Be Perfect! What does it mean? Be Perfect! What does it mean? We are talking about Jesus' words in Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." We will see the original Hebrew and Greek words for the English word, perfect. It changes how we understand the philosophical meaning of the word "perfect" – meaning without flaws.

You beat yourself up, realizing that you will never reach that level of perfection. You know that the type of perfection you imagine is impossible for humans. If that is so, why would Jesus tell us to be perfect? We will find that out shortly.

The best dictionary definition of the word "perfect" is without fault or defect – satisfying all requirements, an ideal standard. That's what you think when you hear the call of Jesus: Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Does it mean you are a failure, as you cannot attain perfection state in your life? That's where the misunderstanding of the word lies. Jesus is always setting us for success.

It's the reason to understand what Jesus means in Matthew 5:48.

So, "perfect" is not the best English word used to translate the original Hebrew or Greek.

In Hebrew, the word used in the text is tamim or telieos in Greek. Both these words mean "complete" You can now replace the word in the verse: Be complete, as your heavenly Father is complete.

You need to be integrated with God to be complete or to be perfect. It is a perfection that requires us to be complete in God – what you believe inside matches what you do outside – like preach what you practice.

The next important thing to discover the context of the text, Matthew 5:43-47. Just before, Jesus told us to be perfect; he talks about loving your enemies. Perfection is wrapped up in love, without bias or favoritism, completely and fully like the Father.


We strive to adhere to the biblical understanding of the word perfect, not secular understanding, which is impossible to achieve.

People during Jesus' time valued righteousness, a type of social standard acceptable in society. Jesus is calling to grow in maturity in terms of spiritual integrity – raise the bar of loving people, even enemies included. Before Jesus preached, hating your enemies was ok, socially acceptable, and religiously tolerable.

Therefore, be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect is to reflect the character of God. Jesus is setting a standard to imitate God, revealing a pathway to be complete and mature. Although it's a life long process, you are capable of doing it with God's grace.

Be perfect, can be overwhelming or discouraging and may not fit into our picture-perfect imaginary life.

Be perfect is about spiritual maturity that radically changes our behaviors to align with God, like loving your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, and forgiveness.

Be perfect challenges comfort zones. For those who think that trying to be perfect sets you for failure, consider it like being your best to reflect God's character. Mistakes can happen, learn to embrace them, and grow.

Perfection helps motivation as you are integrating with God; it gives you confidence that you are not alone – God wants the best in you.

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