THE SAINTS: ARE THEY ONLY

THOSE THAT THE PAPACY

CANONIZES?
By Mario A Olcese

The Truth that the Bible Teaches

The way of selecting the saints of Catholicism is not found in any

part of the Bible. In fact, we will never find in the Bible the
apostle Peter canonizing any saint or deceased martyr. Contrary
to the Catholic belief of a holy minority, the Bible teaches that the
saints of the First Century were constituted by most of the
believers, for not saying all. The use of the words saint, sanctify,
sanctity, and sanctification, is also very common in the New
Testament and are applied to the living believers. The saints, for
example, refer directly to the believers in general: those baptized
and consecrated to Christ's cause without regard to their gender,
age, profession, or social class. All those that lived in purity of
character, and in moral and spiritual righteousness, according to
Christian doctrine, were called saints. They were not required or
asked to perform miracles or any supernatural acts such as
levitations, or to have the gift of bi-location or to present stigmata
in the body. Neither were they demanded to live in monasteries
or cloisters in a strict state of poverty and obligatory celibacy.
These Catholic demands cannot be found in any part of the Bible,
and especially, in the New Testament.

Married Saints

In the Bible we find that some of the apostles were married and
had a family, or home. Peter, for example, the supposed first Pope
of Rome, was married. The Bible tells us the following of Peter:
“Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s
mother lying sick with a fever” (Matthew 8:14 NKJV). And in 1
Corinthians 9:5 Paul asks as apostles and servants of God: “Do we
have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other
apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?”. This Cephas
was without a doubt the apostle Peter (John 1:42) of whom is said
that he had a own mother-in-law. Obviously Cephas or Peter was
married or perhaps a widower.

References to Other Saints in the New Testament

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We have seen that the holy apostles were married, and perhaps
more than one widower. Now we will also see that many of the
other believers — the apostles' disciples — were also living saints.
We will analyze a series of interesting passages that will
illuminate us on the matter of the Christian sanctity or Christians
being saints:

In 2 Corinthians 1:1 we read: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by

the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God
which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia
(¡not in heaven!)”. Notice that Paul greets the church of God in
Corinth, and all the saints that are in the city of Achaia (not in
heaven!). Here Paul equates the Church of God of Corinth with
the saints of Achaia. For him, the expressions: 'Church of God' and
'Saints' meant the same thing. Also, it is clear that those saints
were not few and they were all alive. Also II Corinthians 2, verses
5-11, we see Paul and the church forgiving a saint who had been
an offender. These would indicate that those saints were
imperfect, and some were subject to correction, as it had been the
case with Peter himself. In Ephesians 1:1, Paul addresses the
Ephesians with the following greeting: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus (¡not
in heaven!), and faithful in Christ Jesus”. Here we see again that
living believers in the church at Ephesus were saints and faithful.
These were not deceased saints that had been canonized by St.
Peter, the supposed first Roman Pope. Neither were they monks
or nuns of some religious order. These people were simply
converted sinners to the Christian faith, and they were surely
from both classes, married and single. Specially, take note of
Ephesians 5 verses 21-33. Here we see married saints that should
maintain their marriage's sanctity, that is to say, love and fidelity
among the couple, as well as Christ loved his church (His bride)
and was devoted to her.

In Philippians 1:1, Paul greets the believers of the city of Philippi,

in this way: “Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to
all the saints (Christians) in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi (¡not
in heaven!), with the bishops and deacons (The leaders)”. Here
we see that the Christians were saints, the so called “secular” or
“lay” members of the Catholicism. But take note that also here all
are saints in life or living saints that have not been canonized by
Peter, the supposed first Roman Pope.

In Colossians 1:1 ,2, Paul addresses the brethren of Colosse in this

way: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and
Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ

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who are in Colosse (¡Not in heaven!): Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. In the same way,
take note that Paul addresses the saints and faithful brethren that
are in Colosse, a Greek city. These saints were the same flock of
God (the congregation), composed of all the believers of that city.
Among these saints there were some that were servants and
slaves of free Christian believers. To these saints Paul tells them,
among other things: “Bondservants, obey in all things your
masters according to the flash…”. Notice again that these saints
didn't belong to any religious order, nor did they live in any
cloister. These saints equally worked as servants for believing
and unbelieving masters. These saints were actually servants, or
slaves. Paul refers to bondservants. Today, we have workers for
whom the same principles apply. This letter is also directed to the
believing couples, to whom the apostle writes: “Wives, submit to
your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your
wives and do not be bitter toward them. Children, obey your
parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord” (3:18-
20). As you can see, the concept of sanctity, or sainthood in the
New Testament is far from the concept of the saints of Roman
Catholicism.

