Does God Expect Us to be Perfect? (1466 hits)

In a word, NO. 

None of us is sinless.  The ultimate goal is to DO BETTER when you KNOW BETTER. In this case, the goal is to SIN *LESS.*  

If God expects us to be perfect, what was Jesus for?  He gave His Son Jesus to save us from the PENALTY of sin. I've heard a lot of scriptures with the words "perfect" in them, but when you study the Word, you also have to dive deeper into word origins and the CONTEXT in which the word is used.

And perhaps the MOST important thing (before I go on) is that **no one** has the capacity or ability to live a sinless life -- if that were the case that would cancel grace & nullify mercy -- to boot it would actually cancel the *need* for Christ's crucifixion -- see 1 John 1:8.

And I can't say enough that not looking at the entirety of the text is like starting to watch to a movie in the middle. You can't get a full picture of what's happened before or what's going to happen because you didn't start at the beginning.

Let's take Matthew 5:48, for instance, which reads:

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Firstly, in this CONTEXT, the word "perfect" doesn't literally mean perfect-- it REALLY means "mature" and it's from the Greek word "teleios."

The unit of thought from Matthew 5:48 actually starts with Verse 43:

"43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy."

Now that you know where the unit of thought begins, you can begin to under the CONTEXT in which Verse 48 is used:

Love.

Notice all of the verses following v43 that lead to v48 are discussing how to love people who don't show love to YOU and how to not worry about being wronged because God will deal with those use persecute you:

44 But I say unto you, LOVE your enemies, BLESS them that curse you, DO GOOD to them that hate you, and PRAY FOR THEM which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

NOW, v48, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

Do you see what I mean? Looking JUST at that scripture says one thing, but looking at the ENTIRE CONTEXT says something else.

Matthew Chapter 5 is part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus is addressing the Jews.

In v43, he repeats the Law: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt LOVE THY NEIGHBOR, and hate thine enemy.

In v44, Jesus advises of what one should ACTUALLY do: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"

(See this also in Luke and similar passages all over Psalms from David).

v45 talks about God's LOVE and care. V46, he uses tax collectors analagously and in v47, he uses the Gentiles analgously (HE was speaking to the Jews) and asking them to make sense of getting something extra special out of loving only people who love you or being nice to (greeting) only those who are nice to you (greet you).

ALL of this leads up to v48, so Jesus is saying to be different and LOVE like God. Loving only those who love you is easy...loving those who don't is the challenge God is looking for us to live up to.

This is a fundamental difference of what it means to love completely-- without condition-- the way God loves US.

Posted By: Dee Gray
Tuesday, August 5th 2008 at 7:12PM
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