The final line of this chapter may serve as a summary of the six expansions of Old Testament Law. Pennington argues this is the summary of all of Matthew 5 as well as a segue to the next set of teachings on practice (Sermon, 203). Matthew 5:20 introduced the Jesus’s teaching on keeping the Law by saying “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” In 5:48 he goes even further, the true disciple of Jesus mush be perfect.
What does it mean to be perfect? The noun τέλειος (teleios) refers to being complete, mature, or whole. The point is not that the true disciple of Jesus score a perfect 100% on the holiness scale, but rather they become mature in their faith and practice so that the do consider their thoughts as more important than their actions, that they do in fact love their enemies as well as their neighbors.
Pennington devotes a chapter to the meaning of “perfect” in his book on the Sermon on the Mount. There is a serious problem translating τέλειος (teleios) with the modern English word “perfect” since the connotation of the English word has the sense of absolute moral perfection, sinless, or purity. But as Pennington rightly points out, the word teleios is better translated “whole, complete” or even “virtuous” (Sermon, 70). When the disciple of Jesus tries to be perfect in the sense of completely sinless, they will fail since no one can be actually sinless. By connecting teleios with the concept of shalom in the Old Testament, Pennington argues the true disciples of Jesus will be whole, complete, and mature. In fact, Pennington says the idea of teleios is central to everything Jesus is teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.
For a Jewish person, keeping the Law perfectly was the goal, but no one was capable of fully keeping the Law (especially since “being holy” was far more than a moral state in the Law). The sacrifices covered lapses in holiness, but even with a sacrifice what really mattered was the state one one’s heart. Consider Psalm 51:10. When caught in a heinous sin, David begs the Lord to “create in me a clean heart” and in 51:16-17 he acknowledges God is not pleased with sacrifices, but with a “broken and contrite heart.”
In his six examples drawn from the Law, Jesus said one’s thoughts are as important as one’s actions. Internal anger is more damaging than murder. Internal lust is more damaging than adultery. Who could be considered perfect if our thoughts were exposed for all to see?
For this reason, McKnight argues perfection is not “the rigor of sinlessness” but rather the “rigor of utter devotion” (McKnight, Sermon, 146). The true disciple of Jesus is utterly devoted to God, pursuing righteousness in every way possible.
This is not the way most people think of perfection. A recent episode of the Simpsons the evangelical Christian Ned Flanders was teaching a Sunday School lesson on “how to get to heaven.” Several times he said something like “the only way to heaven is to be righteous.” That is not the case at all! The only way to get to heaven is to be forgiven. This is not a license to sin (Romans 6:1-4), but rather the freedom to grow in maturity, the freedom to embrace our wholeness in Christ.
How does this view of perfection as wholeness or maturity change the way the follower of Jesus lives out their life? It ought to relieve the disciple of Jesus from the guilt associated with failure to live up to perfection, but are there some other positive contributions to living out one’s faith?
Reblogged this on James' Ramblings.
I had a few family friends growing up that used this passage as one of the main reasons for believing that a Christian can reach perfection on earth. The father believed that He was perfect and he only made mistakes and did not sin. Eventually their family was kicked out of our church as He began to try to convince other people to join His theology. This being said, I think it is so important that we look to the original language as you do here and as McKnight does on page 146. This shows us that the perfect Jesus is speaking of is rather a maturing of our faith. The fact that this passage is after Jesus explains that lusting, and anger are just as bad as committing adultery and as murdering someone. It goes to show that we need to control our minds just as much as our actions, because what our minds dwell on, we will eventually act upon. For today’s society, this is a good reminder for us to strive to make our thoughts as holy and acceptable to God as our actions.
I have often wondered what perfect looks like in light of my Christian walk, I know that we are not supposed to be Jesus because we will never be as good as Jesus, and I think that may have been one of Jesus’s main points for coming in to the world, to show that none of us are perfect and that we will never be as good a Jesus. because of this blog post, and other things that I have read about this thought of being complete in our Christain walk, I have come to the conclusion that sin is a prerequisite for being a Christian. it is a good thing that we are sinners, because if we were not we would not need Christ. But on the other hand, now that I have received faith I will live out every day wanting to more like Christ because even if you are not a Christian, the Christian life is still a better way to live.
