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Saints
“Fellowcitizens with the saints” (Ephesians 2:19).
“Called to be saints” (1 Corinthians 1:2).
For the believer we came into this world as sinners; but we shall leave it as saints! What a marvellous tribute to the super-abounding grace of God: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20). We are saints by the sovereign and gracious calling of God, which came to us by the gospel: “Whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:14).
Saints by calling is an indisputable truth, regardless of what men may conceive or practice, for it cannot be merited, nor can it be conferred by human agency. Such practice robs God of His glory, and undermines the work of Christ, the ground on which God “might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). God’s calling, and our believing can never be separated, for the called must respond by faith in order to be made saints. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8).
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