DAY 130
CHALLENGE
“The Catholic Church shouldn’t refer just to people in heaven as saints. All believers are saints.”
DEFENSE
The term “saint” is used in multiple senses, even in Scripture.
The term “saint” (Hebrew, qadosh; Aramaic, qaddish; Greek, hagios; Latin, sanctus) means “holy one.” Anyone who is in some sense holy or sanctified is in that sense a saint. This leads to many uses of the term in Scripture, though this is partially masked because English translators sometimes render the word as “saint” and sometimes as “holy one.”
The Israelites were a people holy to God (Lev. 20:26), so the Old Testament describes them as saints (Ps. 34:9; Dan. 7:18, 8:24). Thus, Paul tells Gentile Christians that they have become fellow citizens “with the saints” (Eph. 2:19).
Christians are also holy to God (1 Peter 1:16), so the New Testament often refers to them as saints (2 Cor. 1:1, Eph. 1:1, Phil. 1:1). The Catholic Church acknowledges this usage. After reviewing various passages in the New Testament that refer to Christians as saints, John Paul II noted, “All these cases refer to Christians, or to the faithful, that is, to the brethren who have received the Holy Spirit” (General Audience, August 16, 1989).
Jewish people were sanctified by their participation in the Mosaic Covenant, and Christians are sanctified by their participation in the New Covenant of Christ, so this represents two different forms of sanctification or sainthood. There are others.
Thus the holy angels are also referred to as saints (Ps. 89:6, 8; Dan. 4:13, 17, 23, 8:13). In popular speech, a person of notable holiness is often referred to as a saint, and we find this usage in the Bible as well (cf. Isa. 4:3–4, Matt. 27:52–53). Very surprisingly for English speakers, Jesus is described as the Saint or Holy One of God (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; John 6:67–69), and God is described as the Saint or Holy One of Israel (Ps. 71:22, 78:41, 89:18; Is. 1:4; Jer. 50:29).
Since there is no single, privileged definition of the term, it is reasonable to use “saint” to refer to those who have their sanctification— or “saintification”—completed by dwelling with God in heaven. This is thus one way the Church uses the term, both for those in heaven who have been canonized and those who have not.