hagios

Semantic range

1. 1consecrated to God, set apart from common use
2. 2morally pure
3. 3as a noun in the plural: hoi hagioi, the saints

The Greek counterpart of qādôš, and it means the same thing: separated to God. When Paul addresses "the saints which are at Ephesus," he is not writing to the exceptionally pious; he is writing to the baptised, whose letters back to him reveal them to be very ordinary indeed.

That usage is behind the name The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (D&C 115:4). "Saints" identifies a covenant people in the last days, not a class of the canonised — a distinction worth making to anyone who finds the name presumptuous.

See also

• קָדוֹשׁqādôš
• ἐκκλησίαekklēsia
• δικαιόωdikaioō