“God Can Completely Heal the Damage Done” — another look
at the meaning of perfection — in the larger setting of the great controversy over
God's character and government.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus uttered those memorable words that continue to trouble
saints and sinners alike, "You, therefore, must be perfect." Or should it be
translated, "You, therefore, will be perfect"? Is it a promise or command?
Whether these words are encouraging or forbidding depends again on the kind of Person
we believe our God to be and on our understanding of what He wants for His children
throughout the universe — and especially for us on this planet who have been so
caught up in the damaging consequences of the great controversy. Above all God wants peace
and freedom in His family. This requires mutual love and trust, maturity and self control.
Such things cannot be commanded, much less produced by force or fear. Instead God offers
to set right all that has gone wrong, to completely heal the damage done.
As our physician Father, God longs to make His children well. Our part is not to heal
ourselves but to cooperate. As Jesus said to the paralytic at the pool, "Would you
like to be made whole?" Perfection is a generous offer — not a burdensome
command! How could we turn such an offer down! But how do we cooperate?
Bible passages included:
Matthew 5:48. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which
is in heaven is perfect." (KJV)
Luke 18:42. "Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee."
(KJV)
"Receive your sight; your faith has healed you." (NIV)
Matthew 5:48. "You must be perfect." (GNB)
"Ye therefore shall be perfect." (American
Standard)
"You are to be perfect." (Goodspeed)
1 Kings 9:4, 5; 11:4, 6. "If you will walk before me, as David
your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness... I will establish your royal
throne...When Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his
heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father...
Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not wholly follow the Lord, as
David his father had done." (RSV)
2 Peter 1:21. "Holy men of god spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost" (KJV)
Matthew 5:48. "You must become spiritually mature, as your
heavenly Father is perfect." (Norlie)
John 3:3. "Jesus answered, 'I am telling you the truth: no one
can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'" (GNB)
Romans 6:4. "By our baptism we were buried with Him in death, in
order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father's glorious power, we also
should live an entirely new life." (Weymouth)
Romans 6:3, 4 footnote: "St. Paul alludes to the manner in which
Baptism was ordinarily conferred in the primitive Church, by immersion. The descent into
the water is suggestive of the descent of the body into the grave, and the ascent is
suggestive of a resurrection to a new life." (Kleist
and Lilly)
Hebrews 5:11-6:12. "Though by this time you ought to be teachers,
you need someone to teach you the elementary truth of God's word all over again. You need
milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted
with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant
use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the
elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity." (NIV)
Ephesians 4:11, 13-15. "His gifts were made that Christians
might...arrive at real maturity... We are not meant to remain as children at the mercy of
every chance wind of teaching, and of the jockeying of men who are expert in the crafty
presentation of lies. But we are meant to speak the truth in love, and to grow up in every
way into Christ. (Phillips)
1 Corinthians 13:4, 5. "Love is patient and kind; love is not
jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it
is not irritable or resentful." (RSV)
2 Corinthians 3:18. "And then with unveiled faces we can all
behold, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. And we become changed into His likeness,
from glory to glory, through the Spirit of the Lord working in us." (Norlie)
Psalm 115:8. "Those who make them will be like them, and so will
all who trust in them." (NIV)
1 Corinthians 11:1. "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ."
(RSV)
One admirer's description of Christ's perfection and maturity:
Christ carried out in His life His own divine teachings. His zeal never led Him to
become passionate. He manifested consistency without obstinacy, benevolence without
weakness, tenderness and sympathy without sentimentalism. He was highly social; yet He
possessed a reserved dignity that did not encourage undue familiarity. His temperance
never led to bigotry or austerity. He was not conformed to the world; yet He was not
indifferent to the wants of the least among men." (Evangelism, pg.
638)
©1984 Graham Maxwell
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