2 Comments

  1. Jon said:

    I enjoy your writing–it’s a fresh perspective for this Protestant.

    A couple of thoughts. “Perfection” has various meanings–our Western understanding grows out of ideas of the Greek philosophers; the Eastern understanding stands in it’s own strain of thought. While the NT was written in Greek, the thought behind it–especially Jesus’ thought, life and teachings–was Middle Eastern. The word translated ‘perfect’ (Matt.5) in our English-language Bibles would be better translated ‘complete’ or ‘whole.’ This stands in contrast to the Western idea of perfection meaning exact, without error, etc.

    I’m of the Wesleyan tradition. Wesley taught that Christian Perfection (he has sermons aplenty on the topic!) is living out the Greatest Commandment: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind…and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Wesley says that Christian perfection is achieved when we are in right relationship with God, neighbor and self. This IS acheiveable…but we don’t tend to stay there; we end up breaking those relationships again and again. Only when we leave this life will we be able to live completely and continuously in that relationship.

    I write this not to correct you in any way; rather, I wanted to share with you some other ways folks may be thinking about Christian perfection. Looking forward to your next post.

    September 7, 2015
    Reply
    • Matt Nelson said:

      Love it Jon. Thank you for the comments!

      September 7, 2015
      Reply

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