James Bellamy Supporter

We actually will never be perfect in that we will be completely without sin on this earth. Yes, in and through Christ, and through His propitiation we are seen as perfect in God's sight through His son. Until we join the Father, we are ever growing in sanctification, but we will not be perfect until glorification. Only Christ was without sin. His atonement made us able to have a relationship with God that was previously severed by original sin. Christ said to be holy as he is holy, but never calls us to be perfect. Romans 7 shows how Paul struggled with sin. We be left utterly dismayed if we allow ourselves to be consumed by attempting to be perfect. This is not license to sin. We must rely on grace through faith.

June 30 2013 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jane Christensen Supporter

Being perfect in in Christ it signifies completeness and soundness and includes the idea of being whole. More particularly when applied to believers it denotes maturity.

June 23 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Chris Eleam Supporter Chris Eleam

Excellent comments also keep in mind perfection is in a relative sense and not perfect like our first parents Adam and Eve had perfection, under this ungodly system of things that perfection will never be attained.

June 27 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Tara Rollins Supporter

Our perfection is in Christ, total sinlessness will not be perfected until we are gone from this world!  1 John 3:1-3 "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God, and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

June 28 2013 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Keith Marsh Supporter

The Bible says "Be ye perferfect even as thy Father in heaven is perfect". Also God says that He will make us perfect. So God wants us to be perfect and He will do it for us if we are willing.

June 24 2013 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Grant Abbott Supporter Child of Father, Follower of Son, Student of Spirit

Lets take a look at Matthew 5:28 from a few different bible interpretations:
ESV "You, therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
NIV "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
NASB "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
AMP "You, therefore, will be perfect [growing into spiritual maturity both in mind and character, actively integrating godly values into your daily life], as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Jesus said these words so they must be true. Jesus spoke in the present tense so this must be achievable during our individual lifetimes. Jesus said it as a command so we must obey it. Jesus never once mentioned sin and none of the bible versions mention it either. I think if we seek to measure our perfection by our "freedom from sin" we are barking up the wrong tree. The bible is clear that if we claim to be without sin then we are calling God a liar. The bible also says that if we continue in sin we are lying if we claim to have fellowship with God.

In my view, perfection is all about "obedience to the will of God".
When God reveals his will to us we are to obey it. When we do so we are perfect, and we are also being perfected. Perfection begins the moment we accept Jesus as our personal saviour because we are united with Christ and his righteousness is imparted to us - when God looks at us He sees Jesus.

Each day as we read and study the bible God reveals His "general" will to us - how we are to think, feel, speak and act - modelled after Jesus life. Each time we obey what we are learning we are being perfect. Each day that we surrender to Jesus so we can practice what he has been teaching us, then we are being perfect. As we grow in our faith we will begin to hear the Holy Spirit revealing God's specific will for each of us; pray for this person, share your faith with that person, give this person a helping hand, take a stand against this lie and deception, etc. Each time we hear the Spirit's voice and obey it we are being perfect.

So what happens when we deliberately disobey the will of God in order to gratify the desires of our flesh. Or what if we ignorantly don't hear the Spirit's voice because we are chasing after the things of this world. In both these examples we are sinning. Does that mean we have lost our perfection. I believe not.

God knows we will stumble and fall into sin. He has made provision for that so it doesn't affect our perfection. Here is his solution.

1. Acknowledge our sin to God as soon as the Spirit reveals it to us
2. Tell God we are sincerely sorry for disobeying His will
3. Ask Him to forgive us for Jesus sake
4. Ask God to cleanse us so we don't fall for the same temptation again
5. Tell God we will try our best to obey His will each time he reveals it to us

Our enemy, Satan, is constantly lying to us that our disobedience to God's will means that God is displeased or angry with us. He does this so we will move away from God and hide like Adam and Eve did. Anything he can do to break our fellowship with God is a win for the kingdom of darkness.

But God doesn't see us that way. Once we accept Christ we are perfect in his eyes. He gives us his Holy Spirit to guarantee our inheritance in his forever "perfect" world to come. God's love for us never changes - it is never based on our performance.

Knowing this truth that we are "perfect" should lead us to approach our heavenly Father today to grow the intimacy of that relationship so we can grow up to spiritual maturity, not lacking anything in order to fulfil all of God's will for our lives - to complete all the good works that He has prepared in advance for us to do.

Rejoice Always! You are Perfect. Christ made you so.

January 27 2017 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report