Theological Abuse
“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48 NASB
Perfect – It will come as no great shock to you that none of us can meet this standard. No one is perfect. In fact, it seems quite obvious that no human being is capable of being perfect. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons we make theological exceptions for Yeshua. He just isn’t ordinary. All the rest of us have at one time or another acted less than perfectly. But if this is so, why would Yeshua set the standard so high that none of us can reach it? If He knew all human beings sin, why would He demand the impossibility of perfection?
Before you jump to the doctrine of depravity bequeathed to us by Augustine and Calvin, remember that no one in the audience on the day Yeshua gave this lesson had ever heard of those two men. In fact, no one in that audience probably ever heard of Plato who started the whole depravity problem in the first place. Remember also that Yeshua is thoroughly versed in the Tanakh. His allusion in this statement is to Leviticus 19:2 where the proper key word is not “perfect” but rather “holy.” We have looked at the differences between these two concepts in the past, but today let’s pay attention to the implications of this correction for our concept of Man. Heschel sums it up nicely:
“The notion of human perfection, which made its way into the literature of Israel in the Middle Ages, is an alien growth in the Jewish vineyard, one that bears flowers but no fruit.”[1] In a footnote, Gordon Tucker comments, “[Human perfection] is nice to contemplate but provides no useful moral guidance.” Think about these statements for a moment. Put aside the theological debate about depravity and sinful nature. Just think about the impact that the idea of human perfection has had on us.
First, it drives us to despair. How do you like living in a world where you can never be good enough? Isn’t that reassuring? It isn’t much consolation to be told that this is all a test of your faith. Frankly, if God designed the planet so that we are intended to constantly fail in order to recognize our sinfulness, then I’m not sure I want to worship that kind of god. That kind of god is much more like the pagan gods of the ancient Near East or the Greeks than the God of intimate, heartbroken compassion that I find in the Tanakh.
Second, a doctrine (for that is what it is) of human perfection, even as an ideal, reshapes the way we think of progress, politics and personality. It supports the idea of social evolution (see devolving). It suggests that human beings are capable of reaching utopia. It views all defects as disease, capable of being overcome by the application of reason. It classifies the biblical theme of the sinful heart as an outmoded myth. Imagine how much psychological abuse has occurred as a result of believing that people should be perfect. Then consider how differently you would view the world – and yourself – if you seriously took to heart the idea that human beings are supposed to progress toward holiness – toward being completely set aside for God’s purposes. Now you might understand why the sages taught that we are to serve God with both the yetzer ha’tov and the yetzer ha’ra. To eliminate the yetzer ha’ra is to erase God’s image in us! The idea of human perfection (not human holiness) is blasphemy. It amounts to saying that God’s image in human beings is not good.
Perfect? No way! But progressing toward godliness. Yes, that’s the goal. “Be holy, for I, YHWH am holy.”
Topical Index: perfect, holy, teleios, Matthew 5:48, Leviticus 19:2, human perfection
Attention all of the Methodist traditions. Take this article to heart and know what is really required of us. Not perfection but holiness. Thank you, Skip.
Perfect, holy, complete, or whatever other word is used, are all qualified by “…even as your Father in heaven is…” perfect, holy, complete, etc. Maybe I’m missing something.
Hi Jon,
To understand the difference between perfect and holy you should read ‘Holy Perfection (1)’ dated januari 19th 2012.
Yup, you’re missing the fact that these words are NOT synonyms in Hebrew.
John, looking at the passage in Leviticus to which Yeshua is referring is informative. The phrase says in Hebrew, וִהְיִיתֶם קְדֹשִׁים כִּי קָדֹושׁ אָֽנִי – transliterated, “vihƏyitem k’doshim ki kadosh ani” – “…thus you shall be holy, for I am holy”.
The word kadosh (k’doshim is the same word in the plural form) means to be “sacred, holy, set apart, ritually clean, sanctified, free from defilement or impurity”. It carries the idea of being set apart for the purposes of YHVH, in a state of readiness to be used (i.e. not defiled).
Put that back into its Hebrew context and re-read the verse. “Be set apart and ready to be used for the purposes of God, even as your Father in heaven is set apart (by the very nature of his being).”
Such a pity that the translators had such a hard time expressing the richness of meaning in the original language. As a wise scholar once said, “The translator is a traitor.” One either translates word for word, potentially confusing the readers of the destination language, or one attempts to translate the idiom but loses the majesty and flow of the source.
