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A saint is someone who is considered to be holy. The Roman Catholic church has given the honor of sainthood to many people over the centuries. They base that honor on what the person has done in their earthly life, their good works and on evidence of a strong faith and close relationship with God. But even those “saints” are still sinful people. They still made mistakes and didn’t honor God 100% with their thoughts, words, and deeds - just like you and me. There are no true saints on this earth based on the fact that all of us mess up and do things that go against God’s commands to us.

Back in the 1500’s, the theologian Martin Luther had a saying: “simul justus et peccator,” which translates to simultaneously being a saint and a sinner. When I heard that phrase as a young teenager, I was really puzzled by it. A saint is a person who is completely good and perfect and doesn’t sin, so how could a person be both a saint and a sinner at the same time? My logical brain said that didn’t make any sense!

But when God is involved, anything is possible. Every person on earth is a sinner (Romans 3:23). Every person on earth also has the opportunity to be a saint, since Jesus is the sacrifice that has given us all the opportunity to be redeemed. Go read all of Romans 7 for more on why this is possible, but as a summary here are verses 21-23:

“So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.”

The question is, which one are you living your life more like - a saint or a sinner? Are you living each day breaking all of God’s rules even when you know better? Are you testing the limits and seeing how much you can get away with before you get punished? Or, are you trying your hardest to follow Jesus’ example and live as true to His example as you can? None of us can do that perfectly, but with the help of the Holy Spirit we can truly strive for it. We can be “simul justus et peccator” - simultaneously a saint and a sinner.