In our world today, the topic of identity is a topic of many conversations. Many people are trying to answer the question, “Who am I?” That is an important question because if you don’t know who you are, how are you to know what you are supposed to do and accomplish in this life?

As Christians, the question about our identity is one that we should be able to answer with full confidence. Sadly, there are many Christians who do not know what their identity is. Thankfully, when we have questions we also have a source that we can turn to to give us the answers – the Bible. 

We are starting a new series that is called Identity: Who do you think you are? In this series, we will look to the truth of God’s word to show us what our identity is now that we are in Christ. This entire series will center on the first two chapters of the New Testament letter called Ephesians. 

The identity markers that we will examine through this series pertain to every person who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ. If you have not made that decision yet, then it is our prayer that you will get a glimpse of the life that Jesus offers to anyone who will come to Him by faith.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will:
to the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:1-2 (CSB)

The Letter to the Ephesians

The portion of Scripture that we are looking at today is the opening of the letter that Paul wrote to Christians in the first century in the area of Ephesus. When some read the letters found in the New Testament, there is a tendency to overlook the opening. Many do this because it seems mundane. On the surface, it appears to be just who wrote it and to whom it was written. But we must remember that every single word of the Bible is inspired by God. 

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (CSB)

If every word of the Bible is inspired by God and useful, then even the opening of this letter contains a word for us today. 

We are saints

As Paul addressed this letter to the Christians in Ephesus, he used the term “faithful saints” to identify them. This leads us to our first identity marker of a Christian: we are saints. 

Do you consider yourself a saint? I have not met many people who would identify themselves as a saint. I have heard the term “sinner saved by grace” many times, but few have been the times when someone would come out and say that they were “a saint.” 

There seems to be a guard against pride and arrogance when people do not identify themselves as saints. To guard against pride and arrogance is a good thing, but we can see clearly from the Bible that Christians are referred to as saints many times. Paul refers to Christians as saints in just about every letter that he wrote that is in the New Testament. If the Bible refers to us as saints, then why do we shy away from using that identity marker for ourselves? I believe that the answer to that is a misunderstanding of the term itself. 

What is a saint?

The term saint is the Greek word ἅγιος which means “holy, pure, or divine”. This trips many people up because it does not take long for one to see that he or she is not what one would consider holy. But if we are careful to remember that holy means “set apart”, then we can see another definition of the term saint, which is “devoted to God.” 

When we take that definition of the term saint, we are reminded that we have been set aside by the grace of God to be His. We are not made holy because of anything that we have done. We are made holy because of what Jesus Christ has done. When a person turns from his or her sin and follows Jesus by faith, Jesus’ righteousness is placed upon them as their sin is atoned for. 

Our Position

When the Bible refers to Christians as saints, it is talking about their position – in how they stand before God. It is what God is working in our lives to bring us to. 

An artist typically has an image in his or her mind about what the finished project is to be. They begin working with the materials that they have to bring the project to completion. A painter will spread different colors across the canvas over one another, and it becomes a masterpiece. A musician will begin putting notes and chords together with words until another masterpiece comes forth. God works in much the same way because He is the Master Artist. 

Because of what Jesus Christ has done through His sacrificial death on the cross and rising from the grave, He has provided the final picture of what we will be. We are not there wholly at the moment we trust Christ, but the Holy Spirit begins a work at that moment that moves us towards becoming the masterpiece that God intended. 

We can see that the Bible is not wrong in calling us saints. That is what we are. Because of our decision to trust in and follow Jesus, we have been set apart from those that will face the wrath of God because of sin. Jesus took our wrath so that we do not have to face it. We are have been brought into the family of God as one of His children. 

What about now?

We are saints not because of what we have done but because of what Jesus has done. He has made us holy by His finished work on the cross. He has given us positional sanctification which is “an act performed once for all the moment the sinner places his faith in the Lord Jesus as his Saviour.”^[1]Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 18.

But this positional sanctification calls for another work which is referred to as progressive sanctification – “a process that goes on all through the earthly life of the Christian and continues throughout eternity, in which that person is being gradually conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus.”^[2]Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 18.

As one commentator has said, “Now we must live in a manner that is consistent with this position. Personal holiness is about becoming in practice what we are in position.”^[3]Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Ephesians (Nashville, TN:Holman Reference, 2014), Ephesians 1:1b

This is the work that the Holy Spirit does within each person who trusts in Jesus while they are here on earth. The Holy Spirit grows our faith through the study of the Word, prayer, worshipping with other believers, and serving as He leads. He convicts us of the sin that is in our lives so that we may turn from it and become a clearer picture of the masterpiece that God sees in us as His own. 

The amazing thing about this is that because the term “saint” refers to our position before God, we don’t have to worry about losing ourselves in day-to-day living. While sometimes our actions or words may seem contrary to being “saints“, this doesn’t mean that we are no longer “in Him.” It means that there’s still work being done that is moving us to where we are supposed to be. 

Jen Wilkin shared one time these words: “I knew I served a God who was and is and is to come, but I had yet to learn that I possessed from him a salvation of which the same could be said. Salvation from sin can be broken down into three categories: justification, sanctification, and glorification. For the believer, our justification was, our sanctification is, and our glorification is to come. We were saved, we are being saved, we will be saved” ^[4]Jen Wilkin, “Free: Rescued by Grace,” in Identity Theft: Reclaiming the Truth of Who We Are in Christ, 9 .

As Christians, we are saints in Christ. That identity will never change. God will always work in us to move us to the finished masterpiece. He has given us the Holy Spirit to enable us to make better choices that will affect how we live. 

Conclusion

We can see clearly from the Word of God that as Christians, we are positionally saints. The question now becomes: “Are we living according to the new identity that God has given us, or are we trying to live by another identity?”

My prayer today is that each of us will see and understand our need for Christ. I pray that if you have not trusted Him as Savior and Lord that you will do so today and get that position what it should be. I also pray that those of us who have made that decision will live our lives in a way that reflects our identity in Christ as saints – devoted and set apart for God’s glory.