At my ordination the Rev Simon Manchester preached, and he opened with a funny little anecdote of a young pastor who goes to a country town, a country town that’s ruled by a crime family.
Two brothers lead the crime family. One of them dies, and the young pastor gets signed up to do the funeral.
The living brother says, “You will say, ‘My brother was a saint.’”
This causes some consternation for the young pastor, because this bloke was a philanderer, he was a standover man, he was a thief, he was rotten to the core.
If the pastor was to say anything else, he’d be lying before God. What could he do?
Well, the day comes. The brother is sitting in the front row, glaring at him. The whole town is there, waiting to see if he will dare to call the man in the coffin a saint.
The place goes quiet. They look expectantly at this young pastor, and he says:
“We’ve come today to show support for the family, to pay our respects to the dead.
The man whose body lies in this casket here behind me was a philanderer, a standover man, a thief, an absolute scum, a scoundrel.
He kept this town in fear.
He murdered people.
He maimed people.
But compared to his brother sitting right in front of me…
he was an absolute saint.”
And in today’s Word Matters, we’re going to talk about “saint”, because it’s a very misunderstood word.
Some people have saints’ days. They have patron saints. They get named for saints. You have to go through a special process of recognition to be made into a saint. And people from those traditions get offended when I say I’m a saint.
What “saint” actually means in the Bible
For most people, “saint” sits in one of three buckets:
- hall-of-fame Christians,
- patron saints (travel, lost keys, hopeless causes),
- polite moral compliment (“she’s a saint for putting up with him”).
So when someone from those traditions hears an ordinary evangelical say, “I’m a saint,” it can sound arrogant or ignorant.
But in the New Testament, “saint” is not a medal you earn; it’s a name you’re given.
Our English “saint” comes from Latin sanctus — “holy one”.
Underneath that:
- Hebrew q-d-sh family: “holy / set apart”
- Greek ἅγιος / hagios: “holy one”
So when Paul writes “to the saints…”, he literally writes:
“to the holy ones…”
And he uses that for the whole church.
Corinth is the giveaway. If they’re saints, the bar is not “five miracles and flawless morals”.
In the NT, saints = ordinary believers set apart to belong to God in Christ.
Living ones, not just dead ones.
How do you become a saint?
Short answer:
By being joined to Jesus, not by getting your act together.
The pattern:
- God is holy.
- Jesus is the Holy One par excellence.
- United to Christ = his holiness defines you.
So:
- You do not become a saint by achievement.
- You are a saint the moment you belong to Christ.
- Then you spend the rest of your life becoming what you already are.
“Saint… and still a sinner”
Luther’s line: simul iustus et peccator — righteous and sinner at the same time.
A Christian says truthfully:
- “I am a saint — set apart for God in Christ.”
- “I am a sinner — still fighting the flesh.”
The arrogance isn’t saying “I’m a saint.”
The arrogance is saying, “I don’t need Christ to make me one.”
Why some traditions wince when you say it
If “Saint” is capital-S:
- reserved for the dead,
- investigated,
- tied to miracles,
then your “I’m a saint” sounds like language theft.
But the explanation is simple:
I’m using “saint” in the older, apostolic sense — not denying exemplary Christians, just reclaiming the Bible’s baseline.
Capital-S Saint = exemplary believer
Bible saint = any believer in Christ
Same word, two layers.
Why it matters for how you see yourself
If “saint” = spiritual elite, you’ll never include yourself.
But Scripture insists on it, and that reshapes three things:
1. Core identity
You aren’t your sins, your failures, your job title.
You are set apart for God in Christ.
2. Everyday discipleship
You start asking:
“Does this habit fit someone holy in Christ?”
Holiness stops being elective.
3. How you view the church
Look around:
- awkward teen,
- sleepy older bloke,
- exhausted single mum,
Scripture calls them: the saints.
That kills snobbery dead.
“Communion of saints” — not just “the dead club”
Biblically:
- all believers, alive and alive-to-God,
- share one Christ, Spirit, faith, hope.
Your parish is a tiny outpost of something vast.
One line to keep
In the Bible, a “saint” isn’t a spiritual superhero but any ordinary believer set apart for God in Christ — learning to live like what they already are.
Call yourself a saint and you’re not bragging.
You’re confessing Christ.
And that’s why this word matters.