"Nobody's perfect." I have heard this my entire life, and said it myself a time or two. I would ask, by what standard are you measuring perfection? Is a blind man imperfect? Does a fruit now blemished lose its sweetness? Mankind can only debate perfection, but God knows. He knows and He has called us into it.
Hebrews 10:1 “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”
This scripture and the supporting context concludes that mankind is imperfect and needs a Savior. God gave us the law and commandments to instruct us, and show us how far we are from His character. We are born sinful, separate, and prone to disobedience against God. The law enumerates that to us. It gives sin a face and name. As Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 7:7: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” He then further shows us our own hopeless depravity by writing in that same chapter: “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
Finally, he affirms that Christ Jesus is such a deliverer. “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 7:25 & 8:1
It is because of Christ, and Christ alone that we can be found perfect, holy, and complete in the eyes of God. That we can be delivered from sin, and sanctified unto perfection. Free from condemnation, and fit for heaven.
“ For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14
To be sanctified is to be perfected. To be made complete, holy, and entirely His. This is accomplished through the offering of Christ, and is witnessed to us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The scriptures promise that we can be perfect. Jesus died so that we might be perfect. Paul preached perfection, and exhorted:
“Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.” Philippians 3:15
So, somebody’s perfect, right? Most definitely, but again, by what measure? By the only one that matters, God’s and God alone. God wants to give us perfect love, a perfect heart, and a perfect relationship with Him. Perfect and complete unity with the Father through faith in Christ. It follows that if we are in complete unity with the Holy Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit then we are totally divorced from sin. Complete and perfect deliverance from sin. Your past sins, your desire to sin, and the action of committing sin. Glorious freedom!
“I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” John 17:23
I would like to note here that the manifested human condition (sometimes referred to the flesh in scripture) can cause you to sin, but it does not always constitute sin. The same human failing that can cause miscommunication can lead to lying. The same desire to work for your food, can drive you to work unto covetousness. It can be a thin line between the carnal nature that breeds sinful action, and human nature that births flawed actions. Furthermore, perfect intentions do not always beget perfect actions. We are not privy to all the facts. We err in judgment, we make mistakes. Many times I have left the office intending to be home by five thirty, only to find myself walking through the door at five forty five. Did I lie? No, my intent was to be home, but I had to stop for gas, or I had car trouble, or a hundred other unforeseen events. In addition to that, as we go along we find God chastises us, and directs us. Yet through it all grace reigns, but not on the throne of sin, but through the righteousness of the Holy Spirit within. This newness of life within constitutes a spiritual perfection that can remain unblemished, and untarnished; yet it can still be lost if we reject the Holy Ghost and fall into willful sin.
“That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:21
“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” Hebrews 10:26-27
Why the distinction? Why the need to press this point of spiritual perfection? To speak out against the flood waters of the “sin and repent” doctrine? In the first place, because some have never heard. I pray there is someone out there who has a longing to serve God separate from sin. A sincere soul who wants to be truly free from sin. One that is wrestling with the promises laid out in God’s Word, and like Jacob won’t let go until God blesses them. Perhaps there is a heart that is prepared for holiness, for sanctification, for spiritual perfection; and the Word will take root. Second, because we will rise no higher than what we believe. If you believe that all there is in the Christian life is sinning and repenting then you will find yourself forever shackled by sin. Frustrating the grace of God, and never entering into that blessed land of perfect rest. Finally, as I have stated already, God made a promise. He said we could be perfect, and Christ died for that promise. Do you not desire all that God has to offer? There are many who have not claimed the promise of perfection. Many who do not know what it means to be filled with perfect love. Struggle hard with sin, when God has prepared for them the blessing of sanctification. One that not only delivers you from sin, but it keeps you from sin. Perhaps there is one soul out there asking: What Is Sanctification? To that the scriptures cry out: it is spiritual perfection.
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48
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