“43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48 KJV)
Is Jesus saying we need to be perfect as God is to be or remain saved? Some are teaching a false Doctrine called ‘Sinless Perfection’ is required for Salvation but that goes against so many Scriptures on Salvation such as Ephesians 2:8-9.
I have added the previous verses to verse 48 so that what I believe to be the proper context is showing us regarding verse 48.
Jesus is showing us that our love should be like God’s love. Hate our enemy? No… love our enemy. He shows us how God makes the sun to rise on evil and good to the just and unjust. This is the love of God.
A love that is UNCONDITIONAL. If we love only those that love us, that is not how God loves. And so, as believers who have the Holy Spirit indwelling, we should also be loving others as God does. We are the light of the world.
When we read BE YE THEREFORE PERFECT, even as your FATHER is in Heaven perfect the meaning is to love others as God loves others and not as the world loves others.
I see no meaning here in context of the passage meaning we must be PERFECT and without any sin. Sinless Perfection while we stll have this Flesh corrupt body is not possible, though we strive to refuse sinning just as Apostle Paul shows us in Romans 7. There is a war within A BELIEVER that an unbeliver doesn not have. We have a new created Spirit since we believed (Eph 1:13-14) Our sinful Flesh is at WAR with our newly created Spirit and as Apostle Paul tells us, we should walk by the Spirit to avoid the lusts of the Flesh. It is a real struggle and we will at times fail.
This does not mean that a person loses their Salvation. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin to bring us back to what our Spirit really wants. We confess our sin to God, knowing He already paid for the sin on that cross asking Him to help us overcome the temptation when it arises again.
