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| The Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls (Rome) |
The final section of Paul’s letter to the Philippians (Phil 4:21-23) contains some greetings:
“Greet every saint in Christ Jesus”
“The brethren with me greet you”
“All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s house”
This seems rather standard in a group letter: to send out vague greetings and blessings. But Paul is not satisfied with a normal “goodbye.” He adds religious language like “Jesus,” “saints,” and “brothers.” Is he trying to make his goodbye contain a more religious tone? Like the written form of what would now be an emoji with a halo on top of a happy face? Or is Paul trying to say something important here about God and the identity of his friends? If we look at the words Paul uses, that may help us know more of what he is getting at.
When talking about his Christian friends in Rome, several nameless, some who visit, and some who usually work there in what serves as Paul’s house arrest, Paul calls them “saints.” This word may be confusing, so let’s look back to where Paul got the word he used in Greek, “hagios.” One interesting place we find this word is in Paul’s Bible, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures known as the Septuagint.
Isaiah 6 is a well-known passage, where Isaiah sees a vision of God in his magnificence filling the temple, with heavenly beings flying and calling out: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.” Isaiah is overwhelmed with the glory and responds in worship, submission, and awe.
Paul’s Greek Bible uses the word “hagios” for “holy” in Isaiah 6. The word that describes that amazing, set-apart, pure, refined, perfect, incomprehensible, overwhelming, infinitely good nature of God. And when Paul describes his friends, he uses that same word: hagios. Your Bible probably is similar to mine, and translates it “saint.” But don’t be fooled, this is not something that someone grew into, something that these people tried really hard to achieve, or the like. This was something Paul knew in them, saw in them, realized in them. That God himself, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, by his Holy Spirit, entered these people, and Paul saw them as amazing, set-apart, pure, refined, perfect, incomprehensible, overwhelming, with that infinitely good nature of God. Despite their lowly state financially, emotionally, physically, morally, or otherwise, Paul called them holy with the angelic word that described God. He said, “The HOLIES greet you!”
On this All Saints Day, 2025 (All Holies Day?), let us remember the amazing gift we have in ourselves and in each other, all those who have faith in Jesus. The Holy of God that He chose to put in us when he sent his son to this world. May we see this today and every day.
