Please understand that I don’t want to limit or detract from this verse in any sort of way. But we have to ask ourselves – how is it that our Father in Heaven is perfect? And then we have to wonder if this command is realistic? Can this standard be reached? The answer to the first question is that God’s perfection is absolutely absolute – a redundant statement. And the answer to the second and third questions is that the command is practical and appropriate.
To get us going, let us consider what the Lord Jesus is NOT saying.
For example, He is not saying, “TRY to be perfect, as your Father in Heaven in perfect.” This isn’t a command about “trying,” but about “being.”
One of the problems with modern Christianity is our low expectations and standards. Why don’t we memorize scriptures today? Because we don’t consider it as important as our forefathers did. Perhaps, it’s because we all have access to the Bible in one way or another. We even have instant access through our phones and other mobile devices. Isn’t it important any more that we hide God’s Word in our hearts? Apparently even the most conscientious and pious Christians no longer think that it is. Why are our standards about sin so low? One reason is that we haven’t hidden “God’s Word in our hearts that we might not sin against Him.” We don’t know the Lord and His word well enough to have high standards about sin. Why is it that we don’t fear to come into the presence of God? Why were the priests of God under Levi, expected to dress, to serve, and to glorify God at the best of their abilities, but the priests of God under Christ don’t care about their appearance, their punctuality, or the quality of their service and praise? Our standards and expectations are not what they once were.
The Lord Jesus didn’t say, “Try to be perfect.” He said, “BE ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” I know that this sounds self-contradictory, but the reason that we aren’t as perfect as our Heavenly Father is because we don’t try. In Philippians 3 Paul speaks about his history in Pharisaic Judaism, and then he goes on to add – “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ… If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Among the things that Paul tells us is that he was trying to be more like his Master.
There are dozens of scriptures similar to that one – coming from the pens of Paul, Peter and John. Peter says, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” How can we ever be holy in this world saturated with sin and in these bodies of depravity and decay? By striving as best we can under the power and grace of the Lord. “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Even though Christ doesn’t say, “TRY to be perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.” If we never try to be what the Lord wants us to be in this world, it is guaranteed that we never will be.
Something else that the Lord didn’t say is “try to become God,” or “strive to become divine.” There may be a thousand ways in which God is perfect, and no matter how much trying we put into it, we will never be the same kind of perfect. For example, God is perfect in knowledge; that is – He is omniscient. No matter how hard you study, how much you read, and how observant you are, you will never be perfect in knowledge. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Then God is perfect in strength, and no man or group of men can even begin to approach the power of God. We could run our mind’s eye down a list of all the attributes of God, and find it impossible for any of us to begin the match the Lord in a single one of them. And that includes the command, “Be ye holy,” despite the scripture which we’ve already read.
In order to understand this command we must try to understand the meaning of the word “PERFECT.”
First, the word “teleios” (tel’-i-os) is found twice in this verse, and it is translated the same in both cases. So whatever perfection is found in God, it is to be found in the children of God as well. The Greek word is used nineteen times by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. Some of them refer to perfect things, like the Word of God. I Corinthians 13:10 – “When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” “Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” Some scriptures use this world “teleios” to describe certain other divine things – “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Some of these scriptures seem to talk about future perfection. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” “Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” But some of them refer to a perfection which exists – or can exist – among the saints right now. “We speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought.” “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.” “Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect <5046> and entire, wanting nothing.” “Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” I don’t know if any of these verses help us much to understand the meaning of the word. But perhaps I Corinthians 14:20 can – “Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.” “Be men” is the same Greek word “telios.” In other words, to be perfect can mean “grow up;” “mature;” “be a man.”
James Strong defines this word in three related ways: “Brought to its end, finished, wanting nothing necessary to completeness.” And finally Strong refers to “telios” as “perfect” – which I assume is “perfect” in its ultimate sense.
But the question remains – “In what sense was the Lord Jesus using this word here in chapter 5?”
Actually, the key is contained in a different word in the verse – “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven in perfect.” Jamieson, Fausett and Brown wax quite poetic when they say, “He refers to that full-orbed glorious completeness which is in the great Divine Model, “their Father which is in heaven.” You are therefore to be mature, as complete, as well-rounded as your Heavenly Father. And what is the “therefore” there for? “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
John Gill in his commentary on this verse puts it this way – “This perfection is to be restrained to the subject Christ is upon, love to men, and not to be referred to any, or every other thing; Wherefore, in Luke 6:36 it is, “Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful”; and regards not a perfection of degree in that, but objects and quality: that is to say, not that men may, or can, or ought to be as perfect in love, as to the degree of it, as God is; that is impossible: the “as” here, is not a note of equality, but of likeness: such, who profess God to be their Father, ought to imitate him, particularly in their love to men, which ought to be extended to the same objects, as the divine goodness is; that, as he shows regard in a providential way to all men, good and bad, just and unjust, and his tender mercies are over all his works; so ought they to love all men with a natural affection, and hate no man, no, not their enemies: for he that loves only his friends, and not his enemies, loves imperfectly; he does not take in the whole compass of objects his love is to extend unto; and as God loves sincerely, and without dissimulation, so should they. To be “perfect”, is to be sincere and upright: in this sense is the word often used, and answers to the Hebrew word , which signifies the same: See Deuteronomy 18:13 which is the passage Christ seems to refer to here; and the sense is, be ye sincere and upright in your love to all men, as your heavenly Father is hearty and sincere in his affections.”
Matthew Henry, in his down to earth, devotional style, makes the same statement but a little more clearly – “Our Saviour concludes this subject with this exhortation, “Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Which may be understood, In general, including all those things wherein we must be followers of God as dear children. Note, It is the duty of Christians to desire, and aim at, and press toward a perfection in grace and holiness. And therein we must study to conform ourselves to the example of our heavenly Father Or, In this particular – before mentioned, of doing good to our enemies. It is God’s perfection to forgive injuries and to entertain strangers, and to do good to the evil and unthankful, and it will be ours to be like him. We that owe so much, that owe our all, to the divine bounty, ought to copy it out as well as we can.” And then Henry quotes Luke 6:36 – “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”
What am I trying to say in all of this? The Lord Jesus was telling us to treat others, even our enemies, as the Lord has treated us. In that context, at the very least, we are obligated to strive to be as holy, merciful and perfect as our Heavenly Father is.