That is why I’m so determined to learn to read and understand Hebrew – so I can read the book in its source language and attempt to better understand what’s being communicated. As Skip says, so I can “read what the text actually says” and challenge the doctrine to see if it lines up, instead of uncritically accepting the doctrine and using that to interpret the text.
Sorry, Jon, I inadvertently put an “h” in your name – my apologies.
Thanks Skip for teaching on this subject.
This verse has been traditionally taught that it is a state of being that we have to reach, “Be perfect.” I believe it is rather about emulating the Father. It is about progress and acting and doing as the Father would do.
My first introduction from a Hebraic perspective on the Sermon on the Mount was from Dr. Roy Blizzard way back in the eighties. Let’s take a look at the context of this passage.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if You love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48 (ESV)
Taking a look at the passage that preceeds the verse being examamined, we see it is all about relating to our enemies, even as our heavenly Father is consistently and constantly relating to all of His creatures.
This is how Dr. Blizzard translated this last verse, to the best of my memory from a cassette of one of his teachings called, “Nuggets from the Sermon on the Mount.”
“You therefore be in a covenant of shalom, as your heavenly Father is in a covenant of shalom with the evil and unjust.” I believe this a loose translation and close to what he was trying to communicate.
This is about imitation of our Father!
Any comments of any kind would be appreciated.
I have a question. Who are the unjust and evil that Yeshua is talking about in this passage?
By the way, I am feeling a lot better this morning and the pain has diminished quite a bit. I do not know if it is because the muscles are healing in the back or it is just the pain medicine doing its job of keeping the pain at bay. Thank you for all our prayers. In His Care, Brian
“A covenant of peace” sounds very much like the announcement of the angels at the birth of Yeshua. Thanks for reminding me of Roy’s insight. I would only add that the covenant of peace is initiated by God (and therefore to be modeled by us) and does NOT depend on the prior relationship or status of those embraced by this covenant. This is the idea behind the Hebrew word hen, a word we will explore shortly. It is the precursor to hesed. So once we have initiated the covenant of peace, we establish the grounds for mutual obligation.
Thanks for the comments. I had read ‘Holy Perfection (1)’ on the date of its publication. I re-read it just now. The qualifier “…even as your Father in heaven…” remains. He is not progressing toward perfection, holiness, etc. He is the essence of perfection and holiness and completeness. He is the standard of holiness, perfection, and completeness. Is the word ‘perfect’ in reference to the Father the same word ‘perfect’ as it is used in reference to our calling?
To me, the comments that have been given are in danger of lowering Who God is. I don’t think we want a God Who is anything less than absolute perfection, holiness, and completeness. If so, we have no god at all. Regardless of the definitions we give to Him, He remains the Sovereign of the universe. What an awesome God!
Can I suggest that you also read my book, God, Time and the Limits of Omniscience which traces the Greek influence of the idea of perfection as it affects various Christian doctrines? While I agree that God is perfect, absolute, holy and complete, His command that we be holy cannot mean that we attain the same ontological perfection that He has. We are but creatures. The danger is not that we lower God but that we elevate Man. The Greek idea of perfection is based in a mathematical construct, i.e. that perfect is that which lacks nothing and to which nothing can be added. The difficulty with this definition is that it makes God’s interaction with the world logically impossible since any creative act on His behalf would add something to His experience. Classic Greek-thinking theologians were forced to posit “eternal” as “timelessness” in order to avoid this problem and then propose that God “timelessly” knows and creates everything before its appearance in physical reality. Of course, that further complicates the issue because it implies that there is no such thing as true freedom of choice for any created being. The real problem is the definition of perfection. Hebrew does not share this presupposition and therefore does not arrive at the same paradoxical conclusion. I have written extensively on this, demonstrating historically and logically that the Christian idea of perfection based in Plato and Parmenides is incompatible with Hebrew thought and the biblical text.
I’ve read your book Skip,
I have lots of questions but currently have no time to pursue them all. However today’s word brings to mind one of those questions from Lu 2:40 The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.
How does Yeshua’s progress toward holiness – toward being completely set aside for God’s purposes fit into your understanding of limited omniscience? And since He had to grow into His wisdom, when did He figure out that He was the Messiah?
