“I believe in the communion of saints.”
This statement in the Apostles’ Creed affirms the existence of a fellowship, a partnership, a community of people set apart to God. Who are these people called “saints?”
In the common understanding, saints are thought of as exceptional, extraordinary spiritual heroes of the past. “Too good for the rest of us,” they are separate or aloof from ordinary people. They may have been recognized as unusually holy by a religious order. The word is sometimes used of the spirits of those who have died who are honored as examples to the living.
The way the New Testament uses the word is of believers in Jesus who have been made holy in the sight of God by his grace. They called are God’s people.
The communion of saints is not a collection of stained glass heroes from ancient history. They are not marble statues adorned with halos. In the Bible they are real people, with the same successes and failures, the same strengths and weaknesses, as the rest of us.
For example, the Corinthian Christians were called saints (1 Corinthians 1:1-3). But they were far from exemplary Christians. Paul’s letters to them were written to correct a long list of sins, faults, misunderstandings and conflicts in the church. Yet they were, Paul told them, saints in the sight of God. Saints are sinners who have been declared righteous by God’s grace.
The famous Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte was approached one day by a church member who told him, “Dr. Whyte, I just love being in your presence. You are so saintly!” He looked at her with a serious expression and replied, “Madam, if you could look into my soul, what you would see would make you want to spit in my face!” He had a profound sense of his own unworthiness. The word “saintly” should not be applied the way the woman was using it.
When I think of “the communion of saints,” I think of Hebrews 12:23. “You have come . . . to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven . . . to the spirits of righteous men made perfect.” These beautiful words describe some of the privileges of sainthood.
The true church is mentioned. This is the universal Body of Christ on earth. The names of those who are in Christ are inscribed permanently in heaven. Their names are recorded in heaven but they are not there yet. They are the redeemed all over the world from “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 12:9). These are the saints on earth with whom we have communion.
Then the verse looks heavenward to “the spirits of righteous men (and women) made perfect.” These are the saints who are already with the Lord. They are believers who have died. They are with Christ awaiting their resurrection bodies. They are said to be righteous. According to the Bible, the only way to be made righteous is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In his hymn “The Church’s One Foundation,” Samuel Stone wrote: “Yet she on earth hath union with God the three in one, / And mystic sweet communion with those whose race is run. / O happy ones, and holy, God grant us grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly / may dwell on high with thee.”
Here are biblical reasons to declare our belief in the communion of saints. All who are cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ (Hebrews 12:24), are declared righteous by God’s grace. Some saints are still here on earth as part of the true church. Others have died in faith and have gone to be with Christ.
A group of schoolchildren were touring an Orthodox church. They saw icons and statues. One of the children asked, “Who are the people in those paintings on the wall?” The priest answered kindly, “They are saints. Can you tell me what a saint is?” A child piped up, “Someone who has accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior.”
The child was right. One becomes a saint not by being canonized, but by being in Christ. Have you ever met a saint? I know many of them personally.
Pastor Randy Faulkner
