Saints (40) (hagios = set apart ones, separated ones, sanctified ones, holy ones) is literally a holy one and depending on the context refers to whoever or whatever is set apart (sanctified) for a special purpose. Saints have been supernaturally set apart (sanctified by the Holy Spirit, 1Pe 1:2-note; 2Th 2:13, Ro 15:16-note, Acts 20:32, 26:18, 1Co 1:30, 6:11) for a special purpose (cp s 43:7, Ep 2:10-note, Mt 5:16-note, Php 2:15-note), set apart from the world (Gal 6:14, cp Jas 4:4, 1Jn 2:15, 16, 17), the power of Sin and the fallen flesh (Ro 6:6-note, Ro 6:11-note, Ro 6:12, 13, 6:14-note) and the dominion of the devil (Col 1:13-note, Acts 26:18, Heb 2:14, 15-note) and unto God (Ro 14:7, 8, 9-notes). Hagios is Paul's favorite description of believers and designates the believer's position in Christ (see discussion of in Christ and in Christ Jesus) as holy or set apart from that which is secular, profane, and evil and dedicated unto God, His worship and His service (note order - worship before service, cp Mary and Martha - Lk 10:38, 39, 40, 41, 42). Saints are now to live in this present evil age (Gal 1:4) in a manner which reflects what we were redeemed and "re-created" to be (1Pe 2:24, 25-note; cp 2Co 7:1 - note) --- holy ones in character (character is what God knows we are; reputation is who other people think we are) and conduct, set apart by God to be exclusively His possession (1Co 6:19, 20, Titus 2:14-note) manifesting holiness of heart. Contrary to some religious teachings, the Bible itself never uses the word hagios or saint to refer to a "special class" of believers who are a "notch above" the rest. We are all equal at the foot of His Cross! (cp 2Cor 3:5,6, saints have "a faith of the same kind" as Peter! - 2Pe 1:1-note) To reiterate, those who are holy in position (in Christ) now have the responsibility (and the power) to live holy in their experience (Christ like). Positional holiness is tantamount to justification, while experiential holiness represents progressive sanctification (growth in holiness or Christ likeness). (See related topic - Three Tenses of Salvation) Hagios is used some 232 times in the NT in the NAS - Mt 1:18, 20; 3:11; 4:5; 7:6; 12:32; 24:15; 27:52, 53; 28:19; Mk. 1:8, 24; 3:29; 6:20; 8:38; 12:36; 13:11; Lk 1:15, 35, 41, 49, 67, 70, 72; 2:23, 25, 26; 3:16, 22; 4:1, 34; 9:26; 10:21; 11:13; 12:10, 12; Jn. 1:33; 6:69; 14:26; 17:11; 20:22; Acts 1:2, 5, 8, 16; 2:4, 33, 38; 3:14, 21; 4:8, 25, 27, 30, 31; 5:3, 32; 6:5, 13; 7:33, 51, 55; 8:15, 17, 19; 9:13, 17, 31, 32, 41; 10:22, 38, 44, 45, 47; 11:15, 16, 24; 13:2, 4, 9, 52; 15:8, 28; 16:6; 19:2, 6; 20:23, 28; 21:11, 28; 26:10; 28:25; Ro 1:2, 7; 5:5; 7:12; 8:27; 9:1; 11:16; 12:1, 13; 14:17; 15:13, 16, 25, 26, 31; 16:2, 15, 16, 1Co 1:2; 3:17; 6:1, 2, 19; 7:14, 34; 12:3; 14:33; 16:1, 15, 20; 2Co. 1:1; 6:6; 8:4; 9:1, 12; 13:12, 13; Ep 1:1, 4, 13, 15, 18; 2:19, 21; 3:5, 8, 18; 4:12, 30; 5:3, 27; 6:18; Php 1:1; 4:21, 22; Col 1:2, 4, 12, 22, 26; 3:12; 1Th 1:5, 6; 3:13; 4:8; 5:26; 2Th 1:10; 1Ti 5:10; 2Ti 1:9, 14; Titus 3:5; Philemon 1:5, 7; He 2:4; 3:1, 7; 6:4, 10; 8:2; 9:1, 2, 3, 8, 12, 24, 25; 10:15, 19; 13:11, 24; 1Pe 1:12, 15, 16; 2:5, 9; 3:5; 2Pe 1:18, 21; 2:21; 3:2, 11; 1Jn 2:20; Jude 1:3, 14, 20; Re 3:7; 4:8; 5:8; 6:10; 8:3, 4; 11:2, 18; 13:7, 10; 14:10, 12; 16:6; 17:6; 18:20, 24; 19:8; 20:6, 9; 21:2, 10; 22:11, 19) There are some 523 uses of hagios in the Septuagint (LXX) In the Old Testament many things and people were divinely set apart by God for His own purposes. The Tabernacle and Temple and all their furnishings-supremely the Ark of the Covenant and the holy of holies-were set apart to Him. The tribe of Levi was set apart for His priesthood, and the entire nation of Israel was set apart as His people. The tithes and offerings of the people of Israel consisted of money and other gifts specifically set apart for God. Under the New Covenant, however, such holy things as the Temple, priesthood, Ark, and tithes no longer exist. God’s only truly holy things on earth today are His people, those whom He has sovereignly and graciously set apart for Himself through Jesus Christ. The new temple of God and the new priesthood of God are His church. Hagios is used throughout the New Testament to speak of anyone or anything that represents God’s holiness: Christ as the Holy One of God, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Father, holy Scriptures, holy angels, holy brethren, and so on. The secular and pagan use pictured a person separated and dedicated to the idolatrous "gods" and carried no idea of moral or spiritual purity. The manmade gods were as sinful and degraded as the men who made them and there simply was no need for a word that represented righteousness! The worshipper of the pagan god acquired the character of that pagan god and the religious ceremonies connected with its worship. The Greek temple at Corinth housed a large number of harlots who were connected with the "worship" of the Greek god. Thus, the set-apartness or holiness of