WE return to these verses one more time to address particularly the words of Jesus in verses 46 to 48. The thought in these verses follows directly from what Jesus has been saying about loving our enemies, but they also look back over the whole of the other five examples of how the teaching of the Pharisees fell short of the true revelation of God in the Bible. What Jesus speaks about in these last three verses of chapter 5 of Matthew are just as applicable to the other five issues Jesus speaks about, as the issue of loving our enemies.

Faced with these three verses we may be pardoned for feeling very discouraged and convicted. What Jesus asks of every one of his disciples is a life so high in its concept as to be impossible to perform. On the other hand there is in the heart of every true believer in Jesus something which answers to this vision of life Jesus presents, and loves it and longs for it. Perfection is something that is beautiful to the mind and heart of a Christian, and we long to be perfect.

What is Jesus telling us we need to be like. This can be stated in propositions. The first thing Jesus is telling us we should be in our lives is to be different to other people who are not Christians. Jesus speaks of the fact that people who are not Christians all love those who love them, so simply to love those who return our love is nothing special. Jesus implies that the Christian should be special, and show in life something higher and more exalted than others.

The next thing that Jesus impresses upon us is that the difference that is in our lives to those of the world is something which must be better than anything found in the world. The difference between us and those not Christians must be a difference up and not down. The difference must not be that we are worse than non Christians, but that we are better than non Christians. Jesus makes this plain in all the examples of life, behaviour and thinking he has presented to us. We must love our enemies as well as our friends. We must not only not do harm to people, but we must do them good. We must not only honour an oath but we must be truthful in all things. We must not simply avoid actual physical adultery, but we must keep our hearts and minds free from all lustful thoughts.

The difference Jesus presents to us as typical of a Christian is that the Christian is not just concerned about outward actions but about purity of thought and intention and feeling. Jesus says the difference we should show must be that we seek to keep the spirit of God’s law and not just the letter of it. From this we find that the difference about the Christian from the non-Christian is a totally higher concept of what true goodness is, and a deeper understanding concerning the nature of what falls short of true holiness. The Christian has been changed so that Christians see their failings and sins in the light of the higher holiness of God, and see how far short they fall from this holiness, and so long to reach that holiness which is in God. This is because of a fundamental change in the true believer which is the fact of new spiritual birth, and the gift of a new holy nature.

The third proposition follows from this, and is that the Christian must be perfect as his or her Father is perfect. This is a challenging and convicting thing. If we have new birth in Christ we approve this, and make no attempt to water it down. We long for this perfection. We mourn over the fact that we fall short of it. We have this hope in us that we will be made perfect in the heavenly kingdom. Because this perfection is so beautiful we strive after it all the time and so mortify the corrupt affection of our sinful nature which still resides in this earthly body. The person of the world can feel they have arrived and achieved a commendable standard of life, and can feel worthy and satisfied with themselves. The Christian, even the holiest of Christians, will always acknowledge themselves to be sinners and depend on God‘s mercy in Christ. However they will be at peace in the fact that Jesus their Saviour has clothed them with his perfect righteousness, so that they are reconciled and at peace with God.

The wonderful, strengthening and uplifting thing which Jesus presents to us here is that he does not say “Be perfect as God is perfect”, but “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”. The perfection is the same. Our Father in heaven is God himself. But Jesus speaks of God in a way that makes the requirement of perfection something that is not threatening or condemning, but rather something that we aspire to with all our hearts.

Because God is our Father we know we live in his heart and we are loved. We know that this is so even though we feel ourselves to be such sinners. So we strive after holiness because we are loved and not because we are threatened by retribution for failure. Because God is our Father, we know we can’t be separated from his love, for he has made us his children through Christ, and his love over-shadows us.

What we know also is that one day we will be perfect. Not in this earthly life, but when we are brought after physical death into the heavenly kingdom of our Father. Because of this we long for this time. Because of this we seek to prepare ourselves for this time by striving after holiness, and putting to death our corrupt affections, and because God is our Father he has given us his Spirit to be our aid and power for this.