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her purple dye business in Acts 16. There’s a lot that goes into receiving the title of Saint, not the
least of which is that the person needs to be deceased. So Paul is obviously using the word in a
different way here. Let’s head again to the BLB and find out what he means.
Open up the Interlinear/Concordance section of Philippians 1:1. What does this word saints (γιος
hágios; pronounced hag'-ee-os) mean?
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Notice his wording in a portion of Paul’s greeting to the church in Rome.
…through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of
faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to
belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be
saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans
1:5-7, ESV, emphasis mine)
Using what we’ve learned from the expanded definition of saints (γιος hágios; pronounced hag'ee-os), how would you describe them (us)?
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HISTORY LESSON
In the early church, the title of saints (γιος hágios ) was essentially used in the same way the term
Christian is today. But did you know Christian was initially a mocking term?
So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him
to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.
And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. (Acts 11:25-26)
Antioch was a melting pot, referred to as “all the world in one city.” Antochians saw the various
Jewish sects as one large group, but the people who followed Jesus were different: suddenly Jews
and Gentiles were coming together as one people. A different name was needed, and so the
Antochians coined the term little Christs, or Christian. This verse in Acts is the first time we read
the word Christian (Χριστιανς Christianós; pronounced khris-tee-an-os) in the Bible. Originally
the term was used derogatorily of Jesus-followers, but the early church claimed the term, happily
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