Saints (6)
in Isaiah, the people of God cry out: "You, God, are our Father. Though Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel does not know us; You, O Lord, are our Father, and our Redeemer." Isa 63.16 iv.212 If, then, the patriarchs — so studious and careful for their people — did not know what they did, which of the saints (I ask you) would we grant or point out, who knows what we do, and intermeddles with the affairs of the living?
Heinrich Bullinger
The Decades, https://www.monergism.com/decades-ebook As for the "heavenly patrons," as these men call them, they neither know the thoughts of men; nor is their power spread throughout the heaven, the earth, and the seas; nor do they know all things; nor yet are they everywhere present, or omnipotent. For if it were so with them, then they would be transformed and changed into a divine nature, and would cease to be creatures anymore. But although they enjoy everlasting blessedness by Christ, yet notwithstanding, they remain creatures still; nor do they know all things, nor are they almighty. And therefore they are to be called upon at no one's hand. The Decades, https://www.monergism.com/decades-ebook
it is most certain that it belongs to God only to give good things, and to turn away evil things. It consequently follows that God only and alone must be called upon. For if those patrons who are called upon as helpers and succourers, are able either to give those things that are good, or to turn away those things that are evil, then certainly there is not one God only; for those would likewise be gods. But they are not gods, because there is but one GodThe Decades, https://www.monergism.com/decades-ebook
Eminent saints have usually been produced where the environment was opposed to truth and godliness.
Some rude and rough stones were taken out of Nero's palace; some that were servants to the most abominable tyrant, and the greatest monster of mankind; one that set Rome on fire, and played on his harp while the flames were crackling about the city; ripped up his mother's belly to see the place where he lay; would any of the civiller sort of mankind be attendants upon such a devil? Yet some of this monster's servants became saints. Phil. 4:22. "All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household." To hear of saints in Nero's family, is as great a prodigy as to hear of saints in hell.
The term hagios taps into an important Old Testament tradition, according to which Israel was called out from among the nations to be God's own people (see esp. Exod. 19:6; Dan. 7:18, 22, 25, 27). Some of the modern translations seek to capture this nuance by translating God's holy people (TNIV; NLT) instead of the traditional "saints." As Moule remarks, "Â 'Saint' is, to modern ears, misleading, for the Hebrew and Greek words are concerned less with any excellence of character (however much that may be implied as a result) than with the commitments and loyalties of the Church to the God who had made her his own."Moo, D. J. (2008). The letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (p. 78). Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.
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