the Greek worshipper was in character licentious, totally depraved, and sinful. The Bible writers could not coin new terms since they would not be understood, and were therefore forced to use those already in use. However, while the technical and root meanings of this pagan religious term was taken over by the writers, yet by the use in the NT, the moral and spiritual character was changed and elevated by the gospel. Kenneth Wuest writes that... "The believer in the Lord Jesus is set apart for God by the Holy Spirit, out of the First Adam with the latter’s sin and condemnation, into the Last Adam (Christ) with the latter’s righteousness and life. Thus, the worshipper of the God of the Bible partakes of the character of the God for Whom he is set apart. This is positional sanctification, an act of God performed at the moment a sinner puts his faith in the Lord Jesus (1Co 1:2). The work of the Holy Spirit in the yielded saint, in which He sets the believer apart for God in his experience, by eliminating sin from his life and producing His fruit, a process which goes on constantly throughout the believer’s life, is called progressive sanctification (1Th 5:23-note). When our Lord sanctifies Himself, He sets Himself apart for God as the Sacrifice for sin (Jn 17:19, He 10:7-note)."(Ibid) The idea inherent in hagios is the taking something filthy, washing it and setting it apart as something brand new, useful for a different purpose, which is a picture of salvation for we who were filthy with sin were washed in the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, and set apart to now be God's own possession. Saints have been set apart from the world "delivered (rescued)...from the domain of darkness" (Col 1:11-13) "by the sanctifying work of the Spirit" (1 Pet 1:2) unto God Who "transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" (Col 1:13) The fundamental ideas of a saint include... One who is separated from sin (cf Ro 6;11, 12, 13, 14-notes) One who then has the responsibility to choose to consecrate themselves daily to God as "living sacrifices" (Ro 12:1-note) One who is devoted to His service One who is a partaker of the divine nature (2Pe 1:4-note) One who continually chooses to abstain from worldly defilement (1Th 4:3-note 1Th 5:22-note, 2Ti 2:19-note, 1Pe 2:11-note) Although the saint lives in the world, he or she must always in one sense be different from the world and continually choose to separate himself or herself from the world. His standards are not the world's standards. (click for expository note on Romans 12:2 regarding not being squeezed into world's mold) He is "in the world" but not "of the world". A saint is like a boat -- the boat's purpose is fulfilled when it is in the water, but it's function and usefulness deteriorates when water gets in the boat. So too for saints when too much of the world gets into them. Saints must keep their "vessels" in the water of this word but not let the water of the world get into their "vessel"! Paul has a parallel thought writing to young Timothy to take of the truth that "if a man cleanses himself from these (things, people that have an unholy influence), he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified (hagiazo - verb form of saint), useful to the Master, prepared for every good work." (see note 2 Timothy 2:21) A Chinese proverb speaks to those saints trying to live in the world and of the world... One foot cannot stand on two boats! The term saints does it refer to a condition after death, for these "saints" were very much alive at Philippi. Although you may have been taught that saints are a special, higher order of Christians who accomplished extraordinary good deeds and lived an exemplary life, the Bible teaches that sainthood is not an attainment but a state into which God by grace through faith calls men and women of all stations of life, whether under the Old or New Covenant. So now next time you meet a believer, address then as "Saint so-and-so" and watch the reaction! It goes without saying however that we often do not think or act like saints, in the popular sense. But hagios speaks of our identity (or our position) in Christ. We are holy ones in our Lord, even when we are unfaithful and act unsaintly. Being a saint has nothing at all to do with one’s degree of spiritual maturity or rank. It refers to any person who is saved, who is set apart by God for Himself in His Son Jesus Christ. Because God sees us as He sees His Son, as "those who have been sanctified (consecrated, purified, made holy) in Christ Jesus, saints by calling." (1Co 1:2) Like all other believers, the Christians at Corinth were not saints because of their spiritual maturity (cf. 1Co 3:1, 2, 3), but because they were “saints by calling,” a reference to their call to salvation. Moule writes that saints are... Holy ones; men separated from sin to God. The word takes the man, or the community, on profession; as being what they ought to be. This is not to lower the native meaning of