Chapter 19: Christian Perfection Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48.
In the 43rd verse, the Savior says, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy; 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, 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.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
In discoursing on the subject of Christian Perfection, it is my design to pursue this order:
I. I shall show what is not to be understood by the requirement, "Be ye therefore perfect;" or, what Christian Perfection is not. II. Show what is the perfection here required. III. That this perfection is a duty. IV. That it is attainable; and, V. Answer some of the objections which are commonly argued against the doctrine of Christian Perfection.
I. I am to show you what Christian Perfection is not.
1. It is not required that we should have the same natural perfections that God has.
God has two kinds of perfections, natural and moral his natural perfections constitute his nature, essence, of constitution. They are his eternity, immutability, omnipotence, etc.
These are called natural perfections, because they have no moral character. They are not voluntary. God has not given them to himself, because he did not create himself but existed from eternity, with all these natural attributes in full possession. All these God possesses in an infinite degree. These natural perfections are not the perfection here required. The attributes of our nature were created in us, and we are not required to produce any new natural attributes, nor would it be possible. We are not required to possess any of them in the degree that God possesses them.
2. The perfection required in the text is not perfection of knowledge, even according to our limited faculties.
3. Christian Perfection, as here required, is not freedom from temptation, either from our constitution or from things that are about us. The mind may be ever so sorely tried with the animal appetites, and yet not sin. The apostle James says, "Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." The sin is not in the temptations, but in yielding to them. A person may be tempted by Satan, as well as by the appetites, or by the world, and yet not have sin. All sin consists in voluntary consenting to the desires.
4. Neither does Christian perfection imply a freedom from what ought to be understood by the Christian warfare.
5. The perfection required is not the infinite moral perfection which God has; because man, being a finite creature, is not capable of infinite affections. God being infinite in himself for him to be perfect is to be infinitely perfect. But this is not required of us.