The Literature and History of New Testament Times

by J. Gresham Machen

(3) "Saints."—A third designation is "saints." This term is used as a title of the Christians in Acts 9:13,32,41; 26:10, and frequently in the epistles of Paul and in the Apocalypse. Its use in the New Testament is very different from some uses of it that appeared at a later time. The Roman Catholics, for example, employ the term as a title of honor for a number of persons carefully limited by the Church; Protestants often designate by it persons of exceptional purity or goodness. In the New Testament, on the contrary, the title "saints" is clearly applied to all Christians.

In the original Greek the word is exactly the same as a word meaning "holy"; it is simply the adjective "holy" used as a noun. "Saints," therefore, really means "holy persons." Unfortunately, however, the word "holy," as well as the word "saint" has undergone modifications of usage. "Holy," in the Bible, is not simply another word for "good" or "righteous," but expresses a somewhat different idea. It has the idea of "sacred" or "separate"—separate from the world. God is holy not merely because he is good, but because he is separate. Undoubtedly his goodness is one attribute—perhaps the chief attribute—that constitutes the separateness; but other attributes also have their place. His omnipotence and his infinitude, as well as his goodness, make him "holy."

The word "holy" or "saint" as applied to Christians has fundamentally the same meaning. Believers are "holy" because they are in communion with the holy God and therefore separate from the world. Undoubtedly the most obvious element in their separateness is their goodness; the moral implications of the term "holy" are sometimes so prominent that the specific meaning of the word seems obscured. But that specific meaning is probably never altogether lost. Christians are called "saints" because they are citizens, not of the present evil world, but of a heavenly kingdom.

The familiar word, thus interpreted, has a startling lesson for the modern Church. Can modern Christians be called "saints," in the New Testament sense? Are we really separate from the world? Are we really "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people" (A. V.)? Do we really feel ourselves to be strangers and pilgrims in the earth? Or are we rather salt that has lost its savor? Have we become merged in the life of the world?

(4) "Brethren."—A fourth designation is concerned, not with the relation of the believer to Christ or to the world, but with the relation of believers among themselves. That designation is "brethren." It is a very simple word; it requires little explanation; the rich meaning of it will be unfolded in the whole of this quarter's study.

(5) "Church."—After studying the New Testament terms that denote the disciples of Jesus individually, it will now be well to turn for a moment to the chief designation of the body of disciples considered as a unit. That designation is "church," or in the Greek form, "ecclesia."

The word "ecclesia" is in itself a very simple term indeed. It is derived from the verb "call" and the preposition "out." An "ecclesia" is a body of persons called out from their houses to a common meeting place, in short it is simply an "assembly," and an assembly of any kind. This simple use of the word is found in Acts 19:32,39,41; the Greek word which is there translated "assembly" is exactly the same word as that which is elsewhere translated "church."

Even before New Testament times, however, the word had begun to be used in a special, religious sense. Here, as so often, the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament prepared the way for New Testament usage. In the Septuagint the word "ecclesia" was used to denote the solemn assembly of the people of Israel. That assembly was of course religious as well as political; for Israel was a theocratic nation. Hence it was no abrupt transition from previous usage when the New Testament writers selected the word "ecclesia" to denote the Christian congregation.

In the New Testament, the word is used in various ways. In the first place, it designates the body of Christians who lived in any particular place. So, for example, the epistles of Paul are addressed to individual "churches." In the second place, however, the word designates the whole body of Christians throughout the world. This usage is prominent in the Epistle to the Ephesians, but it also appears even in the Gospels, in the memorable words of Jesus at Cæsarea Philippi. Matt. 16:18. It is a wonderfully grand conception which is thus disclosed by the familiar word. "The Church" is a chosen people, ruled by the Lord himself, a mighty army, engaged, not in earthly warfare, but in a spiritual campaign of salvation and love.

(6) "The Kingdom of God."—One further conception requires at least a word. What is meant by "the kingdom of God"? This conception is evidently related to the conception of "the Church," but the two are not identical. The kingdom of God is simply that place or that condition where God rules. As the kingdom of Cæsar was the territory over which Cæsar held sway, so the kingdom of God is the realm where God's will is done. In one sense, of course, the kingdom of God embraces the whole universe, for nothing is beyond the reach of God's power. But in the New Testament the term is used in a far deeper sense; it is used to denote the realm where God's will is done, not of necessity, but by willing submission. Wherever human hearts and wills are in true accord with the will of God, there the "kingdom" has come.