TENSIONS AROUND THE IDEA OF PERFECTION
Christians and churches disagree on the issue of Christian perfection and the extent to which we attain a state of maturity where we essentially cease sinning and accurately reflect the character of Christ, this side of Jesus’ Second Coming.
John Wesley, for example, emphasized the possibility of complete sanctification this side of eternity. He understood it to be by grace, of course, but he is nevertheless credited with emphasizing Christian perfection.
My basic theological belief is that most ultimate issues that God wishes to reveal to us appear to us in the form of mysterious tensions. Our limited human language and reason are unable to fully grasp the divine truths that outstrip our faculties and burst our categories. We need to discipline ourselves to search out the full testimony of Scripture and be humbly content to receive these dynamic tensions.
In this area of Christian perfection, I have noted Scriptures that emphasize both sides of the debate and I am content to simply list them and commend them to people’s understanding and conscience.
PERFECTION IS NOT SINLESSNESS
The word perfection (katartizō) as it occurs in the following scriptures means maturity not sinlessness (and this maturity is purely by grace, and relative to your life stage). Failure to realize this will lead to religious labouring and condemnation, the very yoke Jesus came to free us from (Mat 11:28-30). All God requires is for us to be mature and up to date at each stage of our life. When my daughters were born we saw all ten toes and fingers in place and declared them perfect, even though we had many poop-filled nappies and sleepless nights ahead of us, and so on for every stage of their lives…so too spiritually for each one of us.
So it’s up to each church and each Christian within each church to work out the gift of salvation with fear and trembling. Then the following promises in Scripture (a deposit and first instalment of our inheritance, which we are called and commanded to claim) can increasingly be ours, even as we await our full and final salvation and the redemption of our bodies and all of creation at Jesus’ return.
SCRIPTURES THAT EXPLAIN WHAT WE CAN ATTAIN THIS SIDE OF ETERNITY
1Jo 2:28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
Jam 1:4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Col 1:28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
Phi 3:12-15 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. (13) Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, (14) I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (15) All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
2Co 13:11 Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
Eph 4:13-15 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (14) Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. (15) Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
2Pe 1:8-11 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (9) But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. (10) Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, (11) and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Joh 15:5-8 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (6) If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. (7) If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. (8) This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Psa 19:12-13 Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. (13) Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
SCRIPTURES THAT EXPLAIN WHAT WILL ONLY BE ATTAINED WHEN WE SEE JESUS FACE TO FACE
1Pe 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Rom 8:18-25 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (19) The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. (20) For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope (21) that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (22) We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. (23) Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (24) For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? (25) But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
2Co 5:2-10 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, (3) because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. (4) For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (5) Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (6) Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. (7) We live by faith, not by sight. (8) We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (9) So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. (10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
1Co 15:42-44 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; (43) it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; (44) it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
