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Matthew 5:48
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
1John 3:8
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Now this sure looks confusing doesnt it? How can we be perfect like God? Those who sin are of the devil? Yet we read that all have sin. Anyone who says they havent sin is a liar we are taught in the scriptures. Mans heart is evil continually the scriptures teach us.
Job 1:1
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Job was perfect?
Job 9:20
If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
He didnt think so. So why did the scriptures say he was perfect?
Philippians 3: 12-15
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Paul was perfect?
Philippians 3: 12
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
He didnt think so. He was still striving to be perfect. Why would Paul, who admits to not being perfect, preach to those who were already perfect?
Perhaps the word perfect means other things as well as being without sin. The literal translation of the Greek word (τέλειος : teleios) used above is to be complete, as when you assemble something and all the parts are there and working; it is complete. Perhaps we need to examine each passage that exhorts the brethren to be perfect and see if it is talking about being without sin or perfect in another fashion.
Romans 4:3-5
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Acts 26:18
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Romans 5:1
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
We work to build ourselves up because we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our works do not save us, our faith does. Our faith makes us perfect in an imperfect body.
Romans 7:23-25
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
As long as we are in this flesh this war will continue. We live for the hope that we can fight the good fight and obtain the promise when Jesus returns and makes all things new.
1 Corinthians 15:51-53
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
When Christ returns for His bride then shall our flesh be changed. In the meantime, on earth in our sinful flesh, we have the Holy Spirit that makes us perfect in the eyes of the Lord.
Romans 8:9
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
What do you believe it means to be perfect?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
1John 3:8
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Now this sure looks confusing doesnt it? How can we be perfect like God? Those who sin are of the devil? Yet we read that all have sin. Anyone who says they havent sin is a liar we are taught in the scriptures. Mans heart is evil continually the scriptures teach us.
Job 1:1
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Job was perfect?
Job 9:20
If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
He didnt think so. So why did the scriptures say he was perfect?
Philippians 3: 12-15
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Paul was perfect?
Philippians 3: 12
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
He didnt think so. He was still striving to be perfect. Why would Paul, who admits to not being perfect, preach to those who were already perfect?
Perhaps the word perfect means other things as well as being without sin. The literal translation of the Greek word (τέλειος : teleios) used above is to be complete, as when you assemble something and all the parts are there and working; it is complete. Perhaps we need to examine each passage that exhorts the brethren to be perfect and see if it is talking about being without sin or perfect in another fashion.
Romans 4:3-5
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Acts 26:18
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Romans 5:1
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
We work to build ourselves up because we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our works do not save us, our faith does. Our faith makes us perfect in an imperfect body.
Romans 7:23-25
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
As long as we are in this flesh this war will continue. We live for the hope that we can fight the good fight and obtain the promise when Jesus returns and makes all things new.
1 Corinthians 15:51-53
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
When Christ returns for His bride then shall our flesh be changed. In the meantime, on earth in our sinful flesh, we have the Holy Spirit that makes us perfect in the eyes of the Lord.
Romans 8:9
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
What do you believe it means to be perfect?