Perfection Means: Absent of All Sin

Perfection may be rare in this world; but Heavenly Father is perfect.  Jesus Christ is perfect.  Every passage of Scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit is perfect.  Every Bible Gem in this Gem Shop is perfect.  But sin makes every person imperfect.  In fact, it is the absence of sin, the attribute of holiness, that makes Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ perfect.  In this Gem Drawer, Exchanging our Sin for Perfection, perfection is defined as “the absence of sin”.  Consequently the presence of even one sin constitutes imperfection.

Scripture uses many synonyms for perfection.  These include holy, justified, righteous, not in your sins, reconciled, pure, cleansed, and others.  However the concept of almost or partly or “good enough” is never associated with perfection nor with any of these synonyms.  In the following Gems several synonyms of perfection will be examined more closely.

No imperfect person can come before God

But why even look at the topic of perfection?  If even one sin makes a person imperfect; then what is the point?  The “point” could not be any more important or any more relevant.  Ephesians 5:5:  For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  The “point” is:  No unclean, no imperfect, person can come into the presence of Heavenly Father (much less live with him eternally in the kingdom of God).  This makes the topic of perfection paramount to the possibility of Eternal Life.

Heavenly Father sets the standard

Perfection was defined above as the absence of all sin, the attribute of holiness.  But whose definition is it?  Who has the authority to set this standard?  Only Heavenly Father can set such a standard.  And this is precisely what he did by giving every human this command:  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48  No command is more demanding or more immediate than “Be ye!”  And if there was any doubt as to the absolute requirement of this command it is banished by recognizing the standard by which adherence to this command is measured:  “even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”.  We are commanded to be as sinless, as holy, as complete, as finished as Heavenly Father.

Jesus delivered this command during the Sermon on the Mount.  Some have described the Sermon on the Mount as Christ’s dissertation on Christian living.  In it Christ compiled an impressive list of sins.  He taught that lust is the same as adultery, that hate is the same as murder.  He taught that sins of thoughts and words are as bad as sins of action.  Many of these sins are displayed in the Gem Drawers “Breadth of God’s Commands” and “Depth of God’s Commands” under Commands (God’s Law) in the menu to the left.

During his sermon Jesus said “Be ye therefore perfect”.  By using the word “therefore” Jesus delivers Heavenly Father’s command to be perfect in the context of all of the sins he has identified.  He is defining perfection as the absence of all these (and any other) sins.