I doubt that my father, who died more than 40 years ago, ever heard anyone ask, “How do you identify?” I’m confident than an answer using the alphabet soup that is used today would have puzzled him. Paul, as he begins his letter to the church at Ephesus tells the Christians that they are saints — and the Holy Spirit uses the term of you. If you belong to Christ, you are a saint, and you need to identify as one.
Be the saints that you are! You are saints. Paul addresses the church at Ephesus. He had stopped there on his second missionary journey (Acts 18:19–21), but spent an extensive time in Ephesus (2+ years) on his third (Acts 19). This was the city that had a reputation for hosting the statue of the goddess, Artemis, and the preaching of the gospel had a strong economic impact on the town. The letter was written from prison, probably at Rome, 60–62 A.D. The recipients were the church at Ephesus, though there are hints it might have been a circular letter. Paul speaks with the authority of one who is sent, commissioned for a purpose.
“Paul includes a reference to his office, ‘an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God,’ rather than simply saying something like ‘Paul, to the saints in Ephesus, greetings’ (e.g., Acts 23:26) as one might expect. Yet this more formal tone is customary for Paul to reference his apostolate at the opening of his correspondence nine times (in Romans, 1–2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1–2 Timothy, and Titus).”
(S. M. Baugh, Ephesians, p. 56
Saints are those who are set apart to God. The term was used of Israel in the Old Testament, but came to describe the church in the New. It indicates both continuity with the community of the old covenant, and the distinctiveness of the New Testament Church. Paul uses the term about 100 times of the 150+ occurrences in the New Testament. He uses it repeatedly in this letter. As this letter makes clear, the term describes those who rest on the grace of God in Christ. It is not a position earned or deserved. It describes you.
Because you are saints, be faithful. Paul is not describing a second group, but rather reminding you of implications of being saints. There is some ambiguity in the term. It can refer to believers. But it also describes a commitment to someone. Don’t separate the concept of trust in the Savior from commitment to him. Paul is summoning you to trust in Jesus Christ. Resist any compromise with works salvation. But don’t let faith degenerate into mere intellectual assent. As Paul makes clear in this letter, who you are in Christ and how you live cannot be separated. Your sanctification is a crucial part of your life as a believer. It is distinguished from justification, but it is more than simply fruit and evidence of justification. As those who are united to Christ, you are becoming more like him, more fully what you will be in glory. You need to understand your identituy. As we will see in Genesis 1, God created mankind male and female. That is something objective. Westrn culture may tell you that your feelings trump that — you can be whatever you pick from the alphabet soup, and that is more important than how you were born. To be sure, in our broken, sin-cursed world, sometimes people are born with mixed up chromosenes, and we need to deal gently and compassinately with such. Further, we need to deal compassionately with those who have been told that they can change who they are. But we still need to affirm basic reality as God made it. A few months ago I reviewed a helpful book, Grounded in Grace: Helping Kids Build Their Identity in Christ, by Jonathan D. Holmes. That book may help parents in leading their children. The author points you to finding your identity, not in athletics, academics, or choosing something from the alphabet list, but rather understanding tht you are made in God’s image and are renewed and redeemed in Christ as you trust in him. Similarly, Paul is telling the Ephesians and you that you are a saint — and then he calls you to be what you are.
Yet for all this we see how St. Paul links these two things together in an inseparable bond, namely, that if we have the faith of the gospel, we must consequently give ourselves over entirely to our God and separate ourselves from the corruptions of the world, just as we have seen that in the Epistle to the Galatians [1:4; 4:5–7] he says that the coming into the world of our Lord Jesus Christ is in order that we should be sanctified by his blood, to yield obedience henceforth in all pureness to God his Father.
John Calvin, Sermons on the Epistle to the Ephesians, p. 14
So, live in the grace of God. Believe the gospel in one word. Paul takes the common salutation, “greetings” and changes it to “grace.” This is not simply a routine greeting. It contains profound theology. Grace is unmerited favor. We deserve judgment, but instead God has mercy on us. “Grace” is the gospel in a single word. God’s grace comes to you in the person of his Son. Nothing could be less deserved.
By God’s grace, you and God are at peace! Don’t be afraid of seeing God as both perfectly just and merciful and gracious at the same time. We need to be reconciled to God, but his holy anger against us as sinners needs to be satisfied. Reconciliation moves in both directions. Peace is first of all an objective state. The enmity between us and God has been replaced by, not a cease-fire, not a truce, but by complete peace.
No, you and I may not be super-Christians, the way that some people think of saints. But you do trust in Christ. You do belong to him. And thus you are saints. Live that way!