You Must Be Complete

[Jonaitis]

"You, therefore, must be complete, as your heavenly Father is complete."
– Matthew 5:48

Matthew 5:43-48 is an expounding of the Second Greatest Commandment by our Lord. It is the Christian's duty to love all men, not some; to pray for all men, not for some. Our service in this world is not only to the Church. We are not called to be incomplete (or imperfect), but rather to be impartial in our goodwill toward all men, just as He is impartial in His goodwill toward all men, for, "He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (v. 45). He does not show His common grace in an incomplete manner, so neither shall we. We must be imitators of Him.

It seems pretty self-explanatory, so is there anything else we can learn from this passage?

 

[Blade]

God is ultimately loving and good. Were to be fully-grown, fully developed, mature and compleate in you love. So for us perfection means living a Christlike life and pressing on always aspiriing to a goal that is still ahead. Blah blah blah perfect.

 

[Jonaitis]

God is ultimately loving and good. Were to be fully-grown, fully developed, mature and compleate in you love. So for us perfection means living a Christlike life and pressing on always aspiriing to a goal that is still ahead. Blah blah blah perfect.

Well, no one is fully developed or mature, but that doesn't take away from the fact that we can be complete in our love for one another. Don't you agree?

 

[Clare73]

Matthew 5:43-48 is an expounding of the Second Greatest Commandment by our Lord. It is the Christian's duty to love all men, not some; to pray for all men, not for some. Our service in this world is not only to the Church. We are not called to be incomplete (or imperfect), but rather to be impartial in our goodwill toward all men, just as He is impartial in His goodwill toward all men, for, "He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (v. 45). He does not show His common grace in an incomplete manner, so neither shall we. We must be imitators of Him.

It seems pretty self-explanatory, so is there anything else we can learn from this passage?

We shall be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Eph 3:19, Col 2:10).

Prayer is the supreme mark of affection.

We are to imitate God's highest perfections (Lk 6:35-36, Col 3:14).