“BE PERFECT!
Matthew 5:48
FOURTEEN KINDS OF PERFECTION
by John Roy Bohlen & John 5:30
1: THE GOD KIND OF PERFECTION.
2: THE BIBLE KIND OF INFALLIBILITY PERFECTION.
3: “SINLESS PERFECTION”
4: 1 JOHN 1:9 “CLEANSED FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS”.
5: THE “KING’S GREATEST SECRET!”, OR SANCTIFICATION:
6: MATURE or COMPLETE
7: GLORIFICATION: (Please see our article on GLORY!)
8: ALL THAT WE WILL EVER KNOW OR EXPERIENCE IN THIS LIFE:
9: CORPORATE PERFECTION: BRIDE OF CHRIST - WITHOUT SPOT
10: THE “AFTER I’M DEAD AND IMMORTAL” PERFECTION
11. THEORETICAL PERFECTION:
12. SUPERIORITY PERFECTION
13. “GOD LOVES YOU WHERE YOU” ARE KIND OF PERFECTION
14. THE “ABIDING IN HIM” PERFECTION
The word “PERFECT”, as it is found in the Bible (NAS)
Lev 22:21
Deut 32:4
1 Sam 14:41
2 Sam 22:33 (NIV)
1 Chr 12:38
1 Chr 29:19
Ezra 7:12
Job 22:3
Job 36:4
Job 37:16
Ps 18:32
32 It is God Who arms me with strength and makes my way PERFECT. (NIV)
Ps 19:7
Song 5:2
Song 6:9
Isa 25:1
Isa 26:3
Ezek 16:14
Ezek 27:3
Ezek 28:12
Ezek 40:47
Matt 5:48
Matt 5:48
Acts 3:16
Rom 12:2
1 Cor 13:10
Phil 1:6
Phil 3:12
Phil 3:15
Col 3:14
Col 4:12
1 Tim 1:16
Heb 2:10
Heb 5:9
Heb 7:19
Heb 7:28
Heb 9:9
Heb 9:11
Heb 10:1
Heb 11:40
Heb 12:23
James 1:4
James 1:17
James 1:25
James 3:2
1 Pet 5:10
I Jn 4:18
FOURTEEN KINDS OF PERFECTION
In discussing or reading or thinking about “PERFECTion”, it is important to understand how the word is used. Thus, we would like to point out at least 14 ways that the word “PERFECTion” is used.
NUMBER 1: THE GOD KIND OF PERFECTION. (No) We will never be God. The Bible states that we are “partakers of the Divine Nature”, and that “For me to live IS Christ”, and “We have the mind of Christ.”, and, “As He is, so are we, in this world.”, etc., but, we will never beeeeeeeeee God, never be all-knowing, all-powerful, or be everywhere present. We will never be, as they say in seminary: omniscient, omnipotent, or omnipresent. One problem is, that we occasionally run into people who THINK they are God, or that they know everything there is to know about God. We can never attain to this kind of PERFECTion.
NUMBER 2: THE BIBLE KIND OF INFALLIBILITY PERFECTION. (No) The Bible is a unique Book. In its original languages, it is PERFECT and complete. Our words and our writings will never attain to the Bible status. However, and this may sound like heresy, there are times when our words can be MORE anointed, MORE practical, and MORE up to date. Please allow me to explain: (And, may God Himself spank you if you take me out of context.) Let’s say that you are sending someone a letter of encouragement. You open your Bible and flip the pages, and take a random verse from some place in Scripture, say, “Judas went out and hung himself” - then, you quickly randomly pick another, “Go thou and do likewise”! and another, “Whatsoever thou doest, so quickly.” Perhaps, God Himself wants you to tell the person, “The Lord, thy Shepherd, does lead and feed thee.” Tell me, which of the two words is more “anointed” more “practical”, more up to date, MORE of God? Yet, this current “word” will never be “on par with”, or “as infallible as”, or “in the same category with” the Bible. We will never be “the inspiration-of-the-Bible- kind of PERFECT”.
NUMBER 3: SINLESS PERFECTION is an idea that will never come to its own time. “Sinless PERFECTion” as it is commonly understood, is that state of being that has reached the place where it is no longer possible for us to be able to sin, where we cannot sin, and where it has become impossible to sin. The angels had not sinned, yet one third of them rebelled. Adam and Eve had not sinned, but then they both chose to. Jesus could have sinned if He had wanted to. Otherwise the temptations of Christ would have been a silly game. The existence of love and the ability to choose to love, always presupposes the necessity of always being able to choose to NOT love, which is sin. Because I believe that we will always have the ability to choose to love, I believe that the ability to choose to not love will always be a desirable possibility. Therefore, I do not believe that this kind of “PERFECTion” is either desirable, or possible. (No).
NUMBER 4: 1 JOHN 1:9 “CLEANSED FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS”. (Yes) If you have confessed your sin and have been cleansed from ALL, not “much”, or “most”, but “cleansed from ALL unrighteousness”, then “How much unrighteousness do you have left in you???” In Matthew 5:48, Jesus commands all of us to be PERFECT. God expects us to walk righteously all of the time. Again, the question can be asked: If you have the Word of God, the Blood of Christ, the Life of Christ, the Power of God, the Spirit of God, the armor of God, the intercession of Christ, the filling and baptism of the Holy Spirit, the prayers of the saints, the shield of faith, the armor of God, the escape that Christ provides, and the weapons of our warfare, “How long can you live without sinning?” 5 seconds? 5 minutes? 5 hours? 5 months? 5 years? 5 decades?. “There has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, Who will not suffer (allow) you to be tempted above what you are able, but will, with the temptation, provide a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” I Cor.10:13 God wants us to get clean and stay clean, all the time.