Perfection is impossible due to the sinful nature of human beings. Our view of perfection is not exactly the message that Jesus was trying to get across. The way that McKnight describes perfection is “rigor of utter devotion” (McKnight, p. 146). God does not expect us to be the world’s view of perfection, but rather to be utterly devoted to God’s will. “Perfection is to be the person who treats everyone as the neighbor, and this fulfills the entirety of God’s will” (McKnight, p. 147). I love how you say that we do not have permission to sin, but rather freedom to grow in maturity. We should not willingly do what is wrong; but if we make mistakes, God will forgive us. God knows that we need to mature and grow in our faith, therefore he does not place impossible expectations on us. This provides me with a great deal of comfort, but also makes me want to strive to live the way that God wants me to.
What does it mean to be perfect? To be perfect is to live a life exactly like Jesus did. Sinless, selfless, anger free, ect.. Unfortunately, as humans we can’t live perfect lives, even though Jesus Christ has called us to be perfect. Matthew speaks about the importance of striving to live a perfect life in the sense that as we try and strive to be perfect the closer we’ll get to living like Jesus did. Our intentions and motives will gradually begin to fall more inline with what Jesus desires of and from us. In today’s world it is impossible to live a life sinless, aside from the fact that we are sinless, the world is fallen and full of sin as well. Matthew reminds us that “out of the mouth, the heart speaks” — meaning that our heart drives what we do and if Jesus Christ lives in us then our heart will reflect Him and through our lives, Jesus will shine through. The Bible tells us to sine our light so that everyone can see it, this is more than living the perfect life for the sake of living it, this is living a perfect life because first, Jesus called us to and second, because we are image barres and reflect the very person of God and His testimony. McKnight says that “perfection is to be the person who treats everyone as the neighbor, and this fulfills the entirety of God’s will” (pg. 147) meaning that because we are fallen it doesn’t mean that we can’t strive to become as close to perfect as we can be and to do that is to obey God. Specifically in this case, McKnight is referring to treating others like yourself, showing kindness and friendliness. More importantly, because kindness and friendliness is what God showed us. Once God’s desires become our desires it’s only then that we can live a “perfect” life because our heart is casing after God’s and His righteousness as become our righteousness.
I will admit I never realized the true meaning of that word perfect in its historical context. That honestly takes a certain amount of pressure off, understanding that wholeness and completeness seems far more attainable than “Perfection”. Jesus is concerned here with our hearts, and is willing to pursue obedience and love, not the actual ability or strength we have to do it perfectly. This idea of being made perfect is also stated in James 1:4 as he is referring to perseverance through struggles and temptations, “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” and also in Philippians 2:15, “That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ”. We know that when we are saved Jesus’ blood covers our past, present, and future sins so that as we continue on, we can be encouraged and strengthened in His grace and love for us and be more willing to fight against the flesh to be obedient to His will for our lives. As P. Long said in the article, “… the freedom to embrace our wholeness in Christ.”
Mary,
I am going to add onto your post because I have a similar experience with a person that believed they were perfect. In this case, it was my dad’s previous pastor. This particular pastor (and obviously, not speaking for all) believed that you could reach perfection on earth, same as the man you talked about. He would constantly. judge, ridicule and mock people that were non-believers or even members of his own church if they made a mistake or if they did not believe what he believed. For example, my dad kept in touch with a close family from the church and they had told us that they had decided to leave the church (despite being there for 15 years) because of the pastor. The family took the virus seriously and so they refused to attend church in person, but joined every live stream the church did on Sunday’s, but that was considered not good enough for the pastor and he (Sunday after Sunday) mocked and condemned the family for refusing to attend in person and said that they did not have enough faith in God.
So, I have a similar experience as you when it comes to someone that believes that have reached perfection and so they use that idea of perfection to sometimes speak harmful words or judgements on another people, but Jesus was not talking about the type of perfection we think of, but instead, as other people have said, the process of maturing in our faith. We are unable to completely be free of sin on Earth because of the sinful nature of man, but we can better ourselves and become more Christ-like by maturing in our faith and by sinning “less.”
It is important for us to understand that being a perfect disciple of Jesus does not mean to “score a perfect 100% on the holiness scale”, because if this were the case then nobody would be able to truly be a perfect disciple. However defining perfection as “complete” and mature in our faith allows us to understand that we can accomplish a sense of “perfection” and be a disciple of Jesus. I think that it is imperative for people of the church to stress that to be a perfect disciple does not mean to be without fault, and also express this to any non-believers as well. I believe this is important because if people have this idea that in order to be a good Christian you have to be without fault, then they will be discouraged by this thought and think they are not worthy enough to be a Christian at all. Our job is to bring people to Christ, rather than scare them and deter them. Everyone sins, and the only way that we are able to be made perfect is through Jesus, and the forgiveness of God.