In Jude 1 we read: “Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and

brother of James,
to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and
preserved in Jesus Christ”. This letter from Jude is to encourage
the saints to "contend earnestly for the faith" and (v.3) to "keep
yourselves in the love of God” (v.21). He is writing to saints so that
they don’t allow themselves to be influenced by the false teachers
who had infiltrated inside the flock of God. Without a doubt
Jude was aware of the danger that the saints of God could
encounter with false doctrines that were introduced into the
church of God. Now let us notice that Jude addresses "those who
are called", that are sanctified in God the Father. Well, these saints
were "called" by God, but how? Did these perhaps hear a celestial
voice as Paul heard once, personal and privately, in route to
Damascus? Not necessarily this way. The apostle Paul tells the
Thessalonians the following: “to which He called you by our
gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2
Tess. 2:14). Notice that potential saints are called when they hear
the gospel or message of Jesus Christ and they believe in it with
all their heart. If you hear Christ's gospel, then you are being
called by God to be a saint, and in this way to reach Jesus Christ
glory. The gospel is God’s power to transform men and women
and to make them real saints. Paul says it clearly with these
solemn words: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for

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the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16). And Jesus
tells his followers: “You are already clean because of the word
which I have spoken to you”. We see that because Christ's word
—His gospel— has the power to cleanse the sinner and to make
him a saint. Tragically millions of Catholics don't understand this
Biblical truth as it is presented.

Only the Saints will Be able to see God

The Bible teaches very clearly that only saints will be able to see
God. In Hebrew 12:14 we read: “Pursue peace with all people,
and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord”. Notice
that without the sanctity, holiness, or being a saint, no one will see
the Lord. That is; without sanctification, or holiness; that is, being
a saint, nobody will be saved. Regrettably the Catholic theology
on the topic of sainthood maintains that the saints are few (a
handful people) in relation to the total of their parishioners. This
simply means that the great majority of Catholics, are not saints,
and, therefore, won't be able to see God or to be saved. Millions
of deceased Catholics have not been made saints by the Papacy.
These will be deprived for all eternity of seeing God. This also
means that our devoted good Catholic friends— already deceased
— that didn't "reach" sainthood, are resting in the grave or in hell
and not in heaven in the presence of God. That tragic is the
matter! Millions of deceased Catholics that have not been
sanctified by the Papacy, will be deprived by the eternity of seeing
to God. This means that our devote good Catholic friends ---
already deceased --- that didn't "reach" the sanctity, are resting in
hell but not in heaven where God and His Son lives and reigns.

Now the truth of the matter is that saints will only be saved and
they will be able to live with the Lord God forever. Paul is
emphatic in this respect when, associating saints that is those who
are sanctified, salvation, and glory as he says: “But we are bound
to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the
Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation
through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, 14 to
which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Those that are called Christian, but
don't feel like saints, are lost, because if they are not saints, what
are they? The answer is only one: Dirty! See you what Paul says in
this respect: “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in
holiness” (1 Thess. 4:7). Notice that Paul is emphatic. If someone
is not a saint then that person is unclean. And what does the
Bible say of the unclean ones? Paul says: “For this you know,
that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an
idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God”

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(Ephesians 5:5). The problem arises in that Catholicism has
idealized the sanctity or sainthood, and has transformed it
practically into an unreachable level for most human beings. In
other words, it is believed in Catholicism that a saint is a pure,
perfect, impeccable, devote, good, chaste, celibate, healer, maker
of miracles and extraordinary phenomena and with stigmata in
the body, praying, poor, hermit, and things like these. But, from
where did the great majority of Catholics get this idea Have we
forgotten St. Peter, the supposed “first Roman Pope” who was a
saint since His conversion? Did he show his colleagues signs of
stigmata, levitation, and “bi-location”? We don’t have a single
case. Let us return to Peter again: don't we remember how Peter
hesitated and denied his Master three times? (John 13:38) Don't
we remember how Christ responded Peter: "Get behind me,
Satan!"? (Mark 8:33). Don't we remember how Paul had to
reprehend his colleague Peter for seeking to observe some Judaic
practices and to demand his fellow Christians to observe these?
(Gal. 2:11-14). But in spite of all these facts, Peter continued being
a saint of God. He was not exempt from errors. One could think
that in a moment Peter would give up his faith and that he would
not return to the road that had continued with Jesus. But in the
Acts of the Apostles we find a valiant, transformed, and
convinced Peter who strongly believed that Christ was the Son of
God, the King of Israel. He is found celebrating the first council in
Jerusalem, and making a strong defense of His Master in front of
many unbelieving Jews.

And as for the apostle Paul, didn't he say that "the good thing that he
should do he didn't do it, and the bad thing that he should not do he did?
(Rom. 7:15-25). Do we understand Paul's struggles, and his human
flaws as an imperfect man? Did he stop being a saint of God
because he was not completely perfect? Nevertheless, and in spite
of his mistakes, he himself demands us to imitate him so that we
can also be saints in our present life and win salvation (1
Corinthians 11:1). For Paul, it cannot be salvation without
sanctity, as I have already demonstrated above.

