As a child in the 60’s, my experience in church was one of legalism and church community enforced behavioral standards. Live “right” and all would be well. Pushback against anything…even if, or especially if, your personal understanding of scripture happened to be a bit different, and it would NOT go so well with you. Whether this is a totally accurate picture or not, I do not know, because, as a child, my perceptions were still being formed. But my perceptions were based on how I experienced the church, and my experience was one, with a few very noted exceptions, of a church community that tended to be a bit harsh and unbending.
Conformity of thought and external behavior seemed to be valued above a personal heart relationship with Jesus. Scriptures were interpreted for you by the ordained pastor in charge of the church, and if there was any disagreement between he and his elders (and yes, in those days it was always a “he”) then we kids in the pew never knew about it. For us, the pastor and elders represented a formidable wall of moral judgement, seeking to decide who measured up and who didn’t. If one didn’t, it seemed they were often put away privately…that is, they simply vanished from our church community and were never spoken of again. I don’t know where they went.
As I grew, pressure mounted for me to conform. Baptismal classes at age 11 centered on following Jesus, but life in the church centered on conformity to community set standards. It was confusing. And if I, or one of my friends, began to stray a little, we were always admonished to “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect!” (Mt 5:48) And what I actually heard was- Be perfect-or Else! Be perfect or you won't make it to heaven. Be perfect or you are going to be lost eternally!
And while externally maintaining “good boy” exterior, I began engaging in a full-scale rebellion of the heart- a double life, so to speak. I was doing the things externally that I needed to do to not become an outcast at church, yet exploring the darker side of life in private and with some of my closest friends who felt the same way I do.
A few years of that and I was exhausted with the dual roles I was trying to play. I had to decide which way I was going to go. A guest speaker at our Academy Bible Conference came and presented such a compelling picture of Jesus, devoid of the legalism and perfectionism, that I was overwhelmed that such could be the case. I had a wrestling time with God and slowly the Holy Spirit broke over me with a conviction that God was not calling me to wrestle sin by myself and that I didn’t need to conform to what everyone else thought.
I relented and chose to follow THAT Jesus rather than the one of my childhood. But over and over again, through my academy and later my college years, I continued to encounter people who would bring up the “Be ye perfect…” text.
As I studied to enter the ministry, I began learning about contexts and original meanings in the Greek and the setting, etc. and how important those are to understanding scripture. I began seeing that a simple reading and deducing of scripture from the King James (or any other English Translation) wasn’t enough to always be accurate to what scripture intended, because the meanings of words change the further away from the original you get. (Think the old game of “telephone” or “gossip” or whatever you called it. Much meaning gets lost in translating what you think the other person said.)
So I began studying Matthew 5:48 from that perspective, and in fact, that changed my whole understanding of the passage and the meaning. What I found, first, is that it is NOT a stand-alone verse. If I consider the context, it is found in the middle of what we have called “The Sermon on the Mount”. (See Mt 5-Mt 7). It is simply one thought in the middle of a discourse that is much longer and much more involved that mere perfectionism.
So let’s look at context first, then we will take a look at the original word and meaning in the Greek to see if we can come to a more complete understanding: I would suggest reading all of Mathew chapters 5-7 to fully get the entire context. But let’s start in Chapter 5.
Matthew 5, Jesus is teaching His disciples…(and the crowds that began to gather) about what it meant to be a follower of God. Don’t pull the text out of its original context.
Vs 3-12 are listed what we have come to call the Beatitudes.
Then He tells the disciples v. 13 YOU are the Salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it isn’t salty?
V14 YOU are the light of the world…and light is to be logically shared in the midst of darkness.
v.17 DON’T misunderstand why I have come. Not to abolish the law of Moses but to accomplish their purpose. What was their purpose? To point forward to a coming Messiah who would save the world from their sins as first promised in Gen. 3:15.
Then He comes to a hinge point moment. He suddenly flips the script on them and ups the ante. It isn’t about keeping the law of Moses. It’s about raising the bar. v 20. Unless your righteousness is better than that of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom.
WHAT??? These were the professional religious people! They spent ALL DAY EVERY DAY seeking to live out the law of Moses…at least externally. The rest of us don’t have time for that. We have to make an honest living. But Jesus isn’t done yet.
V21-48 He raises the bar so hopelessly high that most may have despaired. He begins a series I have termed: The Law Says…But I Say. It’s a teaching of taking what they considered to be the route to be saved and what they considered the minimums of religion and showing them how hopeless they actually were at being able to live them out.
Jesus is giving them a list of things that they have believed for centuries and then raising the bar.
