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October 7, 2023 |
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This study is about perfection, in the ways that the Bible uses that word. People can have trouble with this because of the different meanings, because it is never taught, and because the Bible sometimes uses the different meanings in the same verse.
I think "perfection" isn't taught because it introduces a conflict with what the church believes happens at death. We’ll touch on that later.
Our starting point is the theology of God being perfect and us being imperfect. We're going to take on the questions of when we are considered perfect and how that happens, and when we become perfect and how that happens.
Perfection applies to believers as viewed from three different viewpoints.
Without understanding this, we can become confused by what the Bible says and think that it contradicts itself, or the author is contradicting himself. When we see the Bible use the words "perfect," "perfecting," or "perfected," we need to consider the context to determine the correct viewpoint to use.
As believers we understand that God is perfect, which means that he has no flaws and never does anything wrong.
There is more to being perfect than that though. God is perfect in a way that makes him beautiful. That's supported by the Bible, but we only have a little understanding of that in our lives. We don't know that many things in our lives that are so perfect that they become beautiful. Maybe you've experienced that in little ways, where something was done so perfectly, said so perfectly, built so perfectly, or arrived at the perfect time. Because it's so perfect, it has a beauty to it that we can appreciate. God's perfection makes him beautiful.
His perfection is such that imperfection cannot exist in his presence. It isn’t that God attacks imperfection. Imperfection just ceases to exist in his presence, like darkness ceases to exist where light shines. Darkness is the absence of light – imperfection is the absence of perfection.
That's important to understand. An imperfect person cannot be in God's presence. That person would cease to exist in his presence.
We humans were originally perfect, but we aren't perfect now. Adam and Eve were created as perfect beings.
And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)
God judged his work and declared it all to be very good. Adam, Eve, and all the angels would have continued to be perfect.
But we know what happened after that. One of the angels became arrogant and sinned against God. Because of him, Adam and Eve did what God had told them not to do and sinned.
Because of that, Adam and Eve became imperfect. Not only did they become imperfect, but their natures changed such that they passed this fallen nature down to their children. That nature has been passed down to us and to our children. When our children become old enough to know right from wrong, they sin, and they also become imperfect in God's eyes.
For all of us stumble much. (James 3:2)
We saw that from the first viewpoint of perfection: we are imperfect, and we work towards being perfect.
And he gave some who are Apostles and some who are Prophets and some who are Evangelists and some who are Pastors and some who are Teachers, 12 for the perfecting of the holy ones, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of the Messiah, 13 until we all shall be one entity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of God and one perfect man with the dimensions of the stature of the maturity of the Messiah, 14 neither shall we be children who are shaken and troubled for every wind of crafty teaching of the children of men, those who plot to seduce by their cunning. (Ephesians 4:11-14)
The apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are given to us by God for the purpose of perfecting us. The word that is translated as "pastor" here is actually "shepherd". I point that out because the word "pastor" has different connotations in our time.
The verse continues by saying that they will be perfecting us until we all shall be one entity. The words he uses and the long sentence make it hard to follow what he is saying. He says, "until we all shall be one entity," so he is talking about all believers, growing into one being, the one body of the Messiah. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case in reality.
It says "one perfect man with the dimensions of the stature of the maturity of the Messiah". This is a complicated idea. He means that we are all moving toward becoming one unity and that unity would have the same dimensions as the Messiah. But he doesn't mean physical dimensions like having the same height, waist, or weight measurements. He's talking about the dimensions of spiritual maturity.
Summarizing, he is saying that the people in the positions he listed are there to help us grow toward perfection for three purposes: (1) the work of the ministry (which each of us is in), and (2) the building of the spiritual body of the Messiah to have the dimensions of maturity that match those of the Messiah.
Notice that he speaks of perfecting individuals to take their places in the body of the Messiah. In other writings, Paul makes it clear that each person has a different place in that body.
The last goal of that perfecting process is: (3) that we would not remain as spiritual children who are shaken and troubled by false teaching. He names a source for these teachings, ordinary people who plot to seduce believers with their cunning. A fine example in our time is liberals, who are having great success with their seductive god who would never do anything that humans judge to be mean.
But we see that he says "perfecting," which refers to a process of growth to move us towards perfection. With that, we also understand that it isn't possible for us to be perfect in this life, in these bodies. But we work towards that as we go along.
It's a pyramid with a few people who get close to that, more who don't get as close, and many more who have a ways to go. Some move quickly up the pyramid; others move slowly. That is Christianity.
The elders are not the only thing that is perfecting us.
Every writing which is written by the Spirit is profitable for teaching, for correction, for direction and for a course in righteousness, 17 that the man of God will be perfect and perfected for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Paul says the word of God, the Bible, also helps us grow towards perfection.
We've been seeing that the perfection of ourselves in this time is a process. It could seem that Paul is saying here that we will be perfect for the good works that God has for us to do. He doesn't mean it that way. He means that we will be sufficiently perfected to be perfect for those particular works, while there would be other works that God will not ask of us because we are not sufficiently perfected for them.
You know that Paul said that he was not perfect.
I have not yet received it, neither am I yet perfect, but I run so that I may obtain that thing for which Yeshua the Messiah apprehended me. 13 My brethren, I do not consider myself to have obtained it, but I know one thing: I have forgotten that which is behind me and I reach out before me, 14 and I run toward the goal to take the victory of the calling of God from on high in Yeshua the Messiah. 15 Let those who are perfected, therefore, be governed by these things, […] (Philippians 3:12-15)
Though Paul was not perfect (we might say "completely perfect"), he was perfected and perfect for his work as an apostle.
