How I Became Perfect

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:28 KJV).

A few months ago I went in for a check-up with my doctor. As a neurologist he ran some tests to analyze my nerve functions.  Then he cheerfully went through his list of what was wrong with me.  Great.  I rolled my eyes and he quickly replied with great reassurance, “It’s not you, it’s your brain. You’re perfect.”  It’s not you, it’s your brain.  You’re perfect?  I don’t know how comforted I felt by his remarks, but it certainly made me rethink my definition of perfect.

I believe in a literal God.  I believe He is our literal father, we are His literal children, and He gives us literal commandments. “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20:13-15). I don’t think it’s a metaphor, but it’s not always so black and white.  I’ve been stuck on Matthew 5:28 once or twice before: “Be ye therefore perfect,” even as God is. Is that even possible? It certainly seems to contradict the comforting and colloquial phrase “Nobody’s perfect.” 

Why would Jesus command us to be perfect if it isn’t possible?  What did he even mean? These are the possibilities I've heard.                                                                                                                                                                                    
One: Be without flaw.  At least in English we tend to assume that “perfect” means without flaw.  No stains, no errors, no holes, no rough surfaces, just smooth, untainted, immaculate perfection.  Perfectionism produces a very critical eye which could result in improvement, but unfortunately also often results in dissatisfaction and disappointment.  We are simply not perfect people. Sometimes we see perfectionism in major clinical depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, anorexia nervosa, and other psychological disorders; sometimes we see it elsewhere.  I don’t believe perfectionism has to be a bad thing, but I’ve seen it create increased stress and anxiety, more discouragement, less resiliency, and unfair judgments.  Surely this is not what the Savior had in mind when he said, “Be ye therefore perfect.”

Two: Don’t worry about it, he didn’t really mean it. Despite the tendency towards perfectionism, we all seem to intuitively know it simply isn’t possible to be perfect.  What I am accustomed to hearing is, “forget about it, stop trying, you’ll be happier.”  For my part I can't justify the lack of effort.  We may stop worrying about perfection, but will our progression become stagnant when we stop caring?  I’m sure we’ll harbor just as many flaws and continue to be just as dissatisfied as the perfectionists though perhaps in different ways.  Acknowledging our inability to be without flaw is probably quite healthy, but I wonder how often we use that to rationalize laziness, self-indulgence, or lack of improvement.

Three: Try a new translation.  The original Greek word for “perfect” as used in this context is “teleios.”  Teleios means complete, mature, or fully grown.  In the English King James Version of the Bible we can substitute the word perfect:  Be ye therefore fully grown, even as your Father which is in heaven is.  Perfection has never seemed very obtainable to me, but spiritual maturity doesn’t seem so unrealistic.  Children fall when they are learning to walk.  I don’t expect a two-year old to start the dishwasher after dinner then run-along to do his calculus homework, but I might expect it of my 18-year-old brother (who happens to be much better at calculus than I am).  As spirit children of our Heavenly Father we are in the stages of development.  God does not expect us to be flawless, but he does expect us to develop.  I believe that Jesus Christ is the perfect, sinless, eternal Son of God; but I imagine even 5-year-old Jesus and 13-year-old Jesus had a different degree of knowledge and understanding than 33-year-old Jesus while he was nailed to a cross.

I am neither without flaw nor fully grown, but I believe in God’s perfect plan for our eternal progression to godhood.  I know that Jesus Christ is central to that plan and through Him one day—however far away—we can become perfect, brain and all.

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