I am a perfectionist. I want to be great at everything. Whether that be in my relationship with God, in the classroom, or on the soccer field. Truthfully, I beat myself up when I fail short of the “standard” that I have put on myself. But why? It is okay to have standards you hold yourself to, but they should not control your life. After all, it is not my standard that truly matters or even the world’s view of “perfect”; it is God’s. To be perfect in His eyes, we are to be forgiven for the places where we fall short. He does not care about the mistakes I made in the past, all He wants is for me to strive to be like His son.
Mcknight defines the word “perfect” as “loving all humans, Jews and Romans, as neighbors” (pg. 147). When we do this we fulfill the two commands that Jesus gives us in Matthew 22:34-40 — to love God and to love one’s neighbor as oneself. Being perfect is to be that person that everyone knows they can go and talk to. The one that will drop what they are doing to help to care for you in whatever way you need. People should see the difference in how you live versus the rest of the world. It could be your “hated” rivals on the soccer field, and you lose; do you go into a pout or congregate with them? It is not always easy or what you want to do. But when you do this; then you are “perfect” in the eyes of your creator.
This climax of Jesus’s re interpretation of the law is quite interesting and has always been something of an issue for me. “You must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48, ESV) that is a challenge that any human is incapable of accomplishing. I mean, even if we take the definition of McKnight, saying that it is not about perfect morals and actions, but about perfect devotion, even that is truly near impossible for people. We may really want to be devoted to God, we may have our moments like Paul where we are in agony because we do what we do not want to do, (Romans 7:14-20), but even in that, that simple desire to be devoted to God, we still fail, and are not perfect like our heavenly father.
How can we fulfill this command? Simply put, we cannot. We are sinful beings with sinful hearts that, when left to our own devices, will sin, and will sin often, not only in our action, but also in betrayal of our devotion to Christ. It is good that we have a God who wants to help us, and isn’t just going to leave us to our own devices. God saved us through Christ so that we can have a relationship with him, and through that relationship, we can be slowly sanctified until the day we are finally home, where we can be fully devoted to following Christ every single day of our eternal lives. Praise be to God!
The call to perfection is essentially a call to be like Christ—to love as He loves and to treat others with the same compassion and grace that He shows. It’s important to understand that this call is not about being sinless, as both God and we know that is impossible. Instead, we are reminded that we are children of God, called to reflect our Father’s love and compassion to those around us. This call helps lift the guilt we might feel for not meeting God’s standards and reminds us of who we are in Christ: forgiven, righteous, and loved. Embracing this identity allows us to stop worrying about being perfect and encourages us to live out our faith genuinely. As we grow closer to Christ, we learn that perfection isn’t about being flawless but about wanting to grow and seek God. It’s a journey of becoming more like Christ, one step at a time.
As a Christian, or better yet, as a pastor’s daughter (in which will be the route I connect this article with) whose life was always seen through a glass window like a fish in a fishbowl. The aspect of “being perfect” is always misconstructed. The expectations, roles, and responsibilities differ. That has always been a weight, as the expectation of perfection is or will develop to be. But I also agree that this is one of the main factors of why preachers have the stereotype they currently hold. Perfection is such an expectation that it creates a fatigue of “I don’t care” and then everything hits the fan. The connection of “teleios” being connected to being mature, complete, and whole debunks the view of God expecting us to live a sinless life to more the daily redirection and transformation of mind in our life. McKnight brings a good view (McKnight, Sermon, 146.) into the aspect of not the “rigor of sinlessness” but the “rigor of utter devotion” developing a more mature relationship with Christ in which in turn produces a more mature life and spiritual walk with Christ. If Christians would worry more about the truth in which to be forgiven and live viewed as a perfect child of God is to become a child of God and not how often you fail, less Christians would have a fatigue due to this developing more of a religion aspect of which we run from Christ rather than a relationship in which we come to Christ.
