right? Furthermore, the New Testament continues this trend in several places. I think one of the most blatant declarations that all Christians are saints is found in 1 Corinthians 6:2, “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?” (ESV). In this passage Paul chastises believers who aren’t living up to some of the dictionary definitions of saint and yet he still calls them saints. This demonstrates powerfully that to be a saint has nothing to do with how you act or what you do.
Truthfully, when I read the Bible, I find that it talks less about how we can obtain on our own and more about how God gives us these things. We can’t obtain sainthood on our own. But God gives us the identity to be one of His saints. God covers our sin and our attempts at righteousness with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit empowers us to overcome the sin in our life and become more Christlike. As humans we want to feel accomplished, we want to say, “Look what I did” or “See what I’ve overcome in my life”. Hence why we use the word saint to say trivial things like “that person was a saint when he helped me”. Or why we make saint a special title for a special few who did extraordinary things for God. Newsflash: if you’re doing what God tells you, it’s extraordinary!
Wrapping Up
The Bible teaches that sinners and saints are two different categories of people. Sin enslaves the sinner, while righteousness enslaves the saint. Though the enslavement for saints is really freedom, but that’s another topic for another time.
With what I’ve written here, I hope that you become more confident in your identity in Christ and will gladly claim saint as a part of who you are and reject the notion that you are a sinner anymore. I don’t expect you to get it immediately after reading this (I’m still working on it!), but I do hope that in time you become more comfortable with the word saint. Christ died to make us saints, so let’s believe that and wear that proudly (just be careful not to have a holier-than-thou attitude).