Throughout the scriptures that God has given to us we find that we are continually challenged to not only to read His word but also to decipher it. We are called to study and divide the word of truth. This is why we find Paul encouraging Timothy (2nd Timothy 3:15) by stating, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." This is a requirement for us as teachers, pastors, and yes even believers to study God's word. But the key to this verse is not just the studying aspect but also to divide the word of truth. The word divide in the Greek means that we should divide or cut or separate. Dividing or separating reminds me of when I was in high school and we had to dissect a frog. The same is true for God's word. We must dissect it.

Understanding this we now want to look into a scripture that could very likely be misunderstood if not divided properly. In Colossians 1:2 it states,

"To the saints and the faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse..."

When we look at this word "saint" it would be helpful to view the meaning first. Saint in the Greek is Hagios which means to be holy, set apart, sanctified, consecrated. Its fundamental ideas are devotion to God, and sharing in God's purity and abstaining from the worlds defilement. In the very truest form of this definition we quickly see that being a saint does not merely mean that we separate ourselves from the world for a few hours on Sunday and call it a day. Rather, we see that being sanctified or being a saint is one that loves the Lord enough to be completely separate from the world. Now, let me clarify being separated from the world. That does not mean to be isolationists but rather not take part in the things that the world does such as smoking, drinking, clubs, and women just to name the obvious ones. A saint will have a desire and a passion to live for the Lord no matter what. Look at what 1st John 2:15 says regarding the love of the world.

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

When we look at "faithful brethren" we need to understand that this is Paul's description of the people. Yes, they were "saints" but they were also "faithful brethren." The people in Colosse, in which Paul was writing, were faithful. In fact, this reveals to us their human relationship. They were faithful. In the Greek this word reveals that they are trustworthy. In other words they would be the people that could be trusted or believed if they were to promise something. The description of them being "faithful brethren" just further clarifies who they are in Christ.

So we see that both the "saints" and the "faithful brethren" are referring to the same people. Paul is not writing to two different sets of people but rather one. This follows the common thread of the Bible, it is written to the believers.