Christ's Church is Holy by nature

There are those who ignore that the church is composed of all
baptized believers, as is clear from Acts 2:38-42. It is, then,
completely false that the church is only composed of the so called
"clergy" ("the religious") of Roman Catholicism. Most Catholics
don't seem to understand that they, the so called "lay," are also
part of the church, because for that purpose they were baptized,
participating of the sacraments of their church. All those who are

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baptized are members of Christ's body, that is to say, members of
His church. Now the church is ordered to maintain its sanctity
with these words: “…just as Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the
washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to
himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any
other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:25-27). Well, if the
church is composed of all those baptized, and she should be holy,
then we conclude that all those baptized practitioners are saints.
It’s that simple!

To the Corinthians believers Paul says: “…for God's temple is

sacred, and you are that temple” (1 Cor. 3:17). And to the
Colossian believers Paul tells them: “Once you were alienated
from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil
behavior. 22But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical
body through death to present you holy in his sight, without
blemish and free from accusation” (Col. 1:21,22). Notice the
contrast: the saints do good works, versus the infidels that do bad
works. If a believer in Christ has renovated his mind to be held to
the will of God, he is transformed automatically into a saint. This
believer has been sanctified because he has put his faith in Christ,
and he has made his expiatory sacrifice in the cross, and he has
been baptized for the pardon of his sins. To the saints, Peter tells
them: “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires
you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who
called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be
holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:14,15). Notice that Peter is not
saying: "Aspire to be saints, so that I can beatify you and call
you saints when you die." No! What Peter exhorts is that all the
believers should be saints, opting to live a pious life so that they
can become true obedient children of God.

Each one of us becomes a saint when we don't conform to the

desires that we had in our ignorance and instead we live for the
cause and laws of Christ. That is the truth of the matter. Also,
Peter doesn't say that we should perform miracles, or that we
should be celibate, monks, hermits, poor, or have stigmata in the
body, or levitate to deserve sainthood. Neither does Peter says to
the believers that they will first die and then be canonized by him
or by any of his supposed successors. What he says is that the
believers should live now in sanctity and holiness as true children
of God. This is not a Christian option, but rather, an obligation or
demand for salvation. Peter wants the people of God be saints or
separated from the world in order to fulfill their saving and
evangelizing mission. The gospel is preached by example,
without a doubt.

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The Saints should Be Perfected

Many believe that first the believer should be perfected to be

named "saint" of the church. This is simply not true! The apostle
Paul writes something very interesting to the believers of
Ephesus. These are his words: “It was he who gave some to be
apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some
to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of
service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all
reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God
and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the
fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-13). If one examines well these three
verses, it will be seen that the saints could be perfected with the
help of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, bishops and teachers;
that is to say, not by the well called "clergy." These Christians, or
those called "laity" by Catholicism, are the saints mentioned by
Paul in this epistle to the Ephesians. Also in 2 Corinthians 7:1
Paul says: “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us
purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and
spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God”. It is clear that
the saints were far from being perfect, but they could be perfected
in the measure that they moved away from the carnal and
spiritual contamination. Notice that Paul doesn't say that to the
measure that the saints made miracles, levitation, or stigmatized
his body, they would be perfected. On the other hand, in the Bible
that strange division of "Clergy" and “Lay” of Catholicism doesn't
exist. On the contrary all believers are in fact part of the (Gr.
‘Kleron’) or Clergy.

Conclusion

The Christian, biblical Church, composed of all baptized believers,

is holy in its essence. That is to say, baptized believers are holy
because they have been sanctified by Jesus Christ, the Holy Head.
They are holy because they have given up the vain way of living
that they inherited of their parents to continue for a new one on
the way to rightness and truth. They are not extraordinary men
that have given up marriage, businesses, children, etc, to live as
gody hermits. They are rather common and average men, with
their defects and qualities that have decided to follow Christ's
principles and to apply them. Other requirements or demands
don't exist, as for example: to make miracles or supernatural
wonders, that is: to levitate or to present stigmata in the body.
These are rather married or single individuals: Farmers, peasants,
Managers, merchants, workers, servants, housewives, students of

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schools and universities, etc, that live in harmony with Christ and
for Christ.

To seek to make saints a sort of supernatural individuals, besides

puritan and godly, it is to twist the true concept of the biblical
sanctity. What is clear, according to the New Testament, is that
without holiness no one will see God; that is to say, no one will
survive (see Hebrews 12:14). The requirement to live with God is
the sanctity of life today. But as Catholicism has limited sainthood
to only an insignificant minority of their congregation, it would
mean that hopelessly the great majority of Catholic that have not
"reached" sainthood and the beatification, will be condemned to
never see God for all of eternity. And if they won't see to God—
whom will they see.
(Revised and corrected article)