Act 9:32 And it happened, passing through all, Peter also came down to the saints who lived at Lydda.

Act 9:40-41And putting them all out, Peter knelt down and prayed.And turning to the body he said, Tabitha, arise! And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand and lifted her up. And when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive.

Act 26:10which I also did in Jerusalem. And I shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests. And they being put to death, I cast a vote.

Act 8:1-3And Saul was consenting to his death. And in that day there was a great persecution on the church at Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men buried Stephen and made a great mourning over him.But Saul ravaged the church, entering into every house. And dragging men and women, he delivered them up to prison.

Rom 16:15 Greet Philologus and Julias, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints with them.

2 Co 1:1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to thechurch of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia.

2 Co 13: 13(meaning those of Philippi, from where the epistle was written) All the saints greet you.

Eph 1:1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus.

Php 1:1Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ,to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.

Php 4: 22 (meaning Rome)All the saints greet you, most of all those who are of Caesar's household.

Col 1:1-2Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse. Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and from theLord Jesus Christ.

Heb 13: 24 (meaning Italy)Greet all those leading you,and all the saints.Those (meaning here: the saints) from Italy greet you.

Yes, we can consider these epistles as applicable to us. They speak about and to all of us Christians.

Then we also have to take that term: “the saints”, as one of those saints.

Me a saint?

The first thought coming to my mind is that in the early days of Christianity the believers were really saints, consecrated and beautiful holy people. Not like me.What a love they had for one another; remember how they shared all things? And how faithful they were, and how gifted. We look back today to Paul’s teachings about the gifts of the Spirit, but they had them! And when persecuted, they would die singing…

Thoughts like these don't help me to consider myself as "a saint" , nevertheless, the same one writing to the Churches of those days as to the saints, also often speaks to them about their "un-saintly" behaviour. Paul recognized perfectly who he was dealing with, and several times he exhorted them, sometimes strongly.

A good list can be found in Colossians 3,5–8, and there is more of the same in other epistles.

Col 3:5-9Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness (which is idolatry), on account of which things' sake the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience,among whom you also once walked, when you lived in these.But now also put off all these things:anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, shameful speech out of your mouth. Lie not to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds.

How come, then, is it that Paul writes to the “saints”. What did he see that I don't see? There obviously is something I need to know about, if I am to get hold of it.

Allow me to be completely honest. Not being a vocationally religious person, religious things don’t ring a bell in me. So if somebody comes up and asks me if I want to be holy, as this article began, my answer would very possibly be:

“I don’t know, I’m not quite sure”.

Maybe because I don’t have a clear idea of what the full meaning of that “complicated” word “saint” is, as pronounced by the Apostle.