Saints

“…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19

When I read this passage in my email yesterday morning, one word jumped right off the page and stuck in my cognizance for a few moments.  It is the word, “saints.” 

We Presbyterians (like most Protestants) don’t have saints.  No offense to my Roman Catholic friends, but we don’t do that.

Or…do we?

I’m rather new to the English Standard Version of the Bible, so I went back to the Bible Gateway website and looked the passage up in the New International Version.  The word that is ‘saints’ in the ESV gets translated as “the Lord’s holy people” in the NIV.  That in itself is interesting.  The ESV settles for an economy of words compared to the NIV.

I then went to my Bible software to look and dissect the Greek word that is translated here as “saints.” It is ἅγιος (hagios), which means “holy one,’ “dedicated,” or even “God’s person.”   This seems to be a case where the NIV’s translation is a bit more literal than the ESV (it itself a good literal translation), when it reads, “the Lord’s holy people.”  Which, if you ponder what the word ‘saint’ means, sounds like a good beginning definition.

What is a saint then?   You get glimpses of what a saint is in the passage above from the apostle Paul.  A saint is someone whom Christ dwells in their hearts through faith; someone who is rooted and grounded in love; someone who has the strength to comprehend the breadth, length, height, depth of the love of Christ; someone who yearns to be filled with all the fullness of God. 

Hmmm.  I know some Presbyterians that actually fit that description.  And some Baptists.  And some Methodists, Anglicans, Pentecostals, Wesleyans, Lutheran and Roman Catholics.

Uh, turns out that we do do saints.  And as Christ trusters and followers, we are all called to be a saint, that is, to be one of the Lord’s holy people.

What are you going to be today?