Sinner or saint?

I have a friend with whom I discuss faith often. I always get annoyed when he says, "I'm a sinner." If he had no faith in Christ, this would be true, but he is a believer. Those who believe in Christ are no longer sinners, but saints.

A sinner is someone whose nature is to sin. A sinner can still do good works, but he's still a sinner. When people give their lives to Christ and accept His salvation, they are given a new nature. They are no longer prone to sin, therefore they are no longer sinners. They still sin, but it's not in their nature. This sounds like heresy, but those who are Christ's have been crucified with Him. The old man is dead. When these "new creatures" sin, it is not because it is in their nature. It is because they fail to know their true identity as the offspring of God and live accordingly. This makes them vulnerable to resurrecting the old man who should be dead.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
- 2 Corinthians 5:17

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
- Galatians 2:20

And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
- Galatians 5:24

For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'
- Acts 17:28

Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. - Galatians 4:7

Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.
- Colossians 3:9-10

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
- Romans 6:4-7

We are a peculiar people, set apart as a royal priesthood. We are saints of the Most High. The only power the enemy can have over us is when we believe his lies about our identity.

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- 1 Peter 2:9

When we read that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), we may assume that this applies to everyone. After all, that is what the Bible says. Make no mistake. This is true. However, once we place our lives in the hands of Christ, we are no longer falling short of His glory. Once we are Christ's, we are part of His glorious body. A glory greater than any seen throughout history becomes attainable for us. Once we accept the atonement of Christ, we become saints. Old things have passed away, and all things have been made new. We have sinned and fallen short of God's glory, but we no longer have to fall short. The veil has been torn.

Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit;* for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
- 2 Corinthians 3:6-11