And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. Ephesians 4:11–16
Webster defines perfection as something that is “complete or correct in every way, conforming to a standard or ideal with no omissions, errors, flaws or extraneous elements.” We think of something as perfect if it is totally free of errors or cannot be criticized in any way. We’ve always heard that “nobody’s perfect,” and yet Jesus says that we are to aim for perfection––even God-life perfection (Matthew 5:48). So can we be perfect? And does God expect perfection from us?
The Scriptures give us a number of examples of men who exhibited perfection in their lives, and yet we see that the Biblical concept of perfection is somewhat different from our typical use of the word. Noah, for example, was “a just man, perfect in his generations” (Genesis 6:9). Noah achieved this perfection by walking with God (v 9) and by doing all that God commanded him (v 22). Was Noah sinless? Of course not. After the flood we read of an occasion in which he intoxicated himself with wine and shamed his family (Genesis 9:20–23). We read that David’s heart was “perfect with the Lord” (1 Kings 11:4, KJV). We all know about David’s unspeakable sins (2 Samuel 11–12), and yet the Scriptures declare him a man “after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). “Asa’s heart was perfect with the Lord all his days” (1 Kings 15:14, KJV). We read how this king removed the sodomites from the land along with the idols that his father had made (v 12). He dedicated vessels of gold and silver to the temple (v 15) and even removed his own mother from her position of authority because of her idolatry (v 13). And yet Asa was not sinless. He failed to remove the high places (v 14) and made a league with the king of Syria (vv 18–19). When a prophet rebuked him, Asa cast him into prison (2 Chronicles 16:2–10). Perfect with the Lord all his days? Yes. Sinless? Absolutely not. Obviously God’s idea of perfection is not achieved by being completely mistake-free. Each of these men made enormous mistakes. God’s idea of perfection is achieved through a lifetime of putting no other gods before Him.
How can you and I achieve perfection before God? We need to walk with God as Noah did (Genesis 6:9), doing whatever He commands (v 22). We need a penitent heart like David’s that causes us to confess our sins and turn from them. We need a zeal for God like that of Asa. We don’t need to be sinless, and we don’t need to punish ourselves mercilessly when we fail. Instead, let us learn to put faith in the grace of God and press onward toward the glorious prize (Philippians 3:10–17) that awaits all those who seeks God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness above every other pursuit (Matthew 6:33).