ALL CHRISTIANS ARE SAINTS

ALL CHRISTIANS ARE SAINTS

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.” Eph. 1:1

Some today profess to be Christians but not a saint. A saint, in the New Testament, is not a sinless person but a saved sinner, one united with the life of Christ. It is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that a sinner becomes a saint. The moment a person hands over the life to Christ is the moment in which saint ship begins. There may be a very great distance between the fact of saint ship and the realization of ultimate perfection of experience; that there may be a distinction between our standing and our state, between what we are in the economy of God, by the provision of His grace as to resource, and what we are in the actual experiences of our lives. The burden of this letter is as Paul here states that this letter is "to the saints" (Eph. 1:1) and then in Eph. 5:3 says "as becomes saints." In other words realize your resources. You are Christians, now become Christians. You are saints; live "as becomes saints."

Three great truths emerge in this letter concerning saint ship:

1. In chapter 1 he prays that they might know what is "God's inheritance in the saints." (Eph. 1:18)

2. In the 2nd chapter he declares that they are "His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them." (Eph. 2:10)

3. In the same chapter he declares the saints are being built together for a "habitation of God in the Spirit." (Eph. 2:22)

Saints therefore are the

1). Inheritance of God;

2). The Workmanship of God; and the

3). Habitation of God.

They are His property, one in whom He is working toward an end, and His home. This is not a low view of saintship. Therefore I am God's property, I am God's workmanship, I am God's home.