Identity

Birth Determines Identity

You can no more be a sinner saved by grace than you can be a married single person. The instant a single person marries, you might say that he “dies” as a single person and is “re-created” as a married person. Birth always determines identity. When you came into Christ, you instantly died as a sinner (Galatians 2:20). You were then reborn with a new identity; you are now a saint of God (Romans 1:7). As a saint, you are cleansed, and you now house the Holy Spirit of God in your new spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17; Romans 8:9). And let me caution you. God is not “playing like” you are now a saint when, in fact, you are a grubby wretch. A dramatic inner change transpired when you got saved. 

You are literally a saint, or God wouldn’t call you a saint 60 times after the cross. Paul addresses his epistles to “all the saints,” never to “all the sinners saved by grace.” We’re saints, gang!

Bill Gillham

What God Wishes Christians Knew about Christianity, Harvest House, 1998