All Saints Day
To the [a]saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. Colossians 1:2 NASB
Saints – You know, some people just have a deeper spiritual connection than most of us. God seems to be more present to them. That’s why we call them saints, right? In fact, if they are really, really close to God, they can earn the official title “saint” (a miracle or two helps). So, when we read a verse like this, well, we know that Paul isn’t speaking to us. We’re just ordinary. But in Colossae there were a few of those extraordinary believers scattered among the rest of the group. At least that’s what I was taught.
The shocker is that Paul uses the same word (Greek hágios) for the assembly in Corinth, those backsliding, morally corrupt, “carnal Christians” who behaved in ways that most of us find despicable. How can he be so mistaken?
The answer is this: saints are not special spiritual believers. In Paul’s terminology, saints are all the followers of the God of Israel and the Messiah. Hágios characterizes everyone because it is not an earned status. It is a God-given designation for those He calls His own. Hágios are the faithful brothers (the NASB adds the politically correct gender “and sisters”). Next week the Catholic world will celebrate “All Saints Day,” but the truth is that every day for every follower is a “saint’s day.”
If this is the linguistic background, then what does it mean for our struggling faithfulness? How can we be called “holy” (the definition of hágios) when we are so clearly not perfect? Perhaps these comments help:
“Life is not something we go through or that happens to us; it’s something we create by our decisions.”[1]
“You will realize that doctrines are inventions of the human mind, as it tries to penetrate the mystery of God. You will realize that scripture itself is the work of human minds, recording the example and teachings of Jesus. Thus it is not what you believe that matters; it is how you respond with your heart and your actions. It is not believing in Christ that matters, it is becoming like him.”[2]
“And this is the simple truth—that to live is to feel oneself lost—he who accepts it has already begun to find himself, to be on firm ground. Instinctively, as do the shipwrecked, he will look round for something to which to cling, and that tragic, ruthless glance, absolutely sincere, because it is a question of his salvation, will cause him to bring order into the chaos of his life. These are the only genuine ideas; the ideas of the shipwrecked.”[3]
“The opposite of a slave is not a free man. It’s a worshipper. The one who is most free is the one who turns the work of his hands into sacrament, into offering. All he makes and all he does are gifts from God, through God, and to God. . . . . Virtually any job, no matter how grueling or tedious . . . can be a gift from God, through God, and to God. The work of our hands, by the alchemy of our devotion, becomes the worship of our hearts.”[4]
Why not be the saint you already are—today? Today is your “all saints day.”
Topical Index: All Saints Day, holy, hágios, Colossians 1:2
[1] Kathleen Dean Moore, If Your House Is On Fire
[2] Pelagius 4th Century in J. Phillip Newell, Listening to the heartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality
[3] José Ortega, The Revolt of the Masses, quoted in Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death, p. 89.
[4] Mark Buchannan, The Rest of God, p. 24
