One of the founding principles of the reformation is Sola Scriptura. Sola Scriptura is the concept of the scriptures being the sole infallible rule of faith for the believer. With that in mind, we as Protestants desire to uphold the scriptures over traditions in the church. Our traditions are to be in subjection to what we read in the scriptures on all topics, even those topics that define who we are as God’s people.
In Christ, we are a new creation, and as such, we are given many new names and titles. One such title is saint. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul is addressing the Corinthian church. This church is known, from Paul’s letters to them, as a church with many problems. Yet, in his address to them, he calls them saints.
To the church of God which is at 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 1 Corinthians 1:2
Paul, who is someone everyone can agree on is a saint, calls the members of the Corinthian church, “saints by calling.” In light of this, you have to wonder how it is that many people don’t think of themselves as saints. The Catholic church requires canonization before someone can be called a saint. Yet, Paul applies the term much more broadly than that. We can all think of examples of people we would think of as saints, such as Saint Augustine, Saint Athanasius, Saint Peter, and so on. However, this title does not belong to them exclusively. Paul indicates that the body of Christ as a whole are saints. He uses the terms saints, the temple of God, the body of Christ, and other terms for the church that apply to the church as a whole. In this sense, every believer is a saint; they are not only saints after they have died, but they are saints now.
At Journey Community Church, we will be going over what the bible says about saints; we will be discussing the difference between the Catholic and Protestant understanding of the saints. We will also discuss why we as protestants should not only view those who have come before us as saints, but we should also think of ourselves as saints. It is proper to give honor to those who come before us, but we must do so according to the scriptures. If you would like to follow along with some of the materials we will be reviewing, we will be posting updates here over the next several weeks.
For today, you can take a look at the following resources:
- Video: James White and Patrick Madrid debate – Veneration of the Saints and Images
- Book: On the Canonization and Veneration of the Saints by St. Robert Bellarmine
We will not be discussing everything from these two resources, but they are great resources to understand the Catholic understanding of saints and the Protestant response (as defended by James White).
We look forward to digging further into this topic and discussing it with you all on April 30th after church.