Thank you for this good question, my dear friend. My quick response to your question is “yes”. In 1 Timothy 1:15 we read the Apostle Paul’s inspired words, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” Paul was, I believe you’d agree, a true believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus he was indeed a saint. Yet he also described himself as a “chief sinner”. I believe that in order to understand why both the term sinner and saint would apply to a born again Christian, we’ll need to understand

  1. We are all sinners (Romans 3, specifically verse 23); and
  2. We need to understand the meaning of the term “saint” as used in the NT Scriptures.

As to this last, I will quote the Morrish Bible Dictionary to help us understand the word “saint”: “In the N.T. the word used is ἅγιος, which means ‘holy one.’ A saint is one set apart for God; he is such by calling…Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; cf. Hebrews 3:1. Saints are thus a distinct, recognized class of persons belonging to God — His saints. Acts 9:13; Colossians 1:26; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; Jude 14. All Christians are embraced in this class, so that the apostle could speak of ‘all saints.’ Ephesians 1:15, 3:18; Colossians 1:4; Philemon 5. Christians therefore need not shrink from acknowledging the designation by which God has been pleased to distinguish them and should ever remember that there is a line of conduct that ‘becometh saints.’”

My dear friend, that last statement: “…there is a line of conduct that ‘becometh saints” is very important to recognize. have you been born again? If so, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart, and you have a new nature, that which is from God and cannot sin. And yet, while on this earth, Christians also have the old nature dwelling in our flesh. Christians are therefore called to “crucify the flesh” and to walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4; Galatians 5:24, 25). Christians are called to walk a holy walk in this world. The power to walk a holy walk comes from the Holy Spirit who now dwells within us who believe.

Unfortunately, we do sin at times and thus are sinners because of that old man, the sin nature which will be with us until we get to heaven. We are all sinners indeed, but Christians are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and we are forgiven. The capacity to sin therefore remains in us while on earth, but because of our new nature and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we do not have to give into our sin nature. In 1 John 2:1 we read, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” You will note that the verse says, “if anyone sins”. We do have the power to walk a holy walk in this world through the Holy Spirit within us. Thus, we are called to walk in a manner worthy of our calling (Ephesians 4:1). John goes on in verses 6-9 to say, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked…. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

My dear friend, are you born again? If so, you are called to walk like a Christian, and the power to do so is within you by the Holy Spirit. If you are not saved as yet, please consider Acts 16:31, John 5:24, and Romans 10:9. John 1:12 says, “…as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name…”  (SF)  (725.6)