There was a short clip in the news about Mother Theresa being canonized as a “saint” and they said the qualifications for sainthood were a life given to doing good and 2 verified miracles. That brought back a memory ofsomeone saying, probably my Mother, “If ever there was a saint, it’s her!” It used to be more common than it is now to hear that said about a person who lived in a hard situation but did it gracefully without complaining.
That started me thinking about what the church fathers meant by “saint.” The Apostle Paul opened his letters to several churches by addressing them “…to the saints…” So, I sat down with my Bible and Wuest’s translation and exposition of the Greek. Since Greek was the common language of the Roman Empire and Paul was called by God to take the Gospel to the Gentile world (those who were not Jews), he wrote his letters using the common language.
The Greek word Paul used for saint is “hagios.” In the pagan religion it meant, “devoted to the gods.” For instance, they built magnificent temples, many of them partially standing today, and dedicated each temple to the worship and service of a god, probably the most famous being the one to the goddess Diana. Wuest wrote, “The term was also used of persons who were devoted to the service of a god, separated to the service of the god, thus, “hagios,” consecrated, non-secular in character, but on the other hand, distinctively religious in nature and occupation. The verbal forms hagizo and hagiazo mean “to hallow, make sacred,” especially by burning a sacrifice.”
If you know anything about pagan religions then you know that they were anything but moral. The “gods” being the product of man’s imagination were brutal, selfish, and immoral in the extreme. (The temple at Corinth kept 3,000 harlots for religious purposes. You could say that the Greeks made their gods in their own image.) BUT, and this is pretty cool, since the Greek language did not have a word that expressed the perfection of the real God, who existed before time was and who revealed Himself through His Word, the Bible, and whose holy character was clearly taught in the Old Testament, Paul and the other writers basically hi-jacked the Greek word and infused it with morality and it took on the Old Testament meaning of holiness. God had revealed His holy character through His prophets and His dealings with His people! Clearly, Imperfect man could never have made up such a holy God.
When Paul used the term “saint” to describe those who had received the Gospel message by faith and were persevering in that pagan world culture, he knew what he was implying. Biblical saints are people positionaly set apart by the Holy Spirit for the worship and service of a holy God. So, if you are a believer who tries to takes stock of his life at the beginning of a new year, make a resolution not to take your “sainthood” lightly.
“As He who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, for it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’”
1Peter 1:17