Saints, that we are, if in Christ

Much has been made about saints, and certain people being holy. Let's define this a little better. “Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household.” (Philippians 4:21-22) These are living breathing people, not having died yet, simply living holy lives. The apostle Paul typically began and ended most of his church epistles with greetings to and from “the saints.” The context in each case shows that this term was applied to all those who were “in Christ Jesus”—that is, all true Christians. The Greek word hagios meant essentially those people or things that are set aside or consecrated to the Lord. It is frequently translated “holy” and can be applied to objects dedicated to the Lord, as in Hebrews 9:24 (“holy places made with hands”). Paul even identified some as teaching the saints, 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4) Since the sole biblical criterion to be classed as “His saints” is “them that believe,” that includes us! That being the case, should we not be zealous to see that our lives are such as “becometh saints?” (Ephesians 5:3) I have asked many people this question, are you holy? Usually posed to Christians, most don't feel like they are. I understand that, because none of us are worthy! Christ alone is worthy! But understand this, if Christ is in you, He cannot be anywhere that is not holy, so He had to make you holy, and He did! It is Christ's work on the cross that made you holy, not something you have done, it's by grace through faith that we've been saved, not of works, because then we could boast it was something we've done! (James 5) So, you are holy, not being made holy, but are, if you are in Christ! So. Go and be holy, be set apart be His!