Matthew 5:43–48 (CSB) — 43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
At the end of Jesus’ five ethical doctrines in the Sermon on the Mount, he teaches us to love our enemies “so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” He supports this teaching by first showing that God sends his blessings on both the righteous and unrighteous, and then by saying that if we only love those who love us, we’re no different than the wicked. Jesus concludes by saying that God’s perfection is the standard of love that his followers are called to express, telling us to “be perfect”, just as our heavenly Father is perfect. So, what are Christians supposed to make of the imperative to “be perfect”?
A friend of mine and I had a conversation about this last night, and I wanted to speak to this here because I believe this is important. On the one hand, ignoring this teaching can result in a false-sense of security, while on the other hand, mistaking this teaching can result in a false-sense of condemnation. So lets consider this passage.
I believe Scripture gives us the plain answer:
Ephesians 1:4 (CSB) — 4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.
We’re meant to walk before God in holy and blameless love. Our perfection isn’t in sinless or moral blamelessness, but, rather, it’s in love. This is the central theme of the apostle John’s first letter, which tells us that “God is light”, and no one who walks in fellowship with God can walk in the darkness (1 John 1:5–6). We’re then told that the blood of Jesus cleanses the sins of those who walk in the light (1 John 1:7). As the letter builds towards its crescendo, we’re told to “love one another” because those who love are from God (1 John 4:7), which clearly reflects the language of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. John warns us that an absence of love comes from not knowing God (1 John 4:8). And he tells us that God’s love in sending his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins is the basis for the love that we express on earth, which is why those who know God’s love must in turn show his love to others (1 John 4:10-11). And it’s those who live out this love that abide in God (1 John 4:16). The good news is that through the love that God has shown to us, we are transformed from our fallen nature and conformed to the nature of his Son, so that in him we have confidence in the day of judgment because we express his love in our life (1 John 4:17).
So, what does this mean? It means that we’re meant to walk with God in the holy blamelessness of love; we’re to express the perfection of his love in our lives because he has poured out his love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). And we know that we remain in his love because we live by his word (John 15:10), and in his love we have confidence that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:8).
This is the good news of Jesus applied to the life of the believer; it’s a life transformed by God’s perfect love.
A Dedicated Faith 