Do We Identify as Saints or Sinners?

Today, many preachers refer to the body of Christ as “Sinners” while Paul refers to believers as “Saints”. Is it because our loyalties are divided and we don’t seek to walk as saints or is it because we have been taught a lie about our new nature? Whatever the reason behind this bad teaching, it moves believers farther from Christ instead of closer to him.

Paul emphatically referred to believers as saints as he addressed his various letters in the New Testament. The only time he referred to himself or others as sinners was to identify where we had come from.  God wanted us to see our corruption before salvation so we could overcome such a life and come to live in a Christ centered relationship. We are called to move from a sinful lifestyle to a God honoring one.  

In the book of Ephesians, Paul laid out the calling we have in Christ to become “Citizens” of a new kingdom, namely the kingdom of God. Paul wanted people to change their thinking about who they were and where their loyalties should now reside. The same may be said of a person enlisting into the army. The moment they enlist they are a solider, though they must go through training in body, soul and spirit to “Feel & Believe” that they are, in fact, a solider. Their identity must be learned as well as realized.

Ephesians 2:19

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,

So, the question is why do teachers and pastors keep using sinners to describe themselves as well as their congregations? First, it has to do with the training they received in Bible collage and seminary.  Much of what is being taught in churches is just parroting what these teachers and preachers were taught, without reasoning if what they were taught was true or false. Secondly, they hope to help people see how they are living and whether they are kingdom minded or just living in the flesh. The unfortunate problem is these teachers communicate a false identity and thus encourage continued living as they did before Christ and not as redeemed follower of Jesus.

If we read Paul’s teaching in the book of Romans chapter 8, we see Paul’s conclusion regarding how to walk victoriously in Christ. It is not by sheer human willpower but rather by trusting the Holy Spirit for strength against temptation and power to be steadfast for God. He refers to either living in the “flesh” or living in the Spirit.

 Romans 8:1-2 

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

Paul says that “IF” we are in Christ, we are learning to choose to walk in the spirit.  However, it is a choice we constantly have to make because we might not always be in the spirit, and to be truthful, at times we are not, even through we still call ourselves followers of Christ. Paul tries to build a case about what the believer’s responsibility is and what’s the Lord’s in order to walk as God intended. We can not be healthy in Christ if we are not cooperating with the Holy Spirit, nor can we have a healthy walk with God if the Holy Spirit does not equip us. It is always a “Joint Effort” to walk as God intended and any teacher that says otherwise is fooling themselves and those they teach.

Romans 8:5-6

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

Paul speaks very clearly that our “Mindset” defines whether we are empowered to walk in a healthy way or not. The whole point of reading God’s word is to develop a healthy mindset regarding how to walk as believers. If we don’t inform ourselves of God’s word, we stay ignorant of God’s promises and warnings and thus become targets of failing at our new life in Christ. If we are failing it’s not because God is not doing his part in this relationship but rather we are not for some reason. My belief is it has a lot to do with who we believe we are: saints or sinners.

One of my pet peeves is hearing preachers claim that living the Christian life is “All By Grace” when God’s word says both our salvation and our sanctification requires our cooperation. Without our cooperation, God’s promises become empty ideas rather than God’s resources for healthy growth and stability. Grace is always available yet we often fail to appropriate it.

The moral of this story is if we act like sinners and yet call ourselves God’s children something is radically wrong with either our conversion or our current cooperation. A simple truth is walking with God requires cooperation or, as John stated, we are living a lie.

1 John 1:6 

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

Let me be clear, I do not pretend to say I don’t at times walk contrary to God’s word or the direction of the Holy Spirit.  However, I purposely pursue him even when I make bad choices. John further states “If” we sin we have an advocate with God who will cleanse us of our sin. The idea of being human means making mistakes but being born again means we generally have intentions of walking with God and not against him and his will.

You and I need to define ourselves to ourselves and others. Speaking of ourselves as saints motivates our souls to seek God and his kingdom and speaking to ourselves as sinners motivates us to have little to no boundaries for our behavior or motives so that we drift from Christ and his kingdom.

My prayer is I will be reaching a better walk with God daily and when I miss that mark I intend to confess my mistakes and believe him to heal my soul so that I can once again pursue him. I pray you do the same and thus cause God to rejoice in our lives rather than feel sorrow over them.

Questions:

1) What is your “Identity” as a Christian? The way you think about yourself helps to determine the outcome.

2) Have you been struggling with walking in the Spirit as God calls all of us to? Maybe it’s because, unlike Paul, you call yourself a sinner saved by grace and yet identify more as an unbeliever than a believer.

May God help us to reason out the scripture to understand our calling,

Pastor Dale