Can We Be Perfect?
The Lord said to Abraham in Genesis 17:1, “Walk before Me, and be perfect.” Then the Lord said to His disciples in Matthew 5:48, “Be thou perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Is Jesus lying to us or telling us to be something we cannot be?
The Lord told the ancient Israelites in Deuteronomy 18:13 that they were to be perfect before Him. It may surprise you to know that the first person to be perfect was righteous Abel and the second was Enoch. Enoch was perfect because he walked with God, which means he walked like God walks or lives (Gen. 5:22-24; 1 John 3:12; Eph. 5:1). Enoch, then, knew what God’s Will was and did God’s Will (which is righteousness) daily on the earth by being a servant to others in need. God’s word also describes Noah as being perfect, blameless or complete because he, like Enoch, walked with God (Gen. 6:9—see margin note in the New American Standard Version). Job was also called blameless or perfect or complete by God (Job 1:1, 8; 2:3).
It’s time to unravel the mystery of what Jesus meant when He said to be perfect. Remember the terms perfect, blameless, complete and walking with God, as they will help to unfold the true meaning of the mystery of being perfect in God’s eyes.
Perfect means mature or perfect in attitude toward God—or wholehearted. Perfect means that the righteousness you do toward others (doing God’s Will for God’s glory) comes from your heart (Matt. 5:20; Eph. 6:6). Being perfect, then, is being spiritually mature (Phil. 3:15 NASV—see margin). Perfect is being wholly devoted to pleasing God in all your ways (1 Kings 8:61; 2 Chron. 16:9).
Being perfect is maintaining an honest and good heart before the Lord at all times (Luke 8:15). Perfect is being complete in God’s eyes—one who is no longer struggling with the flesh with its evil passions and desires (2 Cor. 13:9, 11; Gal. 5:24). Perfect is allowing Jesus Christ to crush Satan’s nature in you and put it under your heel (Rom. 16:20). Perfect is being zealous for what is good for God’s glory (1 Peter 3:11-13).
Being perfect is overcoming our evil natures by keeping Jesus Christ’s works that He came to show us. We are to endure to the end, keeping His works by putting them into practice daily in our lives (Rev. 2:26; John 14:12). Perfect is having Jesus Christ’s nature formed in us by God (Gal. 4:19). Perfect is being zealous for good works instead of making God angry by being lukewarm or cold for them (Rev. 3:10, 15). Perfect is being found worthy by God to go to a place of safety and escape what is soon to come upon the whole world (Rev. 3:10; Luke 21:36 King James Version)—because you are perfected in love, perfected in being a servant of others for God, and perfected in a life of charity towards others (Luke 11:41).
When you practice righteousness daily for God in thought, word and deed, you are considered righteous, as God is righteous, says 1 John 3:7. When you continue in this holy Way of living, God perfects His new nature in you (Heb. 12:23; Gal. 4:19). You do the practicing, God does the perfecting (1 Cor. 3:7). The Lord then disciplines us for our good, that we might share His holiness (Heb. 12:10). Even Jesus learned obedience to the Father by the things which He suffered and as a result, He was made perfect by God, as all who obey Him shall become (Heb. 5:8-9).
Dorcas was practicing this righteous Way of life by abounding with deeds of kindness and charity, which she continually did to be pleasing to the Lord (Acts 9:36). Then she was considered perfect by God. As a result of her perfect attitude, God allowed her to be resurrected to mortal life, showing that those who have a life of good works—which is true repentance—will come to a resurrection of eternal life when the Lord returns (John 5:29).
On the other hand, those who profess they know the Lord but remain worthless for living a life of good works for God’s glory, deny the Lord. They are not living the Way Jesus came to show us all how to live in order to be right in God’s sight, but rather, are continuing to live detestable and disobedient lives before God daily (Titus 1:16; 2:7, 14; 3:8).
In conclusion, then, being perfect is being righteous, and being righteous is being holy, and being holy is being blameless in God’s eyes (Eph. 1:4). When you walk with God, you keep only His Ways, which are all righteous (Psalm 145:17). This is done today by keeping Jesus Christ’s words that He received from the Father, by putting them into practice in your daily life (John 8:51). This is how you imitate the Way God lives and talks and walks (Eph. 5:1; 1 Peter 4:11). It’s as simple as that!
If it is with great difficulty that the righteous are saved (those who continually do acts of righteousness for God as Jesus did), what will happen to those who are not obedient to the Lord (1 Peter 4:18)? What will happen to those who refuse to obey Him (Matt. 25:41)? Jesus was righteous, perfect, holy and blameless. He came to show us, as well as tell us, how to live this Way of righteousness and, thus, come out of a life of evil and enter a glorious life of goodness (Matt. 21:32; 2 Peter 2:21). By entering a life of goodness, we leave our old lives behind and enter the life of blessings, joy and peace. This is the life He has waiting for all those who will leave their wicked ways behind them (Acts 3:26). This is how to repent and return to God, that your sins may be wiped away (Acts 3:19). This is how to be obedient to the faith and be sprinkled with the Lord’s blood for your past sins (Acts 6:7; 1 Peter 1:2).
You must practice the truth daily like Jesus did to have true fellowship with the Lord (3 John 11; John 3:21). Practicing God’s word daily (practicing righteousness daily for the Lord) is how you walk in the light of God’s word, which is obedience. This is how you are cleansed from all unrighteousness and have the blood of Jesus Christ cover your sins (1 John 1:7). These truths are not known by many in the world today. These truths reveal why many people’s lives are not changing, even though they claim they are disciples of Christ.
Now you know how to be perfect, complete and blameless in God’s sight. Simply walk in God’s Ways by putting Jesus Christ’s words into daily practice in your life, and you will live forever (John 11:26; 12:48; 15:22; Matt. 7:21; 1 John 2:17). God bless your every step!