A Reflection On Perfection

“And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.” [Genesis 22:7-8 ESV]

“You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it.” [Leviticus 22:20-21 ESV]

“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” [Isaiah 53:5-7 ESV]

“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” [John 1:29 ESV]

“Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” [1 Corinthians 5:7 ESV]

“But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” [Hebrews 10:12-14 ESV]

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” … Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” [Revelation 7:9-10, 13-14 ESV]

teleios: Greek word meaning “wanting nothing necessary to completeness” and “perfect” and “consummate integrity and virtue.” In the Hebrew, the similar word is tāmîm, which is translated “without blemish, perfect, upright, complete.”

From Strong’s Definitions

Have you ever considered the word “perfect?” It is used in many ways today, but I’d like to focus on the sense of the word used in scripture to describe Christ and His sacrifice: to lack nothing necessary to completeness, to be of consummate integrity and virtue. A rough analogy nowadays would be a perfect diamond, one without flaws in cut, color, or clarity. Such internally perfect diamonds are rare–less than 0.5 percent fall into this category. They are also full of faceted beauty. In the spiritual world, there is only One who is perfect, whose beauty is so great that mortal man cannot bear the vision and live: “our Lord Jesus Christ…he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. [1 Timothy 6:15-16 ESV]

Now, have you ever wondered why Jesus said, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect?” [Matthew 5:48 ESV] According to Strong’s, the word teleios in this verse carries the idea “to be perfect of mind and character, one who has reached the height of proper virtue and integrity.” So, why is it when you or I look in the spiritual mirror of God’s Word, we often see our lack? And why is it evident that the early Church indeed had similar struggles? Before you lose heart, please read this post through. I believe you will be greatly encouraged.

First, I want to point out that the leaders in the early Church likened those in the body of Christ to children who start out as babes but mature and progress in their faith. Babies need to learn to talk, walk, and relate to others in proper ways. Young children are not expected to know it all, and teenagers often think they know it all, but we are long-suffering for their sake. And the forward progress continues until we all mature. It is the same in our spiritual lives. For example, Peter writes in his first letter: “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” [1 Peter 2:2 ESV]

Beloved, if you ever feel like a total failure as a Christian, please know this is the enemy trying to tear you down and tempt you to give up. His tactic is to make us focus and fuss over our failures instead of confessing them, turning from them, and trusting our Good Father to forgive. I think we can be influenced toward doubt when we remember some of the bad parenting skills we grew up with. Our natural fathers can leave deep impressions in our minds of how they could bring up shortcomings from many years ago and remind us of our lack. Because of this, we can feel insecure that our Heavenly Father is somehow similar. I assure you, He is not. He is good and perfect, faithful and compassionate. Even the apostle John assures us: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [1 John 1:8-9 ESV] If you feel sorry for your sin and desire to turn from it, that is exactly what the Lord looks for in our hearts and sees:

“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” [Isaiah 57:15 ESV]

Moreover, this tactic of the devil is to pry our eyes off the perfection of Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross. From the beginning of the Bible to the end, it is the Lord’s plan and desire to provide and ensure our salvation in His Son. Like the scriptures cited at the top of this blog, everything points to the Lamb of God’s perfect and sufficient sacrifice for our salvation–His suffering, His bearing our sins, His perfect life and death, his complete submission to His Father’s will, and His joyous victory over death as proved by His resurrection from the grave. Not one of us could live such a life of perfect obedience, so Jesus lived it for us.

What the devil does is tempt us to look to ourselves, to thoughts like, “I’ve failed again, it’s no use,” or “God will not love me any more after all this.” It is the suggestion that our actions somehow negate the Lord’s fatherly and perfect love. It is in direct contradiction to scripture: “But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children.” [Psalm 103:17 ESV] The book of Hebrews reinforces God’s promises: “for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” [Hebrews 13:5 ESV] Jesus Himself said, “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” [John 6:37 NIV] Brothers and sisters, Jesus always spoke truth and it is impossible for God to lie. So, when a thought comes to mind that is contrary to the Word of God, choose to believe the truth!

This temptation to look to ourselves, our sins, or even our good deeds, detracts us from trusting in the Lord’s perfect provision. When Jesus said, “It is finished!” he meant it! The word “finish” here in the Greek is teleō, which is from the same root word as the teleios definition of “perfect” cited above. Here it means “to bring to a close, to finish, to end; to perform the last act which completes a process, to fulfill.” I tend to think it is human nature when we feel the sting or shame of our sin to start to doubt our position in Christ or even our salvation. I think that is why the apostle John reassured his readers: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of him.” [1 John 5:13-15 NIV] That includes asking the Lord to save us! Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” [John 5:24 ESV]

Can you see how subtle Satan can be? Believing any of his lies is not submitting to the truth in God’s Word. The Bible tells us to, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” [James 4:7 ESV] Beloved, take heart in the Lord’s truth and rejoice in His grace and mercy! Know that we grow in His abundant grace. Jesus is called the founder and perfecter of our faith: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” [Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV] Jesus laid the cornerstone with His death on the cross, and He builds us up and sanctifies us through His Holy Spirit: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” [Ephesians 5:25-27 ESV]

Brothers and sisters, please understand and take to heart that Christ’s sacrifice was perfect and accepted by God for our salvation. We cannot take away from it or add to it anything! It would be like polishing or otherwise trying to tinker with our internally perfect diamond. Like this diamond, Christ’s sacrifice needs nothing to make it better or more beautiful. Our salvation was planned at the beginning, prophesied throughout the ages, and fulfilled in none other than Jesus Christ our beloved King of kings and Lord of Lords. Amen!

“John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” [Revelation 1:4-6 ESV]

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