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The Devil has been so cleaver to keep the Body of Christ under bondage and blind to the very essence of being perfect.  Seemingly, we fear to even think of ourselves as perfect even to resisting the possibilities of being made perfect by Christ Jesus. We elevate the flesh in our conscious so that because we are in the flesh, we can’t even imagine ourselves as being perfect, or free from sin.  One commented on a post I wrote about Sinner Saved By Grace that it is “impossible to obtain sinless perfection in the flesh”.

In this we greatly err because from the beginning God has been requesting that men be perfect”

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect (Genesis 17:1).

If God expected Abram (a man in the flesh) to be perfect, who didn’t have the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him (for the Holy Spirit rested upon men in the Old Testament but did not indwell them), what do you think He expects from those of us who have the Holy Spirit?

God Finds Men Perfect in Their Generation

Throughout the Old Testament God finds men in the flesh who were perfect:

“These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9).
“But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa’s heart was perfect with the LORD all his days” (1 Kings 15:14).
“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1).
“And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil” (Job 1:8)?

Let’s not forget David who God said served him with a perfect heart, insomuch that God established his throne forever through Jesus Christ.  Yet we constantly resist being perfect, and won’t allow ourselves to see ourselves as perfect before God.  We shun confessing perfection under false humility, rather than boast in God who David said “God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect” (2 Samuel 22:33).  This same David who was also a murder and adulterer God called perfect.

Men Instructed to Be Perfect Before God

Even within the Law God expected the children of Israel to be perfect, not only that, but men throughout the Old Testament were instructed to be perfect before the Lord:

“Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 18:13).

“Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day” (1 Kings 8:61).
“And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever” (1 Chronicles 28:9).
“And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the LORD, faithfully, and with a perfect heart” (2 Chronicles 19:9).
“Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace” (Psalms 37:37).
“For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it” (Proverbs 2:21).
“Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’s servant” (Isaiah 42:19)?

How is it that we, the chosen of the Lord, the called out ones, and the children filled with the perfect gift of the Holy Spirit cannot see ourselves as perfect?  Why do we constantly limit our growth in God based on our flesh?  He who is unable to see him/herself as perfect being filled with the Holy Spirit is yet a babe in Christ, and is not able to discern the truth of the Gospel, for Jesus himself has commanded us “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

What Does It Mean To Be Perfect?

Our lack of understanding of the command to be perfect hinders us from walking out perfection, and living this command.  That Jesus told us to be perfect does not mean that we won’t miss the mark sometimes, as David also missed the mark being a murderer and adulterer, to whom God testified that he (David) was a man after His own heart (see Acts 13:22).  Perfection therefore, is a matter of the heart and not of the flesh.

Not that one should continue to engage in sin which is the bound of imperfection, but that our hearts should be perfect towards God.  When one decides to walk before God and keeps themselves from sin, they have begun to walk in perfection.  When they don’t allow themselves to speak ill of their neighbor, or use their tongue to spread tales, then they have begun to walk in perfection.  One cannot be holy and not be perfect.

False Humility

Our desire to be humble has caused us to deny this one principle command which the Lord Himself has commanded us to do: Be Perfect.  Therefore, when we say “I’m not perfect and never will be” we now begin to walk in willful disobedience to the Lord who commanded us to be perfect.

Humility which denies the ability to be perfect in the flesh (for we are in the flesh but do not obey the lusts of the flesh) is false humility and is a deception of the enemy.  False humility spurred the teaching Sinner Saved By Grace, because many have commented that when they say they are a sinner saved by grace, they are just staying humble.  However, if the Lord has commanded us to be perfect, how do we justify remaining in imperfection?

Therefore, it is important that we not allow the enemy to cause us to live beneath who we are in order to falsely appear humble before people.  To disobey Jesus’ command is not humility, but disobedience, and we know that all disobedience will be punished.  Don’t allow the enemy to keep you in a state of disobedience because of fear of perfection.

As He Is So Are We

Scripture teaches us that “as He (Jesus) is, so are we in this world” (see 1 John 4:17).  This means that right now as Jesus, seated on the right-hand of the Father and is perfect; we are to be perfect in this world.  Many say “there was only one perfect man; Jesus”.  However, if as the Word of God says: we are as He is, and He is perfect then obviously he has made it possible for us to also be perfect through Him: for Jesus told us to “be perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect”.

It is our carnality, lack of knowledge, and understanding which keeps us in an imperfect state falsely, because God through Jesus Christ has paved the way to perfection.

Jesus having walked in the flesh and condemned sin in the flesh, and yet in the flesh could live without sin in the flesh was our example; that through Him and with the Holy Ghost we could do the same.  The scripture thus signify this by saying:

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

Jesus was tempted in the flesh just as we are and condemned sin in the flesh, triumphing over them in the flesh.  The same spirit which was in Jesus now dwells within us (hopefully) and we now have the ability to condemn sin in the flesh and be perfect.

Think you that while Jesus was in the flesh that somehow the flesh that He was in was Holy?  It wasn’t the flesh which was Holy, but the spirit which inhabited the flesh is what was Holy.  The flesh was only what kept Him tethered to the Earth Realm.  Otherwise He would have been unable to redeem us back to God if He didn’t come in the flesh.  Therefore, it is not your flesh which keeps you from being perfect, and resistant to sin, but your faith keeps you from reaching perfection.

When you see yourself as less than Jesus then you begin to live less than Jesus lived.  It is written: “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household” (Matthew 10:24-25)?  Jesus Himself states that “we are to be as our Lord”, as in just like our Lord, or an imitation of our Lord.  This means exactly what Jesus did and who Jesus is, we are expected to be the same in power, and demonstration.

Understand that Jesus is coming back for himself, for we are the Body of Christ.  There will be no instant transformation into Holiness, or righteousness. Revelatons 22:11 says the following: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still”.  This Jesus testified to John concerning His return to earth.

Therefore we ought to follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (see Hebrews 12:14).  Wherefore, let us gird up the loins of our minds, and work earnestly towards perfection renouncing the hidden things of dishonesty, and filthiness of the flesh, and obtain perfection.