Understanding how God makes a saint

One of the most interesting things about the King James Bible is how often one word from the Hebrew or Greek is translated using more than one English word. While many are critical of this and believe the same word in the original language must always be translated with the same English word, the text will not always permit this. Take the Greek word “mia,” for instance; of the 79 times it is found in the New Testament, 62 times it has been translated “one,” and rightfully so for it indicates a numeric value. However, in eight of those 79 it is translated “first,” seven of which refer to the first day of the week, Sunday. Though the English word “one” might be technically correct, doesn’t it seem obvious that the use of a different word actually makes what is being said much clearer? I think so.

The same thing is true when it comes to the English word “saint.” While saint is found in both Testaments of the Bible, we will content ourselves with its usage in the New Testament. Did you know that everywhere you find the word “saint” in the New Testament that it is translated from the same Greek word every time? Yes, indeed.

The word saint is found some 62 times in the King James, and each time it was translated from the Greek word “hagios.” However, like the word “mia” above, hagios has been translated into other English words.

Found some 229 times in the New Testament, the most common English word of translation for hagios is that of “holy.” In fact, of the 162 times it is translated holy, over 90 of these are in reference to the Holy Ghost.

While much could be said of the correlation between the words holy and saint, as twins birthed from the womb of hagios or the one being the attribute of the other, my greatest fascination is with the formation of hagios itself, and thus its relation to a saint.

The one thing about the study of words is that they are like trees: Trees have roots, trunks, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit. Likewise, related words are different parts of the same tree, and the word hagios comes from the word “hagos,” an awful thing.

How then does God make a saint? He begins with an awful thing. Just exactly what this awful thing is is not described in my Greek dictionary, but you don’t need a dictionary to find out just how awful the natural state of man is. In the book of Ephesians, Paul says that it is to be “dead in trespasses and sins.” In the book of Romans he says, “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In the book of Revelation John uses the word “wretched” to describe this awfulness even in relation to the average church just prior to Christ’s return.

God looked down upon the sea of humanity and saw that every man, woman, boy and girl were nothing but awful things running around, on their way to hell.

Secondly, God makes a saint by the addition of one iota to an awful thing. Look at hagos and hagios closely: The Greek letter iota corresponds to our letter “i”. This, my friends, is the addition of Jesus Christ to the life of anyone willing to repent of their sin and turn to him for salvation. The Bible says, “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

In making saints, God helps those who cannot help themselves. Romans 6 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Lastly, while it cannot be seen in the English, hagios is actually spelled agios in the Greek with hash marks over the “a” to indicate the rough breathing of our “h”. This puts the iota, in the very center of the word.

The significance is that if God has made you a saint, Christ is to be your very center. Your world is to be ruled by and revolve around your savior.

And to the degree that he does, you will be holy. The truth is that God does not make a saint so that he or she may continue living like an awful thing.

Ron Hamman is pastor of Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla; contact him at 357-4229 or ron.hamman@gci.net.