Philippians 4:21

Give greetings to all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers with me here send greetings.

Who are saints? Are they a special category of Christians? No.

Saints are Christians, those who are identified with Jesus. Nobody gets to appoint or anoint saints; we are saints because we are in Christ. "Saint" means the set apart ones.

We should not think we are second-class citizens of the kingdom of God, lesser than some people. The word "saints" is a matter of identity rather than achievement. 

• It is not what you get at the end, but who you are at the beginning.
• It is not a decision made by a committee after research.
• It is who you are in Christ.
• It is not a trophy earned, but a position given.
• It is not a class of people that are higher than others, but rather who we are all in Christ.

That delineation is important so that we do not call unclean what God has called clean, according to a message from God to Peter in a trance (Acts 10:9-16).

Peter was told, "What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean!"

Peter was not to mislabel God’s label. He was told to line up with what God is saying, and not continue with his traditional classification of humans that he has had all his life, where Jews are the people of God, while others are exempted. 

Paul would flesh out that spiritual truth, saying that Christ has removed the dividing wall of hostility between the Jews (who may be regarded as near the kingdom) and the Gentiles (who may be regarded as far from the kingdom) and has brought both groups near through His blood (Ephesians 2:14).

The challenge comes when we begin to confuse the category of identity with the category of good works that earn commendation. 

While recognizing some people as examples to commend, we should not forget that what they did in their generation was made possible by the grace of God.

And even then, Paul said we should leave all judgment to the last day, because then God will reveal the hidden things of the heart.

So then, do not judge anything before the time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the motives of hearts. Then each will receive recognition from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)

Look at how Paul said he should be regarded:

One should think about us this way—as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. (1 Corinthians 4:1)

He did not say people should regard him as a saint - we are all saints. It is difficult to see the label of saint on some people who are dead and then look to the scriptures without being forced to choose between the tradition of men and the word of God. We should choose the word of God. But people might spend a lot of ink defending their position. But is it not simpler to just repent?

Maybe in times of ignorance, we have called some people saints, which, of course, means we have regarded ourselves not as saints, and call a lie what Jesus accomplished on the cross, which is made us all saints.

For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy. (Hebrews 10:14)

What I am saying is that we need to repent of taking a Biblical category and misconstruing it.

It is the same as Jesus saying the Pharisees nullify the word of God by their tradition.

he does not need to honor his father.’ You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition. (Matthew 15:6)

And when you know what happened in the Garden of Eden, where the serpent said the word of God was a lie, and put his own lie as the truth, we would understand the seriousness of the situation.

The point is that what we are called to do is to submit to the word of God.

What I am talking about might seem like an innocent thing, but until the flood came in the time of Noah, everyone thought things were fine. 

And Jesus calling out the tradition of the elders shows that God was not smiling at their constructions. Without Jesus, who is God calling it out, they might not otherwise know it was not good.

And sometimes people, by creating rules and placing others on a pedestal (like carving out a special category of people called saints), may be laying the foundation for themselves to be placed there. Like lawmakers carving out an exemption for an industry they would later join.

Jesus warned against seeking the honor that comes from men, rather than the honor that comes from God.

How can you believe, if you accept praise from one another and don’t seek the praise that comes from the only God? (John 5:44)

But we cross a line from honoring someone to deifying them. We abuse their memory by placing them in God's place and praying to them or through them. We give to a creature the glory that should go to God. That is not good. We need to repent if we do that. 

In a way, we are making them Lord of the things we are praying to them about, putting them in the place of Christ. We have moved from the sincerity of devotion to Christ. That is not good.

But I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his treachery, your minds may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

That it was being compared to the serpent deceiving Eve means it is subtle and appealing, and maybe even makes sense.

If we do these things, we should repent.