The Biblical Concept of Perfection Since the word: perfect is a word in English. Let's start with it.

The dictionary defines perfect in this way perfect /adj., n. prf kt; v. prfkt/ Show Spelled[adj., n. pur-fikt; v. per-fekt] Show IPA adjective 1. conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type: a perfect sphere; a perfect gentleman. 2. excellent or complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement: There is no perfect legal code. The proportions of this temple are almost perfect. 3. exactly fitting the need in a certain situation or for a certain purpose: a perfect actor to play Mr. Micawber; a perfect saw for cutting out keyholes. 4. entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings: a perfect apple; the perfect crime. 5. accurate, exact, or correct in every detail: a perfect copy. Among these definitions several we can see already disagree with basic ways God has made the world our at least our judgment of that. A) Creation 1)God deliberately made a world in which the ideal was not an automatic attainment.(Definition #1) A robot or computer is designed to exactly perform a function without variation. Humanity was not designed this way. Human freedom is a system which is incompatible with perfection as perfection is humanly conceived 2) Definition #2 also disagrees with how God created the world. The world was not created in a state beyond improvement. Definition #2 says that perfection means beyond improvement God created the world in an unfinished state so humanity would have something to do! He deliberately created a world which could be improved. The Earth was created in an unpopulated, uncultivated and unsubdued state. Gen 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." - If the world was created perfect, it would be fully populated. God wouldn't have created just Adam & Eve, but 6billion other people instantly. He wouldn't have just created gold, but he would have created gold jewelry, towers, etc. If the world was created perfect, there would have been nothing to subdue, no devil whose work we were supposed to destroy, the garden would have had every tree planted that needed to be planted. Nature would have been fully tamed and subdued. The very fact that humanity was given a task, meant the world was not perfect according to definition #2. Rev 21-22 shows a world where the world has been filled, the gold and precious stones in the garden, the wood, stones have made a city. The mission of man has been completed. However, the most important part was not that some perfect state was reached, but that relational union is completed. Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, Only when the initial

commands are completed, will things be perfect in any definition. God envisioned a fully populated Earth of people dwelling with Him. The gospel being preached to every nation, creates this end. Ultimately that will mean the end of the Spiritual gifts as they will not have any purpose once the nations are reached with the gospel. 1Co 13:10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. - God deliberately created a world that was only partially finished or conformed to His will. Why? It is our joy to co-create with Him, in His image. 3) Against Stoic and false religious conceptions - The Bible does not say God created the world perfect. God saw that it was very good 4) Revelation 21-22 does not say that the New Heaven and the New Earth are perfect either. I believe that even in heaven definition #2 will not be fulfilled. There will always be room for theoretical improvement. The Bible does not say the world will ever be perfect. This makes sense. God is knowable. The more we know Him, the more we become like Him. The more we become like Him, the more we become perfect, but since God is infinitely knowable, there are endless ways to know Him. Even through all eternity, we will not yet be perfect, because according to definition #2 there will be always room for greater improvement. B) Subtly The Bible disagrees with the world on perfection in its very nature. The world envisions perfection as a static state. A tower that could be tipped over. An athlete that could fall from their perfect mastery of a skill. The world has an attitude of perfection that is the peak of a tower. She has a perfect body.(Yes but for how long 5 years 10 years, etc). He is the perfect basketball player...okay. Perfect is an ideal. This idea is competition based, leads to dissatisfaction, idolatry, etc. There is an idea of completeness and unflawed. Sacrifices to God were meant to be perfect(no sacrificing a lamb with a gimp leg and an ear missing), so perhaps there is some basis for this, but the culture is worshipping the ideal. C) Humanity According to God's Design 1) The Biblical concept of perfection is GROWTH based vs a judgment of a moment1. "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." (Heb. 5:9.) 2) Our Perfection is a process that God initiates 1. 1Pe 5:10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. 2. Jas 1:4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and
complete, lacking in nothing.

3) Laws and law based religion cannot perfect us stoicism and other religions cannot make
us perfect 1. Heb 10:1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 4) Perfection in us is something God brings to completion 1. Php 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 5) Jesus work in the cross and resurrection as the Bridegroom cause us to be seen as perfect now 1. Heb 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.

2. Son 5:2 "I was asleep but my heart was awake. A voice! My beloved was knocking:
'Open to me, my sister, my darling, My dove, my perfect one!

