Matthew 5:48; “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (KJV)
Hebrews 10:14; “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
Can anyone be perfect?
Can I attain perfection?
Looking at the human perspective and ability, the answer is obviously NO.
But the One who alone is perfect calls us to be perfect, so the possibility of being perfect is something to consider.
Perfection can never be achieved by human capability or power, but only through the One who is calling us into that state, not by human might or power but by the Spirit of God. Following Jesus and walking by the Spirit one day at a time will help us understand the reality of this truth.
When Jesus sent this call to be perfect, He was teaching many other kingdom principles.
Matthew recorded it in Mat. 5:43-48.
His audiences are the Israelites, God’s chosen people.
As we listen to this teaching at our present time, a non-Israelite culture will leave us with a bewildered mindset. Impossibility plays in our minds. But of course, with God, nothing is impossible.
Therefore, the first thing that needs to happen to anyone for this to become reality is to experience what John the beloved wrote in John 1:12-13; “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Once you’re born of God, you become a child of God, and God will send His Spirit to live in you.
Rom. 8:9; “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.”
The Spirit of God will lead and empower you to live right.
As you surrender to His power, you will see yourself in love with Jesus, God, in a way you have never experienced.
He will make you see the things you need to repent for.
The Spirit makes you a new person in Christ, as it is written in 2 Cor 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
In this condition, your life led, empowered, and in the dwelling of the Spirit of God, Matthew 5:43-48 can now be possible.
You can be able to love people the way God loves.
You can pray for those who persecute you.
And you can now be gracious.
These all became reality because of the Spirit of God who now lives you.
You can be perfect just as Jesus said.
