Saints by George C. Hickmann

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 28, 1883

Saints.

By George C. Hickmann

As PETER traversed the church he came to the saints at Lydda. "The saints" is an early and favorite title in the New Testament for the disciples of Christ, and doubtless was adopted and used as full of instruction and exhortation. It has no restricted or official application, but belongs equally to all believers, and is a designation from which no disciple should shrink. Every converted sinner is a saint, and the title should be cherished, not so much as implying honor—which indeed it does—as responsibility, without the consciousness and discharge of which the name has no meaning.

Contrary to general misapprehension, that meaning is not subjective, but objective. Its primary and always its principal sense is, one set apart as sacred. Believers are called saints, not because they are of eminent sanctity, but because they are set apart as sacred to God. So the Sabbath is set apart from other days as sacred to God. All believers are devoted to God in baptism and by confession of Jesus Christ, and by profession of a life consecrated to him.

This primary meaning does not exclude, but implies, the secondary, subjective sense of moral holiness. Thus the saint is justified, is regenerated, and pursues after personal holiness as becomes one set apart for God.—Rev. Geo. C. Hickmann, D. D.