Paul says something very important here. It's another way to move toward perfection. He's using a metaphor of running a race. He's saying that we should forget the things we've done. He doesn't literally mean "forgotten," he means, as a runner, we should leave them behind us because they can only slow us down. If only we could choose to forget.
Then he says we should reach out as runners for the finish line and run toward that goal.
In these verses, we see an example where he uses perfection in different ways. In verse 12, "perfect" is used in the sense of being completely perfect, the third of our viewpoints. In verse 15, he uses "perfected" in the sense of the second of our viewpoints, perfect by the covering of Jesus, though imperfect.
In that verse 15 usage, he is saying that those who are perfected (all believers) should be governed in this way.
In some other translations, you can see that they're struggling to do their translation in a way that will make it clearer.
We'll look at some verses that talk about us being perfected in the Messiah.
For the Law (Torah) had a shadow in it of good things that were coming. It was not the essence of those matters; because of this, while they were offering those sacrifices every year, they could never perfect those who offered them. 2 For if they had perfected them, doubtless, they would have ceased from their offerings, because their conscience would not have been buffeted by sin once they had themselves been purged. […] 14 For by one offering [Yeshua] has perfected those who are sanctified by him for eternity. (Hebrews 10:1-2,14)
These verses compare the lives of people in Old Testament times with those of New Testament people. It says the sacrifices the Old Testament people made could not perfect them. After the sacrifice, their consciences continued to beat up on them about their sins, as they continued to feel guilty.
Then the verses above skip ahead to verse 14, where the author contrasts the New Testament experience, where Jesus' one-time sacrifice perfects those who believe in him. Those words imply that their consciences no longer bother them.
Some people would ask, "Then why do I, a Christian, still feel guilty for my sins?" You don't. The churches never teach about guilt, so Christians do not know. After the guilt, we will still remember what we did and feel bad about it. That is different from guilt. From personal experience, guilt burns, but memories bring only regrets.
Satan brings back memories in people to try to confuse them into thinking they still feel guilt, so they will be, as Paul talked about above, runners held back by the past. Paul said he "forgets" what is behind him.
We who are sanctified, made holy, by him for eternity, are perfected as God sees us, because he sees us through Jesus.
I need to briefly mention here that Paul and the author of Hebrews are assuming the commission of unintentional sins. Believers who only commit unintentional sins are "sanctified by him for eternity." An intentional sin (by his will, as Hebrews 10 says) results in complete separation from God, and requires repentance and a new start.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially, 10 but when perfection shall come, then that which is partial shall be nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:9-10)
Paul says there is a future time when "we" will be perfected, and not just perfected through the Messiah as God sees us, but perfected in our own right.
That "perfection" isn't Paul's point, so he doesn't spend any time on it. He links it to a change in our relationship with God. If our current lives, he says, we know God imperfectly and speak for him (prophecy) imperfectly. When that change comes, we will know everything, and we will speak everything.
Paul doesn't mention when that happens. He is speaking about the Second Coming, when we will get new bodies.
Here, from Hebrews, there is another verse that talks about being perfect in the way that we are talking about now.
Persons of whom the world was not worthy; and they were as wanderers in desert places and in mountains and in caves and caverns of the Earth. 39 And all of these, concerning whom there is a testimony of their faith, did not receive the promise, 40 because God provided for our benefit that they would not be made perfect without us. (Hebrews 11:38-40)
In Hebrews 11, the author is referring to the people of faith throughout history, and he gives scattered examples from that history. About all these people, he says, they will not be made perfect without us also being made perfect. The "us" includes Paul and all the believers to come after him, including the last believer, dead and alive.
The implication to draw from these verses is that neither the Old Testament people of faith nor the New Testament people of faith have been made perfect yet. We will all be made perfect together … at the Second Coming.
At the start we covered the fact that imperfection cannot exist in the presence of God. Because God is in Heaven, it isn't possible for anyone to be in Heaven with God. The imperfection that we have is retained after death, which is why Paul must also be perfected. Because of that imperfection, we would cease to exist in his presence. Despite the common church belief, believers who die cannot go to Heaven.
We talked about Adam and Eve being created perfect, but because of their sin, we received a sinful nature when we were born. Because of that nature, we sin very soon after we understand right and wrong, as children. This results in us becoming imperfect, and there is nothing we can do to get rid of it or become perfect in that way.
Jesus offers us a way that we can be seen by God as perfect. Because of his blood cleansing us, our imperfections can be hidden.
That's a temporary solution though. At the time of the Second Coming, all of the people of faith who have believed in God will be perfected. We will really, truly be perfect, a change that is impossible to imagine.
Part of what makes it possible is the new bodies we will receive. Our current bodies are part of our problem with sin. They try to convince us to do things that are wrong.
Right now, we aren't perfect in that way. At the start, we talked about these 3 viewpoints on perfection. As believers we are at the second one, where Jesus' blood covers our sins, and we look perfect to God, though we are imperfect.
We work toward perfecting ourselves, as Paul talks about running towards that perfection, getting closer, though unable to get there. We do this with the help of the elders, by reading the word of God, and by forgetting the past.
This perfection prepares us to do the good works that God has prepared for us to do and has perfected us sufficiently to do them.
We also saw that Jesus' perfection of us satisfies our consciences so they do not prick us about previous sins.
We've also seen that the Bible uses these three viewpoints of perfection without telling us which is meant. The Bible even mixes different viewpoints together.
We need to figure out which viewpoints are being used from the context. Otherwise, we may be tripped up by the verses.