Christian Perfection
Definition of =perfection=: Unblemished, blameless, pure.
We are commanded to be perfect. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your
Father which is in heaven is perfect."--Matt. 5:48. "For we are glad,
when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your
perfection. Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort,
be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be
with you."--2 Cor. 13:9, 11. "Therefore leaving the principles of the
doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection."--Heb. 6:1.
We must be perfect in love. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with
all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself."--Luke 10:27. "And above all
these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness."--Col.
3:14. "But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God
perfected: hereby know we that we are in him."--1 John 2:5. "If we love
one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us....
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of
judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world."--1 John 4:12, 17.
Perfect in unity. "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are
sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call
them brethren."--Heb. 2:11. "And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that
they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their
word: that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in
thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that
thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them;
that they may be one, even as we are one: 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
17:19-23.
Perfect in Christ. "Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching
every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ
Jesus." "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all
principality and power." "Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of
Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that
ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God."--Col. 1:28;
2:10; 4:12.
Perfect in purity. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not
yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that
hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure."--1 John
3:2, 3. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God."--2 Cor. 7:1. "And the Lord make you to
increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even
as we do toward you: to the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable
in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ with all his saints."--1 Thess. 3:12, 13.
This perfection is attainable. "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."--Eph. 4:13. "Let
us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything
ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you."--Phil.
3:15. "For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified."--Heb. 10:14. "For the law made nothing perfect, but the
bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto
God."--Heb. 7:19. "Which was a figure for the time then present, in
which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him
that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience."--Heb.
9:9.
A perfection not attainable in this life. "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."
Christian perfection is not maturity in wisdom, grace, or knowledge. "Ye
therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye
also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own
steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ."--2 Pet. 3:17, 18.
Christian perfection is looked upon by some as an impossibility in this
life; but when we turn to the word of God and see the many plain texts
upon the subject, it must become evident to every candid mind that it is
in the plan of redemption that every child of God should attain to it.
It would not be according to the nature of divine grace to require of us
anything we could not do. No reasonable earthly parent would demand an
impossibility of a child, and it is certain our heavenly Father would
not command us to be "perfect even as he is perfect" unless he has
provided abundant grace to bring us up to this blessed experience.
According to our own power or ability we could never reach such an
exalted plane, for it is not within the power of man to change his
depraved nature, and every self-effort to reach a state of perfection is
but vain. But God is able to make all grace abound and as an All-wise
Father he has made it possible that we should be perfect.
From the scriptures quoted we can plainly see that the perfection
required of us is reasonable and just. Had he commanded us to be perfect
in knowledge, wisdom, judgment, or in anything else in an absolute
sense, we would be forced to the conclusion that God has either required
an impossibility of us or it is not for us to attain in this life and
therefore belongs only to the resurrected state. But we can clearly see
the nature of his requirements and that they are all within the limits
of his grace toward us in this life.
When Jesus commanded us to be perfect (Matt. 5:48) we can quite easily
comprehend his meaning when we notice in the few preceding verses that
we should be perfect in love, even to the extent that we shall love our
enemies, that we may indeed be the children of our Father which is in
heaven. The children of this world love those that love them. It is an
easy matter and quite natural to do this. But to love our enemies is
very contrary to the depraved nature; unless there has been the
cleansing wrought within, there will be some inward consciousness of
hatred toward those who despitefully use and persecute us. The high
standard of righteousness which Jesus teaches here and throughout this
chapter is the standard of sanctification. The love of God must be
perfected in us, which destroys every element of the old nature, of
which hatred is a prominent characteristic.
The first and great commandment, both of the old and new dispensation,
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," etc., is also a
standard too high to be attained perfectly without the experience of
entire sanctification. This commandment was given during the old
dispensation; but it was not possible then that it could be kept
perfectly, for there was no provision then made to destroy the power of,
and cleanse the heart from, inbred depravity. The blood of those
sacrifices could do no more than sanctify "to the purifying of the
flesh." The inward condition of the heart could not be changed. Thus we
see clearly that this commandment could not be kept in the New Testament
sense of perfect love. Now, the blood of Jesus, which he shed on the
cross that he might sanctify and cleanse our hearts, can make us holy.
When the heart has realized the power of this cleansing and the love of
God "shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost," we can in deed and in
truth love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and
strength. Praise God for his wonderful love to us! He furnishes the love
with which to love him. If we but give him our hearts he will furnish
all the rest. He wants an empty, clean vessel into which to pour out his
love, that it may be manifested in this dark and sinful world.
Oh, that every child of God could see the imperative need of an absolute
consecration and then cheerfully and voluntarily meet the conditions of
the same, so that God could fill each heart with love, and cause each
one to know what it means to love God with all our heart. As long as our
affections are divided between God and anything else, our love is not
perfect and until the regenerate heart has made the scriptural
consecration, there will be a divided condition of the affections. The
obedient regenerate heart dwells in God, and thus is taught of God the
necessity of the perfect consecration, which, when fully complied with,
enables the perfect cleansing to become effected. The apostle John
says, "Herein is our love made perfect," and "his love is perfected in
us."
