Be Ye Therefore Perfect…

MHA: From the concept of Christian perfection we cannot exclude any of the qualities that are included in the moral program of the Sermon on the Mount.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, Vol.2 - The Sermon on the Mount, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

Matthew 5: 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

What have you done more than others, if you love only those who love you?  This brings the entire teaching into focus.  As Lloyd-Jones has stated repeatedly, the entire teaching thus far is meant to demonstrate that the Christian is absolutely unlike and different from the natural person – in this case, the person who loves only those who love him.

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

There it is.  The quality of life we are to live.  Call it Christ-like, theosis, sanctified. 

MHA: The word “therefore” (oun) indicates that this sentence is aimed at summarizing that which was said earlier.

Metropolitan Hilarion then considers: is this summarizing only that which immediately came before, or is it summarizing all of the Sermon up to this point?  In other words, what is “perfect”?  He concludes:

MHA: Perfection is not simply a quality; it is a totality of qualities. … Consequently, the sentence “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” can apply to all the qualities listed in the Semon on the Mount. … Moreover, this sentence also summarizes what will be said later in the Sermon on the Mount and in the Gospel of Matthew as a whole.

Yet we know we can never be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect:

DMLJ: There is no attitude with regard to the Sermon on the Mount which is quite so ridiculous as that which regards it as if it were but an ethical programme, a kind of social scheme.

Keeping the Ten Commandments is at least within the realm of human understanding and even ability; one can conceive of living such a life – the letter of the law.  But this?  It cannot be read as a legal code.  Instead, this opens the door to the paradox that is contained within.

MHA: According to [Gregory of Nyssa], it is impossible to achieve the fullness of perfection, because such fullness is possessed by God alone.

Is there anything more discouraging than reading the Sermon to this point?  At the same time, is there anything more encouraging?  Speaking for myself, the work thus far has brought me to see, more clearly than I ever have before, just how far I am from living the Christian life: discouraging.  At the same time, I take encouragement from understanding that this is how I am intended to live, that the Holy Spirit will help me along the way.

I have often felt that following God’s will is both the easiest thing to do and the most difficult thing to do.  Easy, because it is spelled out very clearly and simply in His Word; we don’t have to guess at His will.  Difficult, well, because it is difficult.  I am fallen, my will doesn’t want to follow.

Romans 7: 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

The Sermon makes clear: it isn’t sufficient to be more moral than the next guy.  This isn’t what makes a Christian a Christian.  There are many non-Christians who live what many Christians would describe as exemplary moral lives.  Reading through the Sermon, grasping its teaching, understanding that we are to be perfect: the Sermon doesn’t describe a further gradient of a more moral man at all; the man described here is completely different – say, born again.

The law describes our doing; moving toward this is available to the natural man, to live a comparatively moral life.  The Sermon on the Mount describes our being, our spirit; this is a totally different thing for a totally different kind of man.

DMLJ: The Christian is essentially a unique and special kind of person. …it is a uniqueness that separates him from everybody who is not a Christian. … he does what others cannot do. …he is meant to be positively like God and like Christ. … He is meant to live as the Lord Jesus Christ lived, to follow that pattern and to imitate that example. … He is meant to be like Christ.

One might see this in the difference of the Silver Rule (do not do unto others that which you do not want done to yourself) and the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you).  It could be seen as the difference of living according to the non-aggression principle verses living according to a natural law ethic.

Yet, Jesus goes even further: He describes not the actions, but the heart; not what we do, but what we are to be.  Living the Golden Rule isn’t sufficient when looked at through the lens of this Sermon; it only is meaningful if the heart is right.  Without Christ dwelling in man’s heart, this is impossible.

DMLJ: What is it that thus makes the Christian a special person?  What is it that accounts for this uniqueness?  What makes him do more than others?  It is his whole outlook on sin.

He knows he is guilty before God, yet God did not turn His back on him.  He has been forgiven, even though he is not deserving of forgiveness.

DMLJ: What right then has he, not to forgive his enemy?

Conclusion

But how realistic is any of this for us, this call to perfection, as the Father in heaven is perfect?  This is the ideal to which Jesus calls us; He does not propose any other ideal. 

MHA: The Sermon on the Mount is not built within the frame of reference according to which people are accustomed to living and acting: rather, it projects the reality in which God lives and acts onto human society.  Consequently, the Sermon on the Mount is not so much a description of human life as it is a verbal icon of the invisible God.

Metropolitan Hilarion sees the Sermon as a revelation of God through Jesus Christ.  He is not alone in this, citing Philip Yancey:

“For years I had thought of the Sermon on the Mount as a blueprint for human behavior that no one could possibly follow.  Reading it again, I found that Jesus gave these words not to cumber us, but to tell us what God is like. … Why should we love our enemies?  Because our clement Father causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good.  Why be perfect?  Because God is perfect. …Jesus [proclaimed] the Sermon on the Mount…to impart to us God’s Ideal toward which we should never stop striving.”

God is our absolute ideal, and this is the ideal which Jesus proposed.

MHA: The call to perfection is the vector that shows a person the direction of his or her spiritual path.  The end of this path is God himself – the eternal and unattainable ideal, revealed to humanity in the person of his only begotten Son.

Epilogue

Discouraged, because it is unattainable, even in its first baby steps?  Perhaps this is the result of nothing more than our will, our pride, our desire to be in control.

Or encouraged, because this is God’s desire for us?  It becomes much easier when we learn to submit, when we are graced with the humility to accept our role and station.

Even the apostle Paul, quoted above from Romans 7, struggled with this walk.  In him, we see both discouragement and a reason for encouragement.

On my list of topics to work through at this blog, if God gives me time to do so, is a study of submission and humility.  Yet, here is one place where I feel the answer will not be found in study, but in prayer.