CALLED TO BE SAINTS by D. F. Bonner

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 10, 1890

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 16, No. 10.

CALLED TO BE SAINTS.

By D. F. Bonner

SUCH, in part, is the title by which the apostle Paul addresses the Roman and Corinthian Christians. How suggestive the inscription! What obligations it involves, what aspirations it warrants, what duties it implies, what a destiny it reveals!

And yet it is a term that is very infrequently employed in either the literature or speech of Christians to-day. And why?—Because our conceptions of saintship are such that we feel that now few, if any, meet its requirements; and, further, because we shrink from the use of a term which has become so largely identified with the superstitions and idolatries of Rome. But is our neglect of the term thus justified? are our conceptions of saintship scriptural? and should the perversion of the term by some lead to its utter disuse by all? Whatever the answers we may be disposed to give to these questions, certain it is that the Scriptures attach a gracious potency to the term, for they often employ it as a descriptive designation of God's professed people. It occurs as such a designation thirty-two times in the Old Testament and sixty-seven times in the New. In all the Bible it is thus employed only once less than one hundred times. Should a term of such frequent occurrence in the divine word be permitted to drop utterly out of the current literature and speech of God's people? By doing so do we not lose one of the chiefest incitements to holy aspirations—one of the mightiest incentives and encouragements to the attainment of a godly life? After all, what is a saint?

There are perhaps three ways by which we may get a clear, definite, scriptural answer to this question. The first is a study of the Scripture use of the word which is thus rendered; the second, a study of the characters of those to whom the Scriptures apply it;

and the third, a consideration of the standard they present as the measure of saintliness. As for the word itself, it is more frequently rendered "holy" than otherwise; and its primary and predominant meaning is separation to the service of God. Thus the priests, the temple, the altar, the Sabbath—in a word, all sacred persons, places, ordinances, and occasions—were holy, because set apart to the service of God. Specially significant, in the Old Testament legislation, were the provisions respecting the first-born. These, whether of men or of beasts, were holy to the Lord. The first-born of clean beasts were to be given to God in sacrifice; those of beasts not clean, and of men, were to be redeemed. Subsequently, for the first-born of men, the tribe of Levi was substituted. That tribe was devoted wholly to the service of God, and was supported entirely by offerings made to God. The first element of saintship, then, is separation from the world and consecration to the service of God.

Coming from the word itself to the study of the character of those to whom, in the Scriptures, it is applied, one finds that the term receives an additional meaning. It is no longer the designation merely of one consecrated to the service of God, but imparts also that he who is thus consecrated, is possessed of a character befitting his devotion. In our version the word saint is only once applied to an individual. In Ps. 106:16 Aaron is called "the saint of the Lord." But in our version no one is elsewhere so designated. And yet in the original the same word is elsewhere applied to others. Herod feared John the Baptist, "knowing that he was a just man and an holy," i. e., a saint. Mark 6:20. The unclean devil who was exorcised in the synagogue of Capernaum, recognized the authority and confessed the character of Jesus of Nazareth. "I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God," i. e., the saint of God. Luke 4:34. And so, too, the apostle Peter speaks of the penmen of the sacred Scriptures, the faithful prophets of the Jewish dispensation, and the elect women of the past ages, as holy, i. e., as saints. 2 Peter 1:21; 3:2; 1 Peter 3:5. They were persons—all of them—who were separated from the world and consecrated to the service of God, and whose characters befitted their consecration. In them, and specially in Jesus, the chiefest of them all, we have the true Scripture type of saintship. A second element in saintship, then, is a character befitting separation from the world and consecration to the service of God.

In accordance with these positions is the standard presented in the word by which the reality of saintship is to be tested. Paul, in urging the Romans to receive Phoebe as becometh saints (Rom. 16:1), and the Corinthians to observe decorum in their religious assemblies, because God is the author of peace in all the churches of the saints (1 Cor. 14:33), clearly implies that there is a high standard of living to which saints should attain. And something of the purity and blamelessness of this life is indicative in his implied assurance to the Ephesians, that all uncleanness and covetousness are inconsistent with it. Eph. 5:3. But Peter goes even further than Paul, and reveals clearly and definitely the ultimate standard of scriptural saintliness. It is nothing less than conformity to the divine character: "As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation," or, as the Revision margin has it, "Like the Holy One which called you, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living." 1 Peter 1:16. He who called us is the Holy One, i. e., the Saint, and in all manner of conduct we are to be like him. The scriptural standard of saintliness is then the divine character. In Scripture conception, then, a saint is one who is consecrated to the divine service, and is seeking assimilation to the divine character.

To such saintship Christians—all Christians—are called, called as Paul was called to the apostolate, as any minister of the gospel to-day is called to the pastorate. It is a call which implies acceptance and consecration—acceptance of the station, and consecration to its duties. It implies keen sense of its obligations, and an earnest striving to realize its high ideals. And these ideals may be—ultimately will be—realized. God has graciously provided agencies by which the ideal of the Christian vocation may become the actual attainment of the Christian professor. Having ascended on high, Christ hath given "some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints." Eph. 4:8-12. Yes, "for the perfecting of the saints." Christians are saints—actual saints, but not ideal ones. Their consecration has in it a large element of selfish reserve—their conduct makes manifest and glaring inconsistencies. But, after all, their consecration is real, and their character is advancing. In due season, through their gracious instrumentalities divinely provided, their saintship will be perfected, and they will at last be presented to God without spot or wrinkle. . . .

Such is the Scripture conception of saintship, and such the obligations and aspirations involved in it. The weight of the obligation and the intensity of the hope are measurable only by the significance of the fact which awakens them. It is the fact of redemption. Israel's first-born were holy because saved from death by the blood of the pascal lamb. Christians are holy because redeemed by the blood of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Israel's first-born were no longer Israel's own, but God's, because he had saved them. Christians are no longer their own, but God's, because he has redeemed them. What a motive thus comes to those "called to be saints" to actualize their saintship, to make their consecration to God's service unreserved, their assimilation to his character perfect. "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Cor. 6:19, 20. What an assurance thus comes also to those "called to be saints," that their saintship will be actualized. Christ "loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify [saint] and cleanse it, . . . ; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy [saintly] and without blemish." Eph. 5:25-27. Shall Christ have died in vain? Shall his purpose respecting those whom he has "called to be saints" be frustrated?—Ah, no! the Christian cannot so believe. Rather does he declare with Paul, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil. 1:6. "Called to be a saint?" then realization of saintship is my duty. "Called to be a saint?" then attainment of saintship is my destiny [privilege].

—Rev. D. F. Bonner, in New York Observer.