What IS a Christian? (1:1) (1)

What does it mean to be a Christian? Many today claim to be Christians, but are they really? While there are many definitions of “Christian” today, in Ephesians 1:1 Paul gives two very specific descrip­tions of a true believer: to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

First, a Christian is a saint. How this word has been perverted! Pastor and author Warren Wiersbe correctly writes, “No word in the New Testament has suffered more than this word. Even the dictionary defines a saint as a ‘person officially recognized for holiness of life.’” Indeed, a common belief is that a saint is one who has died, one who has performed at least two miracles, and one whose life was “holy enough to be officially recognized by canonization.” But this is not what the Bible says.

The literal meaning of the Greek word behind “saint” (hagios) is “set apart or separate,” and is often translated “holy.” The true Christian has been set apart from sin as the rule of life and unto holiness as the rule of life. A saint is not dead, rather alive. Being a saint is not a matter of achievement or performance, rather a matter of position. It’s not based on what we have done, rather what we are in Christ. It is not dependant upon our works, but upon His grace.

Reformer John Calvin understood this: “No man, therefore, is a believer who is not also a saint; and, on the other hand, no man is a saint who is not a believer.” Likewise, Greek scholar W. E. Vine writes, “In the plural, as used of believers, it designates all such and is not applied merely to persons of exceptional holiness, or to those who, having died, were characterized by exceptional acts of saintliness.” In fact, Paul refers to believers as saints nine times in Ephesians (1:1, 15, 18; 2:19; 3:8, 18: 4:12; 5:3; 6:18). He wrote to ordinary Christians who were all declared to be saints. We can probably assume that saint was Paul’s favorite term for the Christian since he used it some 42 times in his Epistles. He loved saying, “Every one of you who has trusted Christ as Savior and Lord is a saint, one who has been set apart.”

Think of it in this way: You cannot be a Christian without being a saint, and you cannot be a saint without being separate from the world. Many profess to be Christians, but they habitually live in and of this world. But a true Christian cannot habitually live by the actions and attitudes of the world because he or she is a saint, a set apart one. A saint is not an ascetic who wears robes and lives in a monastery. A saint is one who has been set apart and now lives like it.

In other words, we are not saints because we are saintly; we are saintly because we are saints. Many Christians try to “be holy” by legalism; they keep a list of “do’s and don’ts” and call it “spirituality.” This is back­wards. What we do or don’t do does not make us spiritual. We are first spiritual in attitude, which is then evident in spiritual action.

So, the first thing that being a Christian means is that we are saints. We live a life that is holy because of our position of being in Christ. The two greatest evidences of true conversion are holiness of life (Eph. 4:24; I Thess. 4:17; etc.) and obedience to God’s Word (Jn. 14:15, 23; I Jn. 2:1-5). Those who do neither one are not saints. In our day of tolerance and generalization, words, definitions, and terminology have grown unimportant to many people. May this challenge us to exactness in our language. And a case in point is that when God speaks of saints, He speaks of all true Christians.