The Weekly Perspective
by Joe Thacker, Pastor
The word “saints”, which means “holy ones,” is simply a term to describe Christians. The apostle Paul in the opening of his first letter to the Corinthians, writes:
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.
So the term is not referring to just a select few, or Christians who have reached a “celebrity” status within the church. No, it is a day about all believers, all the faithful since Adam and Eve. To be sure, there are some high profile names among the saints – even as Hebrews 11 indicates – but not to the exclusion of all who are in Christ. All Saints’ is a catholic celebration (catholic meaning “universal”), and it is quite appropriate, having celebrated the Reformation specifically one week, to celebrate the universal church the next. When we celebrate the Reformation, what are we doing? We are remembering Christians that have gone before us, those whom the Lord has used for the sake of His Church and Kingdom upon the earth. That is not an unbiblical thing to do. In fact, the Bible calls us to remember time and time again, and one of the things that caused problems for God’s people more often than not was when they forgot.