something that will come “with power” and will be “seen” by people (Mark 9:1), something that grows dramatically yet without our control (Mark 4:26–32), the company of the faithful in the afterlife (Matt 21:31), something that exists in a community (Matt 21:43), and—Yes!—something that exists within each believer (Luke 17:21, and many mentions of having “light” or “love” or “treasure” within, to being pure in heart or loving God with all one’s heart).
Be Perfect
For anyone who worships God and thinks of the character of God as embodying all value, “be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48) is a command to take on the divine character. Aspiring for the divine nature is declared a legitimate goal, although it may be a goal that is never fully reached, a goal that perennially draws us on—in which case, “be perfect” would signify “be ever-perfecting.”
The saying should astound us. Here, at the end of the first section of the Sermon on the Mount, perfection is commanded. By commanding perfection, Jesus suggests the necessity—and possibility—of human transformation, a profound correcting of that which is imperfect, even within this lifetime. This causes enormous difficulties for theologians who assume that all humans are thoroughly depraved and sinful, even after being saved. The verse is equally painful for secularizing critics who want to de-fang it, to suppress the suggestion of divinization. Many scholars want to see the saying as referring to a perfecting of discipleship. This is legitimate, but not if it is used to stifle the transcendent aspect. How could a command to become like “your heavenly Father” not have a transcendent meaning?
At the very least, the saying indicates that God has a plan for perfecting people, in synchrony with earlier hopes about “God who fulfills his purpose for me . . . The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me” (Ps 57:2; 138:8). God yearns to complete what he has started: “you would long for the work of your hands” (Job 14:15). The perfection saying promises the fulfillment of God’s aspirations for us, as much as of our aspirations toward God. If there is an answer to our spiritual longings for understanding, reconciliation, and communion, surely there is also an answer to the Father’s intention to make us part of a heavenly family; his will is done in heaven (Matt 6:10). Deification may be hinted at here and elsewhere in Matt 6: “your Father who sees in secret will reward you . . . Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . your whole body will be full of light . . . will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” (6:6, 18, 20, 22, 30). Rewards, treasures, light, and being “clothed”—might these not speak of transformations that await us?
One question that has preoccupied exegetes is the meaning of τέλειος. “Perfect” is the most common translation, but “complete,” “mature,” and “whole” are possible. In what sense are believers to be perfect or complete? Perfect in devotion? In wisdom? In love? It soon becomes apparent that these questions will need to be examined in light of the passage in which it occurs. Should it be treated as the summarizing statement of the first section (chapter) of the Sermon on the Mount, or as the culmination of a shorter passage (Matt 5:38–48) that speaks of loving one’s enemies (5:44) and of being children of God (5:45)?
Let us treat the immediate context first. The saying culminates the instruction on self-giving that precedes it. Sonship with God is made conditional upon forgiving one’s enemies (Matt 5:44–45). One must do something. Turning the other cheek and carrying someone’s burden another mile (Matt 5:39, 41) are acts of spiritual aggression; they are not passive, but are profoundly confrontational, in a spiritual manner. Dropping the desire for “an eye for an eye,” actually praying and wishing well for one’s persecutors (Matt 5:38; 44), is very difficult to do, but you do it “so that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (5:45). Presumably this has an evangelical motive: to convert the persecutor, turn the Saul into a Paul, causing the centurion to notice that one is “a son of God” (Matt 27:54, NRSV margin10).
The immediate context, then, speaks of selfless love, non-retaliation, and being children of God. The bigger context of Matthew 5–6 speaks of hungering for truth, being “pure in heart” (5:8—something that is possible, then), shining light upon the world, exceeding a Pharisaic righteousness, avoiding anger, not praying bombastically, praying for God’s will, being full of light, not loving money, and trusting God. It is a sermon about wholehearted sincerity, forgiveness, service, trust, and humility. If we look at the larger context, perfection seems to refer to these values of trust in God and kindness toward all, while the immediate context narrows this down to the ethics of nonviolence and love, even of enemies. Both of these are consistent with the emphasis on honesty and good works that one finds throughout the Gospel of Matthew.
Scholars have often been consumed with questions of verbal tense and mood in Matt 5:48. The verb ἔσεσθε is a future indicative, middle voice. Is it intended to function as a future (in which case, it should have been translated “you will be perfect”) or is it functioning as present imperative (as the future indicative often does)? This one is fairly easy to answer. All the main verbs in vv. 39–42 are imperatives, and the indicatives in the verses that follow are all expressing support for the imperatives of those verses: “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” (v. 46)—implying, “go further, love your enemies.” The force of verse 48, then, is imperative: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (NRSV).
It seems to be based on some Leviticus passages: “be holy, for I am holy”; or “be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev 11:44, 45; 19:2; cf. 20:26). In Leviticus, the original meaning of “holy” (separate, numinous, divine, and dangerous) still holds. The commands in Leviticus are given to Moses or to Moses and Aaron, and transmitted from them to the Israelites. Holiness in Leviticus has both a ritual and a moral side. Jesus, in Matthew, avoids this word that has so much ritual history, using instead τέλειος, a word that is usually associated with maturation, completion, even beauty. The context in Matthew suggests that the ethical implications of maturity are being emphasized.
One author insists that the saying involves “a command for the present . . . be perfect now.”11 But that would rightly be called “perfectionism,” an attitude characterized by judgmentalism and impatience with others, something that is inconsistent with the canonical portrait of Jesus, who values people’s motivations and hunger for truth.12 A perfectionist would hardly be known for spending time with tax collectors and sinners, winebibbers and (former) prostitutes. In Jesus’ day, a perfectionist would be known for ceremonial hand-washings, fasting, and other such external observances, instead of being known for rejecting those usages13 and emphasizing what comes from within.14 Therefore, it is misleading to say “Jesus will be satisfied with nothing but the highest ideal,”15 since we see that he includes people who have a less-than-perfect ideal, yet who will not “lose their reward” (Matt 10:41–42; cf. Mark 9:38–41; Luke 10:39–42). Jesus is definitely not a perfectionist, in the sense of being rigidly moralistic or insisting that things can only be done one way. He constantly shows attention to the “little people,” people with little faith, people who are not particularly “religious” in any socially-recognized way (the woman at the well, the tax collector in the tree, the shunned woman), but who come to him for spiritual waters.
He is delighted when some needy people dismantle the roof above his head while he is in the middle of a sermon. No perfectionist could tolerate this. This shows that what matters for Jesus is not our spiritual level but our spiritual direction, not our proximity to perfection but our desire for it. He grants forgiveness to the paralyzed man and his friends who lowered him down through the roof because he recognizes their spirituality—“Jesus saw their faith” (Mark 2:5; Matt 9:2)—and he responds to their motivation—“Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” (Matt 9:2).
Spiritual desire, direction, and motive are more relevant to the perfection quest than are one’s actual achievements or outward and apparent “perfection.” You will go to God if you want to go to God.
The reader may
