I have always wondered about the verse in Matthew 5:48, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”. How can I be perfect? We read in Ecclesiastes 7:20 “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins”. That is me, I follow Jesus, but I am not perfect, I still have “little foxes” that I deal with. Yes, we are made perfect through the blood of Christ, but we are still maturing as we walk along “the way”.
This brings to mind the verse in 2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth”. We are at a disadvantage when we study the scriptures, since it was given to us in Greek and there are many different translations. That is not a bad thing, it just means that we have to be more diligent and “handle accurately the Word of truth”. For me it means studying the Bible, looking at different translations and try to understand Greek words. This is very helpful in understanding what the Bible says. When one looks at the Greek word for “perfect”, the eyes of our understanding will be opened a little.
The call to “be perfect” is a directive that follows Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, where He outlines the attitudes and behaviors expected of His followers. The Greek word for “perfect” is “teleios,” which implies completeness or maturity rather than flawlessness. This phrase suggests a call to spiritual maturity and moral integrity. In the context of the Sermon, it follows teachings on love, forgiveness, and righteousness, indicating that perfection involves embodying these virtues fully. The use of “therefore” connects this command to the preceding verses, which emphasize loving one’s enemies and praying for those who persecute you, suggesting that perfection(maturity) is linked to love and mercy.
So when we read that we are to be “perfect”, it means we are to be “mature” in Christ. We are told in Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil”. Also in Ephesians 4:-16 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love”. We are to grow to be a “mature man” in Christ.
There is much to say about being a “babe” in Christ vs being “mature” in Christ. Paul, in all of his letters addresses this problem. In 1 Corinthians 3:1 Paul says, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ”. I encourage you to study 1 Corinthians.
Let us “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”.
Niels Prip - Blog 