Being Thankful Saints

I was listening to a podcast the other day, and the speaker pointed out that Paul addressed Christians in the early church, as a default description, as “saints”. Not just a special subset – all of them, no matter how “ordinary” and struggling they were.

When Paul used the word “saints,” he doesn’t mean super-holy people who performed miracles or lived perfect lives. He was describing the truth of their situation, that God had set them apart, regardless of personal achievement and backstory. It’s all about what God has done—setting people apart, making them holy through Christ. 

Paul makes it clear that being a saint is about God’s grace, not our own efforts. So when he addresses his letters “to the saints,” he’s talking to regular people, facing everyday struggles, but called to a new way of life.

In Paul’s view, the “saints” are “all believers”, no matter their past life, their ethnicity, their denomination or anything that might have previously held them back from accepting God’s grace extended to them. 

Make no mistake – Paul made a continual point of reminding “the saints” that their “saintliness”, their holiness, came with a need to take on encouragement and admonishment alike, hear teaching about living in Christ, and an openness to correction - being holy is something lived out together, not just an individual pursuit. Saints are no longer outsiders, but people transformed by grace (Ephesians 2:9). Paul teaches that all humans fall short and need God’s help (Romans 3:23). 

Paul is always urging the early church to remember where they came from, but not to stay stuck there. He warned them against slipping back into old habits and calls them to live in a way that reflects their new identity as saints. For instance, in Ephesians 5:3-8, he contrasts the old life (“sons of disobedience”) with the new life in Christ, telling believers to “walk as children of light.”  

Whilst he often included lists of behaviours to avoid (see Galatians 5:19–21; 1 Corinthians 6:9–11; Colossians 3:5–9), he always reminded them that they’re called to something better because they’ve been set apart. Paul was never afraid to call out sin in the church (1 Corinthians 5), but his goal was always transformation, not condemnation.

As saints together, a school community bound together through our identity in Christ, we have much to be thankful for. Paul encouraged us to focus on the grace God extended to us, as His church, by naming it as he addressed the first Christians – the “saints”.

What might thankfulness look like? How might we express it? Perhaps with 50 Acts of Thankfulness! Now, there’s some food for thought.  I’ll pick that thread up next week!

Shalom.