# Thoughts on Perfect 2024.03.17 - The last couple of days, I have had discussions with{[[Name_Key#^nk-42|M]]}, {[[Name_Key#^nk-43|F]]}, {[[Name_Key#^nk-44|M]]} & {[[Name_Key#^nk-45|M]]} about the word "perfect" in **Matthew 5.48**. - When discussing it with {[[Name_Key#^nk-46|M]]} yesterday, I didn't have a good handle on what Jesus was talking about. - Then, today at church we discussed it at length in the context of sanctification in **1 Peter 1.2** - During the discussion, the meaning became clear to me. - One note: "perfect" (G5046) can also mean "complete in all it's parts" which I feel is one good way to describe perfect as it relates to God (the second occurrence in the verse) - First a short note on what I feel "perfect" doesn't mean (BTW, I think my new belief is contrary to what I believed yesterday): - - I don't think Jesus' use of the word here has anything to do with behavior despite Matthew including it in **chapter 5** which deals pretty much exclusively with behavior and heart attitude. (More about that at the end.) - On the otter hand, I believe the first occurrence of "perfect" (the one that applies to us) instead refers to our position in Christ. Regardless whether we perfectly keep the beatitudes, if we are in Christ, we are complete in all our parts! - I think Matthew wrapped up this chapter on behavior with the verse about being perfect because the standards Jesus established are even harder to achieve than the OT law. No matter how hard I try, there will always be something in my heart that is less than Jesus' standard. - So, instead of dog-piling another impossible standard on top of the previous 45 verses, I think Mathew put Jesus' words here to encourage us, to give us hope! - I will add that we should be more concerned about staying surrendered / dependent on Jesus than trying to comply with His commands. In other words, the second I think I am on the path to perfect obedience is the second I need to worry about my eternal salvation. If I am dependent on Jesus and love Him, I WILL make every effort to obey His commands. - This is NOT a classic chicken and egg thing. - Instead, the flow is: Depend on Jesus --> salvation --> love Jesus --> obey His commands - There is no connection from obedience back to dependence; just the opposite as I mentioned above. To repeat, I think there is need for concern for our true salvation if we make an attempt to add a connection from obedience back to dependence. --- #### Outbound Links - Scripture - [[Matthew_05]] - [[1_Peter_01]] - Topics - [[Perfect]] - [[TOPICS/Sanctification]] - [[Salvation]] - [[Love]] - Words - [[G5046]] - Other