The gospels use the word “saint” only once, and “disciples” 268 times. Acts is 26-4 for “disciples”. After that, “saints” appears 56 times and “disciple” is never mentioned. What’s up with that?

First of all, let’s look at definitions. A disciple is a learner or pupil. A saint is different (from the world), holy or set apart. The internet mostly splits into two definitions for saint:

1. Anyone who’s a Christian (set apart by salvation)
2. Just the really good ones (set apart by their righteousness)

Neither of those in any way would explain the dramatic transition in wording over the course of the New Testament. (I’m using NASB this time, because NIV doesn’t use the word “saint”).

But what if believers are called saints (holy ones) when they have the Holy Spirit?

• the mystery which had been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles is, the mystery that is Christ in you, the hope of glory. – Col 1:26-27

OK, it might not totally work, but it would explain why they were always (except in one occurrence) disciples while Jesus was with them, and why they were always saints after the book of Acts. Then in Acts, there are some examples where believers didn’t have the Holy Spirit yet, so maybe that explains interchanging the words in that period of early church history.

And what if we’re called saints because we’re set apart for God’s work?

• to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. – Ro 1:7
• To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours – 1 Co 1:2
• To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ – Eph 3:8
• equipping of the saints for the work of ministry – Eph 4:12

Then together we would be God’s holy people (his “saints”), replacing the physical temple by being his body and taking on the role of priests in this world.

• But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. – 1 Pe 2:9
• you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood – 1 Pe 2:5
• Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? – 1 Co 3:16
• In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. – Eph 2:21-22
• To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father – Rev 1:5-6
• You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. – Rev 5:10

Maybe being a disciple/learner is a great way to start, and a foundational attitude to continue in, but maybe we need to think of ourselves more as fully equipped saints, called and set apart to be priests to the world. It seems that what the New Testament writers were trying to get across to the new believers in their contexts.