I realize that the use of the phrase “son of God” Hebraically doesn’t necessarily refer to a physically begotten son. (I’m not trying to argue the point of Yeshua’s unique conception here at all.) This verse has always struck me as odd with regards to the timeless perfect God of Christianity and His timeless perfect Son of the same essence. I have never been able to reconcile it but had managed to put it neatly away in the mystery closet of Full deity wrapped in 100% humanity. Whew! Don’t have to think about that one anymore.
Then you had to go and write that book!
This one is a bit haunting.
Shalom
“Then consider how differently you would view the world – and yourself – if you seriously took to heart the idea that human beings are supposed to progress toward holiness – toward being completely set aside for God’s purposes. Now you might understand why the sages taught that we are to serve God with both the yetzer ha’tov and the yetzer ha’ra. To eliminate the yetzer ha’ra is to erase God’s image in us! The idea of human perfection (not human holiness) is blasphemy. It amounts to saying that God’s image in human beings is not good.”
PERFECTIONISM IS A DISEASE TOO – IT CAN KILL/DESTROY PEOPLE – I AM NOT PERFECT BUT I WANT TO BE PERFECT/HOLY LIKE HE/GOD/JESUS ARE – NOT THAT I WILL EVER REACH THAT PERFECTION UNTIL I MEET HIM FACE TO FACE & MY BEEF IS THAT SOME CHRISTIANS DON’T EVEN FEEL THAT NEED TO BE HOLY OR PERHAPS THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT HOLINESS IS NOR DO THEY CARE – AGAIN, IT’S ALL ABOUT GRACE – GRACE CAN TAKE CARE OF THAT HOLINESS THING – YEAH, RIGHT…
Perfect? No way! But progressing toward godliness. Yes, that’s the goal. “Be holy, for I, YHWH am holy.”
PROGRESSING, STRIVING, RUNNING TO WIN THE RACE, SANCTIFICATION, WHOLENESS, SALVATION, DELIVERANCE, HOLINESS – YES TO BE HOLY AS HE/GOD/JESUS ARE HOLY..
I DON’T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HOLINESS & PROGRESSING TOWARD IT, I JUST WISH MORE PEOPLE WANTED IT/HIM TOO… ♥ INSTEAD OF AN EXCUSE (GRACE) TO STAY WHERE THEY ARE IN THEIR PROGRESSION TO/OF HOLINESS… ♥
Jon De Rusha,
Thank you for your comments above. In this passage the issue is not about the beingness of God or about His absolute holiness, perfection or completeness. The passage is about how we His disciples relate as the Father relates to His enemies, the unjust, and the evil. This is not about the reduction of who He is. This is about us relating to His world as He relates to His world!
We know God because He has revealed Himself to us through His actions toward us and His creation. The Sermon on the Mount is about how we live as disciples of the King and His kingdom. Yeshua is teaching us how to be light and salt to the world. The Teachings on the Mount is about reflecting the way and character of the Father to the world and not about reducing Him down to our level. It is about reflecting our lives and character and ways unto His!
As Skip wrote above, ” I would only add that the covenant of peace is initiated by God (and therefore to be modeled by us) and does NOT depend on the prior relationship or status of those embraced by this covenant. This is the idea behind the Hebrew word hen, a word we will explore shortly. It is the precursor to hesed. So once we have initiated the covenant of peace, we establish the grounds for mutual obligation.”
It is also about moving toward and progressing toward the model that the Father and Yeshua has given to us. We are trying to live out what we have experienced by being brought into the family. We never get to the place and say “We have arrived!” We are partnering with the Holy Spirit in moving toward reconciliaton/peace toward those who are enemies, unjust, and evil. This was again modeled by the Father and expressed and lived out fully by Yeshua.
In His Care, Brian
You know, I was pondering this this morning and something occurred to me that I’ve never seen before. In the context of the Hebrew phrase which Yeshua is referring to, repeated many times in the Torah, specifically in Leviticus, “vihǝyitem k’doshim ki kadosh ani” – “…thus you shall be holy, for I am holy”. what if this is descriptive language, rather than prescriptive? Ki means “for” or “because”. Have a look at this;
Lev 11:44-45 ESV – [44] For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. [45] For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
Verse 44 is a commandment – consecrate yourselves and be “set apart”. In other words, “get ready and prepared for what I’m about to do.” Then, in verse 45, YHVH says, “therefore you shall be holy, because I am holy“.
In other words, it is not your holiness that counts here, but My holiness. My holiness will be imputed to you when you do what I ask you to do.
