ON SAINTHOOD: Part 1 of 2

 

The Roman Catholic Qualifiers

There are numerous references to saints in the Bible as if they are plentiful. The Roman Catholics recognize more than 10,000 saints throughout history; some are even unnamed. If only 10,000 saints exist, then Paradise would indeed be sparse of living souls.

Just who is a saint in Roman Catholic vernacular?

“A saint is a holy person who is known for his or her “heroic sanctity” and who is thought to be in heaven” (Petruzzello 2024).

Therefore, there seem to be several criteria: 

1.      A Person that is

2.      Holy,

3.      Is known to the Roman Catholic Church and perhaps others.

4.      Is either a male or a female

5.      Who did something “heroic”

6.      that sets them apart (sanctified),

7.      and is thought to be in heaven. 

I will endeavor not to get technical, but heaven is not necessarily Paradise but in another realm which Luke saw as both Paradise (Abraham’s Bosom) and Hades.

Let’s assume that Catholics mean Paradise rather than Hell. There is no way to validate when people are in either Hell or Paradise.

To be a saint, in Catholicism in most instances, perhaps excluding Enoch and Elijah, the saint must have died. Paul’s “gain” (Phil 1:21) would be sainthood and indeed Paul is thought to be in Paradise. Paul fits the criteria very well for sainthood and he died a heroic death; he was decapitated, according to historians, for his faith in Jesus.

“Sanctification” is the setting apart; the Catholics define it as such: 

Sanctification takes place in justification. In justification, sins are forgiven and there is an infusion of sanctifying grace, whereby one is made just and holy; this is what it is to be sanctified. In this state of grace, one merits heaven. (Allen 2024)

 How is it known that a person is sanctified? Baptism, even infant baptism, sanctifies sinners in their doctrine, as well as in the doctrine of modern Churches of Christ.

“Confirmation” is the validation that the sanctified person was really sanctified and the event wherein they are sealed with the Holy Spirit and would thereafter serve the Lord. That service is a setting apart for the work of God.

Doctrine is often difficult to understand unless a person has been through catechism classes, so it is hoped that this doctrine is exact.

Doing something “heroic” requires it to be recognized. In the Catholic Church, they must recognize the thing that is heroic. Miracles and visions are heroic to the Catholics, and obviously dying for the Name, Jesus. Therefore, all the apostles were heroic and indeed they were set apart. Jesus himself sanctified them, so who could question Jesus?

Judas Iscariot was set apart for service by Jesus Himself. Jesus made no error. He too died under the auspices of Christ, even having a meal with Him, which it seems, that Jesus did not even eat with him.

Although he was an apostle, Judas fell away for the love of money, so he died. He could have become a “saint” based on dying while following Jesus. However, we find that he abandoned his first love (Jesus) in pursuit of avarice. He followed Satan to his death. Judas was set apart, but he set himself aside when Satan entered him. Although he repented of his sin against God, he did not follow Jesus all the Way to Calvary.

Judas acknowledged his guiltiness but endeavored to save himself from guilt by “crucifying” himself in much the same manner as Jesus was crucified. Because Judas repented was not enough; even his own crucifixion was not enough! Judas had to be set apart by Jesus. We find at the “Last Supper” that Judas, when he ate, set himself apart from Jesus by sopping the “Body” of Jesus into the “Blood” of Jesus (Mat 26:25-28).

The Church cannot decide who is a saint; only God can do that!

Catholics believe Judas, although he repented, was damned. Judas does not qualify as a saint, and rightfully so; for he did not endure to the end to be saved a saint (Mat 10:22).

The person “is holy,” not was holy! It does not matter the condition of the soul during the course of life, but its condition at the moment of death. Judas did not wait on Jesus to propitiate Holy Blood for him and to take on the sins of Judas. Judas endeavored to do that himself. However, if he would have waited just a few hours, Jesus would have finished for him what Judas had started.

Jesus consecrated Judas and set him apart to be an apostle. The psalmist long before Judas ever existed, sang of Judas and Jesus: “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me” (Psalm 41:9).

Judas, once a friend of Jesus, and who once had affection for Jesus, defected (apostasia; Heb 6:6) from Him. Once a saint, not necessarily always a saint! Few think that Judas is in heaven, but many forgive Judas and “preach” him into heavenly Paradise. Most Catholics have it right; Judas is in Hell because at death he had Satan in him; not Jesus.

Although there was “infusion of sanctifying grace” in the beginning, Judas traded the grace of Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. He sold the infusion of grace that Jesus had given him, for an infusion with the “blood” of Satan. He became the person of Satan for a short time, all the way until he died. (He became the Antichrist.)

Speaking to all the apostles, Jesus had explained to them, according to Luke, that although they had been baptized with water, they had not been baptized by the Holy Ghost (Acts 1:5). Jesus had told them not to leave Jerusalem until they had been baptized by the Holy Ghost (Acts 1:4). Judas was probably baptized along with the others. That was the way John would have set them apart for the word of Jesus. Jesus never baptized with water, he set apart by baptism with His Holy Ghost after he had died and ascended to heaven.

Judas left Jerusalem of his own volition before he died. He went to another realm his way, disregarding all that he had been taught. He became “God” as the Accuser warned Adam and Eve about themselves (Gen 3:5).

Water baptism did not make them Christians, but prepared the Way for Jesus to baptize them within (Mat 3:3). There are not three baptisms: the baptism of John, the baptism of Jesus by water, and baptism by the Spirit of God; but only one effective baptism (Ephes 4:5) — baptism of the Holy Ghost. Water baptism is preparation for spiritual baptism, cleaning the flesh in preparation for cleansing of the soul. With that said, water baptism today is preparation for baptism of the Holy Ghost and must come before spiritual baptism.

The “heroic” thing that the first Christian did to deserve Paradise is no thing. The Roman Catholics found a name for the repentant thief — Dismas — and rightfully called him a “saint.”  Since Dismus did nothing to be a saint, it makes sense that nobody needs to do anything. Dismus was nailed to the Cross, so he became a saint without a heroic deed.

What did he “do”? He thought that Jesus was God even before God revealed Himself in Jesus by separating Himself from the Person of God. His “heroic” deed was right thinking, not performing miracles and such.

Next, we shall look for scripture that defines sainthood.

Saint Helena