In God’s Best-Kept Secret, I ask a question similar to this. Can a Christian BE a liar, a thief, an alcoholic, a drug addict, an adulterer, or a sinner? The short answer is, though Christians can lie, steal, get drunk, do drugs, commit adultery, and commit all kinds of sins, those behaviors don’t define them. What Jesus has done is what defines them. In fact, the reality is that if they do those things, they are still what God calls them, saints. Saints who are sinning, but they are not sinners! In Christ, we only have one identity, not two, and it’s a Kingdom identity.
What about 1Timothy 1:15, where Paul states, “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’—and I am the worst of them all” (NLT).
Isn’t Paul saying that even though he is a Christian, he is still a sinner? No, he’s not saying that at all. The verses before and after tell us he was speaking of his life before he became a Christian.
This doesn’t mean Christians don’t sin. It just means sinning doesn’t define them as sinners. In other words, though you were saved by grace, you are not a “sinner saved by grace.” You are also not a sinner and a saint. You are just a saint.
Saint literally means a holy person, and it is used over sixty times in the New Testament to make sure we know who we genuinely are in Christ.
In God’s family, He doesn’t define us by our behaviors. He defines us by our birth. Our first birth made us sinners. Our new birth through faith in Jesus made us saints!
When my children were young, I heard a big commotion with yelling and running. My son, Ben, was chasing his younger brother, Christopher, and yelling, “You’re a tattletale! You’re a tattletale! I’m going to get you!” Ben had been disciplined by my wife because Christopher told her something Ben did, and he wasn’t happy about it.
Somehow Christopher’s little legs were going so fast that Ben’s long arms couldn’t catch him. But Ben kept yelling those same words at him until Christopher finally yelled back over his shoulder, “I’m not a tattletale! I’m a truth teller!” To have the last word, Ben said, “Well, you’re a truth teller who tattletales!”
That’s like what God says about us. We are saints who commit different kinds of sins, but we are still saints!
Though we may not feel like a saint when we sin or because we feel broken, we are who our Father says we are because of Jesus!
This is what the Holy Spirit wrote to the Corinthian church, which had several sin issues. Notice it was not only written to them but to everyone, including those who have faith in Jesus today, like you and me.
To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. NASB
Let’s all thank Him. “Father, though I don’t always act like it, or feel like it, I thank you that you say I’m a saint. I choose to believe this is who I am in Christ. Amen.
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
Bestselling Author
God’s Best-Kept Secret: Christianity Is Easier Than You Think
