I've heard many people say that they obey God's Law, but also say, "not perfectly".
Is there such a thing as imperfect obedience?
Is imperfect obedience, obedience?
I say no. Where I come from, we call it, disobedience.
The law itself came with instructions for what to do when the people sinned, so perfect obedience was never the requirement. Repentance doesn't change the fact that we have already failed to have perfect obedience, so the fact that repentance has value demonstrates that we don't need to have perfect obedience.
In Deuteronomy 30:11-20, it says that God's law is not too difficult to obey and that obedience brings life and a blessing while disobedience brings death and a curse, so choose life! So it was presented as a possibility and a choice, not as the need for perfect obedience. Thinking that we need to have perfect obedience is making God out to be an unloving Father who essentially gave the law in order to curse His children when in reality the law was given for our own good in order to bless us (Deuteronomy 6:24, 10:12-13).
In Deuteronomy 11:26-32, the difference between being under God's blessing or His curse is about picking a mountain and climbing it, about choosing whether to follow God or to chase after other Gods, not about whether or not we have perfect obedience. While everyone in the OT sinned and fell short of perfect obedience, everyone being under God's curse does not reflect the reality of what is recorded about those who served God, just those who chased after other gods.
So yes, imperfect obedience does involve breaking the law, and when we become lawbreakers, then we need to repent and to return to obedience by faith, in accordance with he consistent message of the prophets up to and including Jesus. So the need to continue to practice repentance if we sin has always been key, not perfect obedience. God is trustworthy, so His law therefore is also trustworthy (Psalms 19:7, Nehemiah 9:13), so it can be relied upon to set us up for success, not for failure.