Is Perfection Possible?

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Matthew 5:48

There is a common misconception that no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. The only perfect person was Jesus, and he was perfect because he was part human and part God. While there are some truths to such a statement, in its entirety, it is a false statement. The definition of perfection is flawless and faultless, but the broader meaning includes absolute and completeness. Consequently, when the Scripture speaks of perfection, it refers to completeness rather than flawlessness.

Have you ever seen a rainbow that lacks perfection? When light strikes the water droplets in the sky, a multicolored arc appears, known as a rainbow. In addition to the colors that make the rainbow so magnificent, the colors are always arranged in order of their wavelength from the longest to the shortest - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. From our perspective on earth, the appearance of the rainbow in the sky always resembles perfection.

Likewise, when Jesus provides insight on how to apply the Old Testament law, He ends with the comment, be ye, therefore, perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. In other words, if believers reflect the image of God by acquiring the example of Jesus during His life on earth, the believers will resemble perfection from a heavenly perspective. Even the Apostle Paul encourages such when he penned his epistles to the Ephesians by stating:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Ephesians 4:13

Since Jesus is sitting in authority by the right hand of God the Father, our perfection on earth equates to the unity of the faith plus the knowledge of God the Son. The unity of the faith occurs when the believer sees Jesus as He truly is and becomes aware of the knowledge about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection from a heavenly perspective. Then and only then, when we are in a position of complete knowledge, and the prominence of Jesus measures that knowledge in our life, only then we will achieve perfection. To put it another way, when you become consumed with pursuing what is essential for the Kingdom rather than self-importance, the results equate to perfection from a heavenly perspective.

Have you even seen a rainbow that lacks perfection?