What is a saint? In the Roman Catholic church or other traditions, such as the Russian or Greek Orthodox churches, saints are hallowed individuals who serve as exemplary models of holiness, workers of miracles, or intercessors who in their glorified state pray for sinners on earth. Liturgical calendars are filled with feast days, masses, vigils, and festivals for these “saints.” Their relics are adored and kissed by pilgrims who hope to gain spiritual merit by such acts of devotion, and their images are displayed in order to point viewers to Heaven.

But the Bible does not use the word saint in any such way as previously described. A saint in the Biblical sense of the word is any and every Christian who has been “set apart” to God through saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer is a saint! We are all in the process of sanctification by the gracious work of God’s Holy Spirit as He transforms our lives by God’s powerful Word.

According to Scripture, “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). By the offering of the perfect blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we who are being sanctified are “perfected for ever.”

God is currently in the process of perfecting, that is, bringing “to a final form or making perfect,” His saints. Just as the Bible uses the word saint in a different way from the common usage, so also the Biblical word perfect is used in Scripture not to express sinless perfection, but rather to express spiritual maturity. God is completing us, making us mature, conforming us to His image. This is perfection as God defines it. Perfection is assured, and it is promised. But our perfection is not yet fulfilled and will not be until we meet our Lord face-to-face. Let’s consider some verses from the New Testament epistles that describe God’s work of perfecting His saints.

We are not yet fully perfect

On this side of the grave, we cannot experience full perfection. God is still at work in the life of each one of His saints. Even the Apostle Paul, for all his spiritual maturity and status as a leader in the early Church, was still in the process of being perfected by the grace of God. Paul testified to the Philippian believers, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12).

Christ apprehended Paul on the road to Damascus for the purpose of perfecting him, bringing him along to maturity in the faith. Paul was not “there” yet, but he was certainly pursuing spiritual maturity as his ultimate life objective.

We cannot be perfected by human effort

Paul rebuked the Galatian believers with this rhetorical question in Galatians 3:3: “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” We are born again by the Spirit of God. How is it then that so many Christians, in the early Church as well as in the modern era, are endeavoring to “perfect themselves” by human effort? The Law cannot bring us to maturity! Conformity to rules and regulations cannot mature us. Fasting, prayer, Scripture memory, Bible reading, meditation, and other spiritual disciplines cannot sanctify a man apart from the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

If the Spirit is active in justification, He is also active in sanctification. Only as we are dependent upon Him by faith are we brought along toward spiritual maturity.

Jesus Christ is the standard of perfection

Our human nature compels us to compare our own spiritual maturity with that of others. But the Bible tells us that when we compare ourselves with others, we “are not wise” (II Corinthians 10:12).

In stark contrast, Paul encouraged the Ephesian believers to make Christ Jesus the standard of perfection. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). Christ’s maturity is our standard and our goal. His example is our pattern. His life is our guide. Following Him, we will not go astray.

Suffering is a vital part of the process of perfection

As our Lord sanctifies us and leads us along toward spiritual maturity, He uses suffering to accomplish this Divine work in our hearts. The Apostle Peter wrote these words near the end of his first epistle as a word of encouragement to persecuted believers, “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you” (I Peter 5:10). Perfection can only be attained one way—God’s way. Suffering is His primary tool in this ongoing process.

Have you ever chafed under suffering, wondering why God has allowed it in your life and when will it ever end? Take heart, for God is at work in you! This work of the Lord is the necessary process for the perfection of His saints.

Perfection requires patience

James wrote, “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:4). The work of sanctification will only be finished when God calls us home into His presence. Until then, be patient!

God is not finished with you yet. What He has begun, He surely will complete. A perfect God will thoroughly accomplish your spiritual maturity because it is tied to His Own attribute. Christ’s perfect redemption has assured the complete perfection of His saints. “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).