Phil 1:1 (NIV) Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
NOTE: The letter is addressed to the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, and also the overseers and deacons. Since the overseers and deacons are an add-on, the saints refer to the rest of the church. This verse, as clearly as any verses, teaches us that everyone who is a believer in Jesus, is a saint. One does not have to be some spiritual giant to carry the name of saint. There are qualifications for overseer and deacon, but the only qualification for saint is faith in Jesus.
For some reason, our cultures and cultures before us, have identified a saint as some holy and amazingly spiritual individual. To a certain extent, that definition is true. As believers in Jesus, we have positional holiness. We are spiritual, because we are temples of the living God. We are special because Jesus died for our sins and bought us our redemption. But we do live in sin-stained bodies and a world that is opposed to God. And sometimes, we don't look much different than the world. In a sense, that is our fault. We have no excuse when we turn our eyes off of Jesus and fix them on the garbage in the world. And so the world identifies a saint as something different than a Christian, because Christians are such a poor example of their savior. That should not be. My God has saved me, I need to live in that reality.
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