“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” 1 John 3:1-3
Today we observe All Saints Day and so consider the question: Who is a saint?
According to the Church of Rome, saints are those who have either been martyred for the faith or have lived such pure and exemplary lives that the Roman Church recognizes them as being in heaven – they are canonized by the pope. The Roman Church also believes that the superabundant merits of the saints – having more merits than they themselves need to enter into heaven without further purification in purgatory – can be credited to others to satisfy temporal punishments needed to purify the soul and make one fit to enter heaven.
How different the Biblical doctrine is! Saints are those who are counted holy and righteous in God’s eyes through faith in Jesus Christ and His blood shed upon the cross for the sins of the world. The Bible tells us that God “hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:6,7). Through Christ Jesus and His innocent sufferings and death, we are reconciled to God and are by Spirit-wrought faith “fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19; cf. 1 Peter 2:4ff.).
According to the Bible, we are not saints by our own works or merits, but through faith in the works and merits of Christ alone. We are, as the Bible says, “children of God by faith in Christ Jesus….” (Gal. 3:26ff.). We are “beloved of God” and “called to be saints” (Rom. 1:7). Those who trust in Christ alone are saints; those who seek sainthood by their own works and merits are not (cf. 1 John 5:11-12).
It is because of God’s grace and great love that we have been brought to faith in Jesus and are now children of God. The world and the papacy may not recognize this, but we are, nonetheless, sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus – saints, God’s own holy people.
Though we do not yet know what we will be like in heaven, we have the assurance that we will be like Jesus our Savior. When He appears, “we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”
And, we purify ourselves, not to become saints, but because Christ has made us saints through His shed blood and will soon come to take us to be with Him in heaven. Because of what Christ has graciously done for us, we purify ourselves for Him.
Dearest Lord Jesus, we thank You for fulfilling the righteous demands of God’s law in our stead and bearing upon the cross the guilt and punishment we deserved that we might be saints in Your eyes and reign with You in heaven.