“Be Ye Therefore Perfect”

Why does God command us to be perfect? And is it possible?

The simplest answer to the question is that God has commanded all things that are requisite to his plan to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man. The commandments set both the conditions as well as the road map to our eventual perfection and exaltation; they show us the path to becoming what we are meant to become.

What are we meant to be?

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” — Romans 8:16-17

We are children of God and joint heirs with Christ in the courts of heaven if we will meet the conditions and live the laws that govern that kingdom. If this sounds to you like a doctrine of works, don’t be deceived, there are many commandments and among the most important are ones related to faith in Christ and repentance through Christ. The acts of faith in God’s atoning power, his grace, and his mercy are at the center of his plan for the perfection of his children.

Perhaps another important reason for the capstone command to be perfect is to act as a reminder that we have an obligation to strive on in good works and not become weary in well-doing as we endure to the end in the straight and narrow. In our striving it becomes necessary for us to look to Christ and his strengthening and enabling power in order to abound in good works. On our own we simply cannot do it. This is what is meant in Ephesians 4:7, “Into every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” When you see that word grace used in scriptures, a good way to understand what it means is to substitute it for “the strengthening and enabling power of the atonement.” It is this power that sustains us in our path of discipleship.

So, is perfection possible?

All that God has commanded is possible and we must have faith and hope in our eventual perfection. We must humbly walk in our weakness relying upon the merits of Christ who is mighty to save and open our hearts to the word of God; feasting upon his word and laying hold of all that he has given for our progression from bad to good, and good to better, until the time when we all come to the “stature of the fullness of Christ.”

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.”

— Ephesians 4:11-15

“Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

“And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.” 

— Moroni 10:32-33