The Apostle Paul in Romans uses the word "saint" eight times as he refers to the called out ones, the chosen ones, the Christians. Even where the word "saint" is not used in reference to Christians, a similar word, such as "sanctified," is used which makes clear their identification with Jesus Christ. These people had been justified by faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1 & 9) and were no longer referred to as "sinners." They were regenerate people, not "sinners" or "strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" as Paul refers to unsaved people in Col. 2:12. These "saints," are they are spoken of in the New Testament, are never given the name of "sinner." They are people who have "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." (I Thess. 1:9)

The Apostle John addresses the "children of God" in his First Epistle and never speaks of them as "sinners." To be sure, he stresses the fact that every one of these "saints" commits sin and to deny this fact is tantament to lying to God. But nowhere are these people of God spoken of as "sinners" as if this were the defining characteristic of their lives. In fact, John goes so far as to say in chapter 5, verse 18: "We know that whoever is born of God does not sin…" obviously referring to the continued practice of sin. A true Christian does not live a life of continual sin. This is why it is improper to refer to a Christian as a "sinner." A Christian is not a "sinner" – he is a "saint."

Why is it important for Christians to think of themselves as "saints" and not as "sinners"? First of all, does not the way that an individual thinks of himself have an effect on how he lives? The boy in school whom the teacher continually describes as a "continual troublemaker" often begins to think of himself in those terms. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Apostle Paul clearly grasps the importance of Christians seeing themselves precisely as God sees them. Could this be why Paul in Rom. 6:6 writes "knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin"? He wants the "saints" to really know this and act accordingly. Stressing this same idea, in Rom. 6:11-14, he writes: "Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace." We are to reckon ourselves as dead to sin, and not let sin reign in our bodies, and at the same time to reckon ourselves to be alive from the dead old life that we lived when we were still "sinners."

The Christian who continually thinks of himself as a dirty, miserable sinner will not have the mindset or incentive to become a vibrant, growing, Spirit-filled Christian. However, the Christian who continually dwells on what Christ has done for him by delivering him from a life of sin into the liberty of the children of God is a joyous Christian, seeing himself as God’s trophy of amazing grace!

It was therefore with some degree of concern that I read Dr. Boice’s article "Repenting Always." His illustration taken from Alcoholics Anonymous is quoted approvingly where he says "My name is…..and I am an alcoholic. Never mind that the speaker may not have had a drink for ten years. His past is always before him, and the only way he is able to stay sober is by remembering not merely what he was but what he is." Dr. Boice would never allow the man to forget that he is still an alcoholic even if God had delivered him from his life of debauchery. Contrast this concept with that of the Apostle Paul in Col. 3:2-3 where he writes "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." And as Paul writes in Rom. 13:14 "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts."

If the Christian keeps dwelling on his past confessed and forgiven sins and keeps reminding himself that he is still a "rotten sinner," then he is not quite following what the Apostle Paul would have him to do, as stated in the previous paragraph.

Dr. Boice quotes his friend who confesses "Lord, I am a sinner. I sin all the time in my thoughts and in what I do. I need your forgiveness always, and I ask for it now." How much better (and more scriptural) for this man to say something like this: "Lord, I am your child. You have chosen me because you love me and you have justified me in Jesus, and have called me a "saint." I am no longer my own, and strive with the Holy Spirit’s help to honor you in all that I do. Yet I fail from time to time. In your mercy and grace, forgive me and enable me to better serve you in the future."

The Christian who "sins all the time" perhaps needs to examine himself to see if he is really in the faith (II Cor. 13:5) The "Christian" who sins all the time would seem to be a contradiction of Christianity. Christ does make a difference! If a person is truly in the faith, should he not think of himself as he truly is, a "saint" and not a "sinner"? Will he not begin to see himself as an "imperfectly sanctified saint" with a new life in Christ, and not as a "lousy, miserable, rotten sinner." How is the latter any different from how the man lived before he met Christ?

Aa Professor John Murray wrote (loosely quoted), "To say that a Christian has both a new nature and a sin nature is no different from saying the person is both regenerate and unregenerate at the same time." Rather, Christians possess just one nature, an "imperfectly sanctified new nature." The "old man" is dead, the "new man" is alive, well and growing!

It is therefore wise to carefully define and distinguish our terms so that we can more properly think God’s thoughts after Him and truly be His disciples.

THE END