Saints and Faithful

Narrator: Ivona Gentwo
 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 9
Q. L.H., Jersey. — In Ephesians 1:11Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 1:1), we read, “To the saints, and to the faithful,” etc. Are these two classes of persons, or is one the standing and the other the walk?
A. The word “saints” is a general term applicable to all who are Christ’s, at any period of the history of God’s dealings. But the Spirit of God has been pleased to add the word “faithful.” This word may be rendered “believers.” It is to be found in the following passages, amongst many, in the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 6:1515And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? (2 Corinthians 6:15), “He that believeth,” or “the believer.” 1 Timothy 4:10-1210For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. 11These things command and teach. 12Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (1 Timothy 4:10‑12), “Specially those that believe,” or, “specially believers,” and “Be thou an example to the believers.” These examples will serve to show that the word may be truly used in this sense. The Epistle to the Ephesians contemplates only the saints since the accomplishment of redemption, and the descent of the Holy Spirit, teaching truths peculiar to them. It is from God, who has Christ, now both God and Man, in His presence. “Saints” and “faithful” are used of the same persons; the former signifying their condition with reference to the world, the latter giving them a special character as having believed in Christ Jesus. The Patriarchs, etc., had hoped in faith for One who was to come; those before the mind of the Spirit in Ephesians had believed in One who had come, and had wrought redemption, and was now a Man in the glory of God: and who not only had believed, but who were faithfully maintaining the faith they had received; for, when Paul was writing, Christianity, and especially the doctrines he had enunciated, were beginning to be unpopular, not in the sense of the benefits of salvation and redemption, but in the holy and separate walk they inculcated, as the calling of the Church of God. The apostle contemplates this state of things in the mode of his address to the Ephesians and Colossians.
Words of Faith 3:59, 60.