V 21 Law says: Don’t murder. I say…if you are even angry with someone you are subject to judgement. If you call someone an idiot or your curse them, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
V27: Law says: Don’t commit adultery. I say…if you even look at a woman with lust, you’ve already committed adultery with her in your heart.
V.31. Law says: A man can divorce his wife by simply giving her a written notice. I say…if you divorce, unless there is unfaithfulness involved, you cause her to commit adultery and if you marry a divorced woman you also commit adultery.
v.33. Law says: You must not break your vows to the Lord. But I say…don’t even make vows by heaven, earth or Jerusalem, because you have to power to keep them. Simply say yes or no and leave it.
V 38 Law says. Eye for eye. I say..if they slap the right side turn the other cheek
v 40 Law says: If sued for your shirt…I say…give them your coat too.
V 41 Law says: If a soldier demands you carry his gear for a mile… I say…carry it 2.
42 Give to those who ask…don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.
43 Law says Love your neighbor and hate your enemy… I say…Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. You will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.
He gives sunlight to both the evil and good. He sends rain on the just and unjust.
It's easy to love only those who love you…If you are only kind to your friends how are you different than anyone else? And then we come to our verse. Matt. 5:48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Quoted here from the New Living Translation).
Now in its original context, Jesus doesn’t stop talking right there, but goes right on teaching. “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven.” Matt 6:1
He then goes on to contrast what the Pharisees do with what His disciples should do.
Phrases from the following verses would include: v2 “don’t call attention to yourself” , v 3“don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” v4 “give gifts in private and the Father will reward you.”
V5 Don’t pray in the streets to be seen. Pray in private. V7 When you pray, don’t babble on and on… but pray like this: and He gives them a sample prayer.
V14 If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you, but if you refuse to forgive others your Father will not forgive your sins.
He goes on to talk about fasting, and storing up treasures in heaven so that your heart will follow your treasure. He talks about being careful what you look at and what you set your heart on so that you won’t be enslaved by your love of money.
Then He points out our need not to worry, but to trust. And so on.
The context is not talking about working your way to heaven, or a formula for perfectionism. So let’s go now to the actual word translated "perfect" in this passage.
The word translated “perfect” in verse 48 is the Greek word “telios” (tel’i os) and means literally: brought to completion; fully accomplished, fully developed; complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.); without shortcoming in respect of a certain standard.
So a more literal translation of that verse might be: Be complete (spiritually mature) as your Father in heaven is complete. Or Be fully developed spiritually as your Father in Heaven is already fully developed.
What would that mean in this context? Jesus has already told them that they will have to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees if they are going to make it. He has already pointed out what the law said and then raised the bar. He goes on to say, in essence, “…and there is a whole lot more! Deeds aren’t to be necessarily seen, forgive freely, pray in private for what you need, look towards your treasure in heaven, so your heart will be there and not here.
And I can imagine the disciples thinking…”this is going to be next to impossible.” But in the ensuing weeks and years, they began to see that though they weren’t equal to the righteousness that Christ was calling them to attain, that HE, in fact, was, and that He was calling them to live in HIS righteousness. They began to realize that they had salvation through their faith in Jesus, by the Grace of God, and that it was God Himself, through the power of the Holy Spirit that was leading and growing them into the followers the HE was desiring.
In fact, Paul, in the books of Ephesians and Philippians attests to this idea. Quoting now- but all emphasis mine)
Eph. 2:4 "But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of HIS grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
Eph. 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."
NOTE: So I can’t make myself perfect OR complete. It is Christ’s work in me. My job is to simply focus on experiencing Christ and learn of Him and then HE does the work changing me to be more like Himself. Paul continues this line of thinking in Eph 3:14-21.
Eph. 3:12 Because of Christ and our faith in Him,a we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. 13 So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.
Eph. 3:14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,a 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.a 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Eph. 3:20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
Phil 1:6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
So my takeaway… God wants me to be spiritually mature (perfect) able to look, act and emulate the Character of Christ. NOT because “I” work hard at my own perfection, but because I spend my time putting down my roots into the love of Christ and drink the nutrients of HIS love into my life and allow Him to change me.
Much like a tree cannot produce good fruits by choosing to pull its roots up to focus on the fruit it is producing above, nor can I, if I am simply focusing on my fruits. (choosing not to lie. Choosing not to do some sin, etc) Instead of pulling up my roots to inspect my fruit, I have to send them down into the soil of the grace of God and simply absorb Jesus into my very being and let Him be lifted up through the core of my being and HE does HIS work in me to transform me to be more like HIMSELF…so that when that day comes, HE presents me to the FATHER as a perfect person, (“telios” completed, fully accomplished, fully developed, without shortcoming in respect of a certain standard) even as my Father is telios! Praise God I’m not left to fend for myself. NOR are you!
