Why Believers are Called Saints
W. Attersoll. Philemon 1:5 Hearing of your love and faith, which you have toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; 1. Because they are thereunto called and chosen in Christ, they are thereunto justified and redeemed by Christ. For we are chosen before the foundations of the world to be holy (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 7; Luke 1:68, 74, 75). 2. The servants of God must be saints, to the end there may be a conformity and likeness unto Him that hath had mercy upon us. It is requisite that there should be a resemblance between God and His people. God is holy, it is one of His names, He is called the Holy One; Christ is Holy, and He is called the Holy One of God; the Spirit is holy, and therefore is called the Holy Spirit. The Son beareth the image of His Father, and thereby is easily known whose Son He is. If we be the sons of God we must express His image in holiness and true righteousness (Leviticus 11:45; 1 Peter 1:14, 15). 3. The faithful are called by the name of saints, that there might be a difference between that which we have of ourselves, and that which we receive from God: between the old man and the new man; between our first birth and our second birth; between nature and grace. No man is a saint by nature, we have no holiness from ourselves, but we are strangers to it, and that is a stranger to us; nay, we are enemies to holiness who love nothing else but profaneness, and desire to be anything else than to be saints and holy. (W. Attersoll.) Parallel Verses KJV: Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; WEB: hearing of your love, and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints;