"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Your thoughts on this verse?

Question

perfect? what does He mean?

Matthew 5:48

Answer 1

It's a classic set up, a double bind. You are to do something that is impossible. Therefore you are bound to fail. Either you don't try and fail because you have put forth no effort, or you fail because there is always another step or two you could have taken to make your efforts "more perfect."

Whenever a religious figure, a parent, a teacher, or anyone in authority, puts you into such a double bind, you are being manipulated into submission. In this statement, Jesus was setting up humans to feel inadequate and "sinful" and in need of salvation.

Consider that there is no salvation, but also no need for it.

-♫♫--{♂♂}--♫♫-

Answer 2

It's a tough one. Jesus is calling us to perfection through Him. He cannot ever hope to attain it but we must strive for it. It's in striving for it that are able to shed away the dross and moss that we accumulate.

He knew us well and still knows. No one has a better understanding of human nature than He does. Therefore it makes perfect sense to understand that He knew that unless we push ourselves, unless we strive, we will never improve. As Christians are always working towards improving ourselves and are always fighting some sort of temptation that comes upon us.

Therefore let us be perfect in Christ, with Christ and only with Christ can we acheive anything even close. It's when we are in Christ that our human frailness falls away, the sin that we have known for so long is washed and we become whither than snow.

Answer 3

Pattern your life after the perfect examples: The Father and the Son. As many others have said, I agree that it means to make your best effort even when you slip up, keep on trying. Nobody will achieve absolute perfection during this life IMO, but we can certainly try. :-)

Answer 4

We can be perfect in
1.character. In this life we cant be flawless but we can try to be as much like Christ as possible.
2.In holiness. Like the Pharisees we are able to seperate ourselves from the worlds sinful values. BUT unlike the Pharisees, we are to be devoted to Gods desires rather than our own.
3.In maturity we cant master Christliike character and holiness all at the same time. We have to grow, and the bible says that we grow from glory to glory.
we can expect a different behavior from a baby than we would an adult.. so God expects different from us if we are baby christians.
4. In love we have to seek to love other people like Jesus loves us :)
We always have room to grow but Christ inside of us can per- fect us. those of us who strive to be perfected will one day be perfect when we reign with Him in eternity
Hope this helps! :)

Answer 5

The word "perfect" actually means to be spiritually mature. The only way to be "perfect"
as God the Father is perfect is to let Jesus Christ live in you and make you spiritually mature.

Answer 6

Yes we are to strive for perfection, and if we sin we have a advocate with the Father which is Jesus. If we live a prayed up live , we are perfect in Gods eyes, its Jesus in us and not we ourselves that is perfect.

Answer 7

A disciple will never be perfect in the sense that God is, but he may and so must love everyone as God does.

Answer 8

God the father ordered people to slaughter infants. So I suppose the bar isn't set that high as I've never done that.

I'm BEYOND perfect!

Answer 9

It means Christians cannot really uses that old lame excuse of you can't judge me because I am just a saved sinner to justify willing sins, and it means Christians cannot sins willfully and then tell us we are going to hell. Unbelievers have no such commands.

Answer 10

By striving to be like Christ who is perfect.