NRABV Pt 2 – Week 15: Be Perfect

Jesus uses the “antithesis” statements in the Sermon on the Mount to highlight how the Jewish people were taking the Old Testament law out of context. The law had become a list of ways to show obedience, instead of having obedience from a heart’s disposition toward God. It is in this context Jesus calls believers “to be perfect like their heavenly Father is perfect.” Perfect is not in the literal sense here, rather the Greek word “teleios” which describes believers journeying to “maturity” and “completeness” in our walk with the Lord. Jesus’ purpose in calling believers to perfection is not to act “more” morally upright, it is to remind us to act in response from a heart that is saved by grace. We must remember that we have been adopted into God’s family through Christ’s work on the cross, that He merited for us what was impossible for us so that we can grow to resemble our Father more every day.