No one can ever be fully satisfied in this redemption life until this
second work of grace is accomplished in the heart. Justification brings
us into the blessed kingdom of God's love. Sanctification perfects his
love in us. This second grace enables us to realize not only the meaning
of perfect love, but we also comprehend the glorious fact that God has
wrought in us perfect purity and holiness. This implies our being
perfect in God's will, and because we have yielded our will completely
to him. Every disposition of our will which sought its own way is now in
perfect conformity with his and as Jesus could say in Gethsemane, "Thy
will be done," which meant death on Calvary to him, so we have said the
same to God with a vivid consciousness that once for all it meant death
to us. It has required the perfect will of Jesus to obtain this grace of
sanctification for us, and it now requires our perfect will to receive
it from him. Here is where we can stand perfect and complete in all the
will of God. Another beautiful characteristic of sanctification is
perfect unity. One of the most striking features of the religious world
today is division among those who profess to believe in and follow
Christ. There is no greater evil existing than this. Men have made
creeds and sects and have persuaded the people to join them, until the
disgusting spectacle of division is seen everywhere, and the
non-professing world is amazed at the sickening sight. Hireling
preachers are pleading for their respective denominations, and while
many honest children of God are dissatisfied with this sad state of
affairs, they are taught from the pulpit that God has made these
divisions and it is the duty of every Christian to join and support
them. But such is not the will of God; he has designed that his people
should all be one, and in his prayer Jesus expresses the extent of this
unity. "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in
thee, that they also may be one in us." This certainly implies a
wonderful and perfect unity. Many sect advocates cry, "Impossible,
impossible; God's people cannot be one." But the whole theme of Jesus'
prayer is unity. As we carefully read this prayer we can readily
perceive the divine method to effect this unity. It is plain and
simple: "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.... Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me
through their word; that they all may be one." Then in Heb. 2:11 we see
again that this is God's plan--"For both he that sanctifieth and they
who are sanctified are all of one."
This grace not only brings us into a perfect inward unity with Jesus
himself, but it just as truly brings us all into a perfect inward unity
with each other. Divisions, sects, and factions are productions of the
flesh (Gal. 5:19-21) and not of the Spirit. Sanctification destroys all
the works of the flesh and extracts the very root itself and renders
divisions impossible. Every sect yoke is destroyed because of the
anointing. Isa. 10:27. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to effect this
unity in us with God and with each other. Every human effort to
accomplish this must necessarily end in failure. There are many efforts
today to effect a union among Christians, but union is not scriptural
unity. Union of sects is far from the scriptural unity of believers. A
union consists upon a human basis and may consist of a union of sects,
or a union of individuals, without any conditions of spirituality
whatever. Each individual or body retaining its distinctive and separate
division. Scriptural unity is based upon the inner-wrought grace of
sanctification, where everything non-spiritual is entirely destroyed and
the Holy Spirit has the right of way in every respect according to the
perfect will of God.
It is only as we are thus perfected in this grace that the prayer of
Jesus will be fully answered and his people lose every vestige of
division. No sanctified heart can remain loyal to anything that
separates the people of God. All sect holiness is below the Bible
standard, for it upholds that which sanctification destroys. This is a
far-reaching assertion, but in the light of God's word it is true. Many
have lost this experience by listening to the perverted teachings of
false shepherds and remaining in sectism. God says the "anointing"
breaks and destroys the yoke, and no sect yoke will ever again fit on
the neck of a sanctified person, if such remains loyal to the Holy
Spirit. Praise God! He alone can effect perfect unity in us, by his
divine process--sanctification. Then by the careful adherence to the
teachings of God's word this beautiful apostolic unity can be maintained
and demonstrated among men, and the prayer of Jesus further answered,
"That the world may believe that thou hast sent me."
=The difference between present and future perfection.= In his letter to
the church at Philippi, the apostle speaks of a perfection in the
future, which unless understood may confuse some minds upon this
subject. In Phil. 3:12 he writes, "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." Here it sounds as
though perfection is not attainable in this life, but if we notice the
language of the context we can clearly see that he is speaking of the
resurrection of the dead. Ver. 11. It is the resurrection perfection
that he here has reference to, which cannot be attained in this life. We
must wait with the apostle until this "mortality shall be swallowed up
of life," before we reach a state of absolute perfection, and with him,
"press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus." But in verse 15 he says, "Let us therefore as many as be
perfect be thus minded," showing that there is a present perfection
which he, with others, has already attained. This is the experience
which it is the will of God for us all to enjoy. For by one offering he
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Dear reader, have you
attained it, or are you yet living beneath your blood-bought privilege?
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in
you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to
whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."--Heb. 13:20, 21.