When we are obedient to Him, when we live as his representatives in the world and represent his image faithfully (as faithfully as we can, as imperfect as we are) then the world sees not our “set-apart-ness”, but His. He sets us apart for his purposes – his holiness is imputed to us. This is in Leviticus, folks! It has always been that way! I bet your pastor never told you that is in the Torah! 😉
Hmmm – I seem to remember a guy by the name of Rav. Sha’ul from Tarsus writing something like this in one of his letters. I wonder where he got it from? 😉
Pam,
The Semitic mind is a lot more comfortable with these tensions and seeming contradictions. The Greek mind wants God and our relationship to be defined exactly and with precision. The semitic and Biblical mind loves the tension and mystery of God and our creaturely relationship to Him. I am so glad for this dynamic within the history of His dealings with His creation!
I’m glad for it also Brian. That tension is what makes it so exciting to wake up in the morning and discover what He’s laid out for us each day.
20 years of Hebrew roots barely makes a nick in the previous 40 years of Western indoctrination. I’ve read my bible enough that I can’t help but remember such passages and the questions they’ve raised in me in the past as I read books like Skips “God, Time and the Limits of Omniscience”.
I learned as a very young child to just trust Him and praise YHVH that has stuck with me my entire life. Its what gave me permission in the first place to explore the Hebraic mind. But I still love to get answers to those questions. 😀
–if God designed the planet so that we are intended to constantly fail in order to recognize our sinfulness, then I’m not sure I want to worship that kind of god. That kind of god is much more like the pagan gods of the ancient Near East or the Greeks than the God of intimate, heartbroken compassion that I find in the Tanakh.–
G-d designed this world (and His word!) in order for us to recognize and realize not only our sinfulness but to realize and to recognize we have a Savior! A Deliver! a Redeemer! A Restorer of the Breech! A Comforter! A Shepherd! A Sovereign! A Friend! A Mediator! and An Intercessor!- all found “in Christ.”
He gave His life’s blood- He gave His life’s Breath!.. -What more could He give? Friend, I “daily” and moment-by-moment know, I need a Savior.
This is not religion- it is a relationship with the Sovereign Living G-d who now is.
let us allow the word(s) speak for themselves.. Does G-d say (in both Hebrew and Greek)- do He say what He means and means what He says?
perfect: (from the Greek) téleios
Cognate: 5046 téleios (an adjective, derived from 5056 /télos, “consummated goal”) – mature (consummated) from going through the necessary stages to reach the end-goal, i.e. developed into a consummating completion by fulfilling the necessary process (spiritual journey). See 5056 (telos).
[This root (tel-) means “reaching the end (aim).” It is well-illustrated with the old pirate’s telescope, unfolding (extending out) one stage at a time to function at full-strength (capacity effectiveness).]
as in a perfect rose? fully mature?
~ by speaking the truth in love,…may grow up into Him in all
things, which is the Head, even Christ ~ (Ephesians 4:15)
lol! – so much for “perfection!” (proofread before posting, please..)
let us allow His word(s) to speak for themselves.. When G-d speaks (in both N.T. Greek and O.T. Hebrew)- is He cabable of saying what He means? and does He mean what He says? (the Law of the LORD is perfect!..) The Lamb of G-d is “perfect!” (without spot, stain or blemish) – I (too) find no fault in Him..
’tis so sweet to trust in Jesus- just to take Him at His word.. Just to rest upon His promise.. Just to know- “thus saith the LORD”
Amen and Amen. I would like to share with you that to become holy one needs to return and learn to know who Abba Father really is. Personally He has always been only loving and compassionate and have kept on drawing me closer. Year after year. He has never disconnected from me. It was always I who became blinded by my character faults and weeknesses. When I do teshuva(repentace) from a brocken heart He repairs and moves me forward. Spiritually I see myself as a little toddler taking my first steps knowing fully that Daddy is watching me right now. I see Him with the eyes of my heart not my human eyes. Although I know that I can never be worhty I know that I am always fully and completely loved by our Father in Heaven. This knowing motivates me to want to become more holy and move closer to our Abba Father. The invisible string attached to His heart is very much real. He reveals it so often. I often imagine myself sitting on His knee and hugging Him. This comforts me when the world around me are cruel and unloving at times. Thank you that I can share this with you. Maybe something that I have written today makes the yourney easier for someone else. Keep going! He is always close. The gates of teshuva never closes. Blessed be our Holy Father and King.