The idea that one ought to be perfect as Jesus is perfect is often separated from its textual context. From a holistic view, the passage more readily refers to loving one’s enemies as their neighbors. Matthew 5:47 (ESV) reads, “And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” As noted by Long (2018), What does it mean to be perfect? The noun τέλειος (teleios) refers to being complete, mature, or whole.” The point of the section is not to demonstrate that the true disciple of Jesus completely hit the mark of holiness but rather to show that the state of being or becoming like perfection involved maturity in faith and practice. Therefore, the people do indeed love their enemies as well as their neighbors, even when doing so is incredibly difficult and tiresome. In many ways, this teaching resonates and transforms the initial religious winds of the Law, continuing its teaching authority. Not a single letter will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished, and anyone who breaks the least of its commandments will be called least in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:18-19). Jesus’s followers are called rather exaggeratedly to “be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (v. 48). This follows the chain of command found in verse 20, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Perhaps part of His purpose, then, is to expose some of the more extreme teachings of the Law and expand, extrapolate, and even dissolve some of them. Jesus announced that in his own words and deeds, the kingdom of God was breaking in on humanity. The age of promise was giving way to the age of fulfillment. With the new age comes a new covenant (Jer 31:31; Matt 26:28) and hence a new law. Citizens of the kingdom of heaven are no longer under the old covenant but are under the new and greater covenant (Strauss, 2020). Long (2018) cites, “For this reason, McKnight argues perfection is not “the rigor of sinlessness” but rather the “rigor of utter devotion” (McKnight, Sermon, 146). The true disciple of Jesus is utterly devoted to God, pursuing righteousness in every way possible.” This is not the way most people think of perfection and they will likely never achieve the righteousness required of this definition unless they were God themselves. However, in the contemporary world, utter devotion is nearly impossible when a person’s passion is split over so many differing vantage points. Modern technology adds another dimension that can make people feel constantly distracted, never fully able to orient their hearts toward God. The fear of missing out is a real phenomenon that people use to numb the uncomfortable silence that God often exposes Himself within.
Although this particular blog post is not very long word wise, it goes a lot further than it looks. Perfection is a term that many people use, although nobody and nothing is perfect except for Jesus. Everything about Jesus was and is perfect. His actions, words, intentions, and love are some key words to describe how truly perfect He was and is to us. People of Jewish faith try to be perfect by following the Law. Your words of “the only way to get to heaven is to be forgiven. This is not a license to sin (Romans 6:1-4), but rather the freedom to grow in maturity, the freedom to embrace our wholeness in Christ” describes how Jesus is perfect.
As christians it can be hard to accept that we will never be perfect with God. our sinful nature will always cause us to fall short of the glory of God. As a christian we can try and try to follow God’s commands but we will always mess up and fall short. When I fall short, like for example when I struggle with my temper and sin, I always feel bad knowing that I could be better. But I know that I can never be perfect and that’s why God sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. Jesus led a perfect life without sin and that’s why he was the perfect sacrifice for us because he took the weight of all of our sins setting us free and giving us the opportunity to be right with God. God wants us to strive to be like Jesus and be perfect even though he knows we can never live up to that expectation. This is because even though we cant be perfect we should still try our best and honor God the best way we can. We can do that by praying about it and asking God for help and being conscious of our sins and working to make ourselves stronger in our faith each and every day.
Hi ,
( Matthew 5 : 48 ) states, ‘ Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.’
How can we become perfect ?
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Answer _:
1) Through scriptures :
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( 2 Timo. 3: 16,17) states,
‘ All scripture is given by inspiration of God & is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instru ction in righteousness:That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.’
(1 John 2:5) says,
“Whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. ”
(James 1:22) states, ‘ But be ye doe rs of the word & not hearers only. ‘
‘Jesus said, blessed are they that hear the word of God & keep it.'( Lk 11 :28)
‘My mother & my brethren are these which hear the word of God & do it.’
(Luke 8:21)
2) Offending not in word.
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( James 3 : 2) says,
‘If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man & able also to bridle the whole body.’
3)’Cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh & spirit.’
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(‘2 Corinth. 7 : 1) states,’
‘ Dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God.’
4) Living in Christ & with fruits of the Spirit such as:love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,faith goodness,Meekness,temperance.’
(Gal. 5 :22,23 )
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(Colossians 1:28) states, “Jesus is the one we proclaim, admonishing & teaching everyone with all wisdo
m , so that we may present every one fully mature in Christ.
(Collo. 2 : 9,10 ) states, For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.So you also are
complete through your union with Christ.’
(Ephesians 4:13) states, “Until we all reach unity in the faith & in the knowledge of the Son of God & become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.’
(James1:2-4) says, ‘ Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may
be perfect & entire, wanting nothing.’
( Collo. 1 :10,11) says. ‘Strengthen with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience & longsuffering with joyfulness.’ being
fruitful in every good work.’
(1 John 4:12) states, ‘No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us & his love is perfected in us.”
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