The Marks of a Saint
—Blessings of Sanctification
We come to the last three of our 17 principles about the seal of God. Notice that each of these says something about “saints”.
15th principle: All the saints are sealed.
16th principle: Only saints are sealed.
17th principle: All the saved are saints.
To make sure the principles are understood, we'd better take some time to think about what a saint is.
At least twenty one spiritual blessings keep appearing in the scriptures that we are studying. Some of our English Bibles use the special word "saint" to describe those of whom all these blessings are true. I have arranged these 21 blessings into seven groups of three. We might call these the seven marks of a saint.
Saints Described
Ephesians 1
2Thessalonians 1,
1Corinthians 1.
Saints are people who are...
1 Called, chosen, confirmed...
Those who are called by the gospel and respond, so that they might be chosen by God and confirmed in their faith —those are saints.
2 Enlightened, enriched, empowered...
Those who have been enlightened by God’s light in the gospel, and enriched by the depth of the heavenly riches, and empowered by the divine power —those are saints.
3 Forgiven, fellowshipped, firstborn heirs...
Those who have been forgiven of their sins and brought into God’s family fellowship as firstborn heirs in his family —those are saints.
4 Justified, glorified, gathered in...
Those who have been justified (or deemed righteous in his sight) by their faith in Jesus Christ, who have been glorified because a crown of life is stored up for them in heaven, who have been gathered into the great assembly of God’s servants both angels and humankind —those are saints.
5 Predestined, partakers of grace, preserved...
Those who are predestined by God because God has made known to them the paths of life, and who have become partakers of the grace of God and are preserved for eternal life —those are saints.
6 Redeemed, reborn, reconciled...
Those who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus and born again by his word and the power of his resurrection, and have been reconciled to God from whom they were once alienated —those are saints.
7 Saved, sanctified, sealed...
Those who have been saved from God’s wrath, sanctified (or made holy) by the washing of water through the word, and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise —those are saints.
There is nothing more wonderful than to be one of God’s saints, and there is nothing to prevent anyone from becoming one of God’s saints by "the obedience of faith" (Romans 1:5-7).
Note:— The word saint is really the same word as sanctified. In 1Corinthians 1:2 for example, Paul uses forms of the same Greek word `αγιαζω (hagiazo), where the English translations use sanctified and saints. Also note that the English words sanctified and holy are synonyms and thus the word saint means holy one in the sense of someone made holy by God.