Many people reading this will know the bumper stickers, the t-shirts then hats and other items that say this, and it has become very popular among denomination churches today.


Matthew 5:48 48 "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

James 1:4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Be perfect as our Father, let us be perfect and complete lacking nothing. The word Perfect can be translated as complete, so in the Forgiven not perfect saying its actually saying Forgiven not complete. Therefore that person is lacking.

I see this as an excuse to not be perfect, it’s a doctrine that teaches that you don’t have to be perfect to be Christian. Being perfect isn’t being perfect here. It’s being perfect before the Father. Having good and acceptable works, doing the will of God. being a doer not just a hearer.

Am I wrong on this? this is something I've always wondered and would be greatful to here from some of you guys..

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Your Brother in Christ Will

It seems like you are on the right track here. Certainly only one that walked this earth was perfect in his walk. But that doesn't remove our responsibility to try.

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1 Peter 5:6-7: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. -ESV

Ephesians 4:11-16
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.


I think this answers this pretty well. How can we be made perfect in Christ if we know nothing of Him and do not do what He expects, which is to be like Him?

Am I wrong, but does not the word "perfect" mean "complete' in many verses??

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Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10

And... how can we be perfect in Christ if we are not willing to do as he commands? Matthew 7:21 / John 12:48-50

Kindly,
Don

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preacher@hydeparkcoc.org

I suppose this subject can never be exhausted. Luke 6:46, John 14:23, Philippians 2:5 and like passages would seem to guide us. In the last analysis we all are "unprofitable servants" from our perspective, and we reach and strive for Matt. 25:21!

Amen! He perfects us and gives us HIS WAY of reaching perfection on HIS terms, not our own. If it were possible to be perfected on our own, Christ died in vain and our religion is pathetic at best...but no, our Savior rose from the dead to proclaim that He is the LORD and all are under Him. One Lord One Faith One Baptism, One Way One Truth One Life One narrow road One death One sacrifice for all...He is the One

yep, it can be translated both ways.

you can see this in 1 Thessalonians 3:10 10 night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith?

perfect should of been translated complete, but because but words mean the same thing it doesn't matter

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Your Brother in Christ Will

The Greek word which the KJV translators rendered as "perfect" meant "finished" or "completed," and in fact in the time of the KJV translators, the term perfect meant the same thing. The meaning of perfect has shifted over the years to mean "flawless."

God does not demand that we make ourselves "flawless" as a condition of salvation, because only He can remove the final flaws. What He demands is that we repent of our sins and obey the gospel of Christ.

There is not a single verse supporting the idea that because we still have flaws, that we are allowed to just give up on repenting of this sin or that, or that where such a sin becomes manifest in a person the rest of us should just ignore it. Sin, in whatever form it takes, is rebellion against God. In a spiritual sense, all sins shout "CRUCIFY HIM!" at the top of our lungs. Sin must be fought with repentance.

AMEN~

That's right Perfect in Jesus, Paul said once he had not reached the goal but pressed on to the goal. Later he said he had reached the goal, had became perfect.course that was paul. I continue to press on and to put to death the deed's of the body, help people when I can,but I think I still fall short,or have a way's to go.

Paul may have preached that one is "comlete" in Christ, and that seems reasonable. I am not aware of a passage that teaches that Paul said he "became perfect" in some other sense.

In Philippian's 3:11-14 paul talk's about reaching for the goal,or becoming perfect(that would be in the Lord kind of perfect).Then in 2 Timothy 4:6-8 he talk's about being finished, reaching the goal,it seem's here he's talking about something he did not have in Philippian's, but he pressed on for it in Philippian's ,here in 2 Timothy he reached it.It would seem