What did Jesus mean when He said, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect?

Question

Matthew 5: 48
Peace and Love

Answer 1

Since God is infintely perfect in all things, the commandment "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" would assume, if take literally, that we can reach a state of absolute perfection. But if we could become as perfect as God, we could also become God's equal, obviously an impossibility. The people Jesus spoke to, however, didn't understand this nuance, so thet He limited Himself to the presentation of a model and told them to strive to conform to it. We have to understand these words, then, as referring to a relative perfection, which human beings can achieve and through which they most nearly approach the Divine. At this point, we might logically ask, What does this perfection consist of?
Jesus gives us the answer:
By loving one's enemies, in doing good to those who hate us, in praying for those who persecute us. In this way He showed that the essence of perfection is love in the fullest sense of that word, since the pratice of love implies the practice of all the other virtues.

If we observe the results of our vices and even simple character flaws, we see that there isn't one that doesn't more or less mar our ability to love, since all of them begin in selfishness and pride, which are love's very negation. This is because everything that overinflates our ego destroys, or at least weakens, the elements of true love, i.e., doing good, being tolerant, showing selfless dedication and devotion to others. This love of our fellow human beings, extending even to love of our enemies, can't go together with those very attitudes that negate it. Having such love is, for this reason, always an indication of how advanced we actually are. We have to conclude that the degree to which we are perfect is in direct relation to how far we can extend our love. It was for this reason that Jesus, having given His disiples the rules of the most sublime love, said to them, "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Answer 2

properly lets see what perfect potential? The word "perfect" contained in the Webster's Dictionary states; being completely without fault or disorder . for my section Jesus' words were previous expectancies simply by the truth Christians continually admit. "we are no longer perfect". Deuteronomy 32:4 the "rock" in this verse pertains to the Hebrew God - it extremely is the theory that God is acceptable and that he can in ordinary words be perfect. it extremely is why Jesus ins't the Rock as claimed contained in the NT. guy isn't perfect. If we were we would not want the Torah guidelines for justice. So possibly Jesus' words were a discern of speech?

Answer 3

You'd have to give me the Aramaic word he used (if it's known) to be sure, but most likely Jesus was speaking in half-quotes and paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible and Jewish liturgy with which his listeners all would have been familiar. Here he was probably making reference to the prayer/acknowledgement which he and all observant Jews make upon awakening in the morning. It says, in part, "The soul which you have placed within me is pure/perfect." In Jewish philosophy, this "soul" is the same as what God breathed into Adam's nose to make him a "living [human] being," as opposed to just another animal. Since this insufflation came out of "God's mouth," so to speak, it is a manifestation of God's own essence. Thus, the soul is both "within me" and also an aspect of the Divinity himself (or herself or itself).

To be perfect, then as "our Father in heaven is perfect," is to identify not with our transient and corruptable self, but with our Soul-aspect, which is incorruptable and perfect and pure by its very nature.

The form of the statement is also an allusion, this time to Leviticus, which contains the commandment, "Be holy, as I God am holy," substituting the perfection trait for the holiness one. This all sounds terribly complicated, but remember that in a time when books were "rare as hen's teeth," most people knew the Bible, at least, completely by heart.

Answer 4

Let's look at the verse in context:

Matthew 5:43-48 -- Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more [than others]? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

What Jesus is saying by "be perfect", then, according to the context, is "Be perfect in showing love toward everybody, just as God lavishes His love on everybody (including those who might be ungrateful toward Him)." After all, loving people who love you back is easy; it's loving people who hate you or who are indifferent toward you that's hard -- but that's what God does, day in and day out, and therefore those who would call themselves children of God ought to follow their Father's example and do the same.

Answer 5

He meant that to get into Heaven you have to be absolutely perfect and the only way to do that is through Him (Jesus).

Answer 6

Righteousness, without sin, holiness. Live as Jesus would live, meaning, be mature in all areas of your life.

Answer 7

Jesus didn't say it, Mathew did, and Mathew was poor, hungry, and most likely hallucinating due to lack of proper nutrition and water.

Answer 8

He was speaking it into existence... similar to "let there be light." and "Lazarus, come forth"

It was not a directive for people to follow, but a creative statement by a supreme being.

Just my two points worth... not a christian doctrine.

Answer 9

perfect in Greek is telios...which means complete, labor growth and moral character

Answer 10

He meant, "nobody's perfect, but since you are expected to be nonetheless, go to hell".