6) The perfection of humanity is related to the glorified/resurrection body we receive Heb 11:40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. 7) Our prayers for each other hasten perfection - Col 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. 8) So, while God is bringing us to a finished state. That is not the concept that the world sees as perfect. God's idea is not the same. God is not concerned primarily with perfection but with relationship. There is a goal, but God is #1 wanting us, vs wanting us to do something. It is based on love, not performance. We became perfect/finished when Jesus said It is finished. Or It is perfect. When He died upon the cross. 9) Worldly perfection is a static ideal. #1 God is a relational God. Relationship trumps all goals or doing. Human being vs human doing. One with God, versus some platform or state.

D) God's Perfection Matthew 5 1) God is perfect, but He is actually supra-Perfect, beyond perfect. Definition #1 of perfect is based on an ideal type - God is beyond judgment, beyond classification, and beyond rating. To use the word perfect to describe himself is strange, as there is nothing even to compare Himself to. There is no other type of God: only the true God, and all false gods. My thesis: This is why God does not describe himself as perfect in the entire OT, and only once in the NT. It is not a primary or important thing relating to the essence of God. The word perfect invites comparison, which invites idolatry. Which is why God only uses it to describe himself once. While God is perfect, he prefers to be called Dad(Abba) or Father, or the Lord, or Jesus instead of using words like perfect. Relational words vs comparison/standard based words are God's preference. 2) There are over 300 names of God, which God calls himself in the Bible. No name of God in the Bible calls God perfect. The Biblical concept of God does not assume God can be judged by human standards. The idea of perfection #1 is based on a judgment of an ideal. God avoids the word almost entirely because He is not meant to be measured. He is to be worshiped and adored, vs being placed on any scale of value or worth. 3) Theology of Jesus Jesus is described in Christian Creeds as Perfect God and Perfect Man. This perfection is describing his full completeness as both. He is fully God and fully man. 4) Perfection in the Bible is directed towards God as regarding his actions instead of his essence. This is the concept as described in Matthew 5. Be Perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect is the end of a discussion on moral behavior. Many Bible verses describe God's actions as perfect. 1. Jas 1:17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 2. God's perfect love casts our our fear in I John. 3. Deu 32:4 "The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness
and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

5) Perfection seems to imply a static state. God's perfection in the Bible does not mean God is static or flat. He is primarily relational. 6) God is perfect in that he doesn't make mistakes 7) God can only be known in the way He himself reveals himself 1. The names of God do not primarily focus on God's perfection, they are relational names. 2. God is a Father, Provider, Savior, etc these qualities are more important for knowing God in the Bible. In Stoic philosophy perfection is a much more important quality of God than it is in

the Bible. Culture is idolatrous in its elevation of the ideal of perfection 3. Idolatry is distorting the way God is viewable and knowable to some human conception. 8) Relational Intimacy is God's priority in His creation versus the above the concept of perfection So back to my original post. Let me summarize and explain God does not want us to be perfect - he does not want us to be perfect in the way the world sees perfection, or by the means the world judges perfection, or the view the world has of perfection. The definition of perfect I was using here is never making mistakes, a paradigm without growth. God is making us perfect/complete but this is not the world's theory or practice. Only when we realize we are not perfect, can we return to knowing Him. Jesus said Be perfect(morally) so that we would get off of the perfectionism track. That word for perfect in greek is the word Jesus died on the cross. It is finished(perfect). When Jesus says Be perfect He is intensifying the law so we cannot do it, so we can receive grace instead, so no false religion is possible. Jesus sanctifying work is perfecting us. When I wrote God does not want us to be perfect - that was meant to unplug the desire to attempt perfectionism. Knowing God brings us to a complete state. Which is the same thing Jesus was attempting to do when he said Be perfect. It was a rhetorical statement, not meant to be done, but meant to promote a total reliance on God, for salvation, etc. The Bible means what it means, not necessarily what it says. Taking things out of context distorts them. robots with unscratchable metal bodies and computer chips that perfectly and always chose moral goodness instead of human beings with hearts and skin that can choose and love and even sin. God's created us with capacity for growth instead of a complete state God created us in a condition of freedom this system of freedom removes the possibility of perfection. God desires love rich friends - Again God's priority is for relationship. This is made clear in His names. Also, this is made possible in the freedom he gives us. God chose relational union above a perfect creation without freedom. This friendship means He wanted us to finish creation. The command to Adam & Eve and the Great commission all flow from God's friendship, allowing us to co-create and rule the planet with him. Gen 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Rev 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever." Rev 22:5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever. Jesus is included with humanity, in reigning forever with us. God's priority is relationship.