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Understanding Perfection in God’s terms: Purging out the old leaven…
Many quips on the idea of ‘perfection’ has been roaming around which is known to have served to entertain during trivial conversations. There’s an adage that goes to say, ‘Practice makes perfect’, and another adage that says, ‘Nobody’s perfect’. Conclusion on the major and minor premises, ‘Nobody practices’. And many other quips relevant to the concept roam around.
But at this point, let it be pointed that at the very last verse of Matthew 5, verse 48, Jesus gave a command, and I say this with bold confidence that it is indeed a command and not a mere suggestion nor request, “BE YE THEREFORE PERFECT, AS YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN IS PERFECT”. It is already Obvious that at this is point such a goal is admittedly and clearly unattainable. From the time of birth and upon reaching adulthood, everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE, has not been perfect (Romans 3: 23, 1 John 5: 17, Romans 3: 10, 1 John 1: 8) and therefore attainting perfection is a herculean task.
Apostle Paul himself admits the intricacy of such endeavor. He said in Philippians 3: 12 (New Living Translations), I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. This honest and frank admission of imperfection is perhaps the reason he was able to exclaim abhorrence in himself as he said in another instance (Romans 7: 24), “Oh what a wretched man I am!”.
It should be noted that twice in his letters, Apostle Paul echoes the wisdom of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 10: 1 (New International Version), “As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” When he said regarding this same principle that little imperfection negates perfection in its entirety. In Galatians 5: 9 he said, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” and identical in his first letter to the Corinthians when he said the very same thing in chapter 5 verse 5.
We then take note that this is figurative speech akin to Jesus explaining the symbolism and further clarified by Jesus Christ in Luke 12: 1 that ‘leaven’ symbolizes ‘hypocrisy’. And Apostle Paul is not correcting his master but elaborating it further when he (In 1 Corinthians 5: 8) said “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth.” And obviously, sincerely and truth is the exact opposite of hypocrisy, while hypocrisy is just a few inches away from malice, which needless to assert wickedness at its basest form.
When the Jesus be perfect in Matthew 5: 48, and the New Testament writer admonishes, ‘purge out the little leaven that leaveneth the whole lump’, it is to command everyone who has entered the Christian fold and accepted the message of Salvation found in the gospels, to ensure that their Christian Living and lifestyle, their, OUR, worship services and every minute choices and trivial decisions, must be grounded in sincerity and truth.
John admonishes us to, “Worship God in Spirit and in Truth” (John 4: 24). Jesus has set an example for us, as he said in John 13: 15, and in his perfect example we find that there is not a single hint of hypocrisy at all, as Jesus said of the truthfulness of his word both when he spoke in Old Testament in Isaiah 45: 19, Isaiah 48: 16 and in the Gospel of John in 18: 20. Either way, Jesus, through whom the Father created the universe, in whom everything and everyone consists, dealt with us his very malicious and deceitful creations, with all honesty and truthfulness. It is only conclusive that the Jewish celebration of the feast of UNLEAVENED bread is a typological celebration of Christ’s honesty.
As Christ lives in us (Galatians 2: 20), may his truthfulness be reflected in the choices and decisions we make—devoid of any malice or hypocrisy, or any traces of subterfuge at all. This is the perfection in God’s terms and that God the Father expects from us: THAT JESUS BE MAGNIFIED THORUGH OUR THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS, as this is how we attain perfection in all truthfulness.
Apostle Paul said in Hebrews 10: 14, “For by one sacrifice HE HAS MADE PERFECT forever those who are being made holy.”
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