Saint West

Dr. James Emery White | Mecklenburg Community Church | Published: Dec 09, 2015

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have another child, and they have given it a not-unexpected unique name.

“Saint West.”

Without a doubt, people can become “saints.”  But its significance cannot be bestowed by a parent. 

If you are in a relationship with Christ as your Forgiver and Leader – if you have crossed that line – you have been declared positionally, by God, to be a saint. That's how God views you, that's who He has declared you to be, that's who you are.

The word itself means "Those who are set apart," meaning someone who is no longer part of a world of sin. Someone who no longer has sin staining them, stenching them, attaching itself to them. In declaring you a saint God is in essence saying, “You are no longer what you were, or who you were. Whatever you have done, however you have lived, will not be the final word, much less the defining reality of your life.”

But there’s more to the identity that awaits us in Christ than merely being declared a saint by God positionally through forgiveness. He also wants to develop us into saints functionally. When you become a Christian, God has a very clear agenda for your life. It’s to take your life, and have you become the person He has declared you to be.  

So I congratulate Kanye and Kim on the birth of their baby boy.

My prayer is that he becomes his name.

James Emery White
 

About the Author

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, The Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated, is available on Amazon. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church and Culture blog, visit ChurchAndCulture.org, where you can view past blogs in our archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the world. Follow Dr. White on twitter @JamesEmeryWhite.