Perfect Does Not Mean Flawless
Drawn from the teaching of Professor Gary S. Maxey · 2 min read
Say the word perfect in a church and watch faces change. Some people hear a threat. Others hear a boast. Professor Gary Maxey takes the word seriously and explains it with care.
Two meanings in one chapter
He points to Philippians 3. In verse 12, Paul says he has not already attained and is not already perfect. In verse 15, Paul says that as many as are perfect should think the same way. It looks like a contradiction. Professor Maxey notes that both verses use the same Greek word, teleios, and that the NIV renders verse 15 as "all of us who are mature."
His explanation is that the word often means something on target. God's saints are on target in the sense that they are exactly where they should be in their journey. He compares it to a hunter who hits the target he aimed at. The hunter has not become something else. He has reached the mark set for the shot.
What perfect does not mean
Professor Maxey says plainly that living above sin does not mean being without weakness or flaw. The saints still have errors and shortcomings. These come from ignorance, prejudice, misunderstanding, illness and weariness. They are not rebellion against God.
On going on to perfection (Hebrews 6:1), he writes that it simply means becoming everything God intends us to be. We will not be as perfect as the archangel Michael, or as Adam and Eve before the fall. We will be all God has made us to be. Nothing more and nothing less.
What perfect does mean
The difference lies in the heart. Professor Maxey describes a believer who is free from the tyranny of sin and whose life reflects the Christ life within. That person still feels low on some days. Peter wrote that believers may suffer grief in all kinds of trials (1 Peter 1:6). Sorrow and sin are different things.
A note on terms
The idea of a deeper cleansing of the heart after new birth is closely tied to John Wesley. Other traditions use other words for what they believe is the same work of God. Readers from different backgrounds do not need to agree on the vocabulary to take the central call seriously. God wants his people clean and fully his.
What to do with this
Do not wait until you feel flawless before you obey. Do not use your flaws as a reason to keep a known sin. Bring one specific area to God this week, and ask him to cleanse it. Leave your mistakes of judgment with him, and keep your hands open for correction.
Drawn from the teaching of Professor Gary S. Maxey.