NUMBER 5: THE “KING’S GREATEST SECRET!”, OR SANCTIFICATION: (Yes) (Please see our book, The King’s Greatest Secret!) When Jesus died on the cross, He not only took our sins, and the penalty for them, so that we could be forgiven, and He took our sicknesses, so that we could be healed, but He also took our SELVES, so that we can know and reckon on the fact that we are crucified, dead and buried with Him, along with all everything negative, nasty , inferior, inadequate, weak, failing, imPERFECT, etc., so that He Jesus Yahshua is actually available to BE our Life, BE our PERFECTion, BE our adequacy, BE our sufficiency, BE our righteousness, BE our Life. Thus, if Jesus IS OUR LIFE-”, then, in a sense, His PERFECTion becomes our own - so much so, that it becomes impossible to separate our life, our attributes, our PERFECTions - from His!!!!!!! (except in those areas, and at those times that we are less than He is).
NUMBER 6: MATURE or COMPLETE: (Yes/No) In Phil.3:12 and 15, Paul uses the word ‘PERFECT’ in 2 different ways: In verse 12 he says he’s not PERFECT, and in 15, he says that he is! Paul uses the same word in the same way when he says that it is his goal to “present every man PERFECT in Christ Jesus”! Col.1:27, 28
NUMBER 7: GLORIFICATION: (Yes/No) (Please see our article on GLORY!) “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are transformed into THE VERY SAME IMAGE, from glory to glory.”, 2Cor.3:7-11, 18; To paraphrase verses 7 to 11, Paul tells us, ‘Remember when Moses went up on the Mount, He saw the glory of God? When He saw God. Moses’ face began to shine like the sun at its brightest, so much so that when he came sown from the mountain, he actually had to put a towel over his face so people could stand to look at him.’ And then, 4 times straight in a row, the apostle Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, makes the promise that that experience that happened to Moses was NOTHING compared to what is available to us to day!!!!!!! “Who He justified, them He also glorified”! Rom.8:17-30. “As He is, so are we, in this world”! I Jn.17:b Walk, even as He (Yahshua) walked”! 1 Jn.2:6b We believe that this experience is a present potential reality. We believe that the reason that John bowed down to the brother in the Lord, the fellow prophet/servant, in Revelation 19:10 and 22:8,9, was because John could NOT tell the difference between that creature he saw there, and the One he saw in Revelation, chapter 1!!!
NUMBER 8: ALL THAT WE WILL EVER KNOW OR EXPERIENCE OR SAY OR DO IN THIS LIFE: (No) Phil.3:12 Paul said, “The time of my departure is at hand, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, hence forth the crown is laid up for me - - “ We have not done all that we are going to do in this life, have not said all that God wants us to say, gone every place that He wants us to go, become all that He intends that we become, learned all that we are going to learn. Thus, we are not PERFECT or complete in the sense that we cannot learn any more than we know.
NUMBER 9: CORPORATE PERFECTION: THE PERFECTION OF THE BRIDE OF CHRIST “WITHOUT SPOT OR WRINKLE” (No) Eph. 4:11-15 “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a PERFECT man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”! Jesus Yahshua is promised a PERFECT Bride - He is worthy of a PERFECT Bride, and, by God, He is going to have a PERFECT Bride!!!!!!! Rev.21:2,9,17. “Husbands, love your wife, as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her, - - that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Eph.5:25 We are not there yet, but are progressing.
NUMBER 10! THE “NOW I’M PHYSICALLY DEAD AND IMMORTAL” STATE OF BEING. (No) The Bible states that when we die, this corruption will put on incorruption, and that this mortality shall put on immortality, that we shall be changed, as in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, for we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” I Cor.15:53-58, I Jn 3:2,; Rom.8 Note also, 1 Cor.13:10-12, where it refers to “when that which is PERFECT is come, then that which is in part will be done away”, and “then, face to face”, and “then shall I know, even as I also am known.” “Now unto Him Who is able to keep us from falling (or stumbling) and to present us FAULTLESS before the Throne of His Glory with exceeding great joy - - “ Jude 24. We are not dead yet, so we have not yet reached this kind of PERFECTion.
NUMBER 11: “THEORETICAL” PERFECTION: (No.) There’s no such thing! Some people have been taught a false doctrine that makes them believe that somehow, God comes to pretend that we are without sin, even if we have sin. The Catholic doctrine says that Stern Jesus sees us through the loving eyes of Mary. The Protestant doctrine says that the Stern Heavenly Father sees us through the loving, but blood colored eyes of Jesus - as PERFECT, even when we have sinned. Both concepts are dead wrong! If I get a wrong spirit toward my wife, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the mother of Jesus, the great Cloud of Witnesses, and the devil all know that I have a wrong attitude toward my wife, until or unless I repent, both to my wife and to the Lord. Only then God washes me clean, and I am clean, not because God is pretending that I have no sin when I do, but He knows that I don’t, because He has cleaned me, and has taken my sin away. There are also those who believe the heresy that God has already forgiven my future sins, and though God has taken the penalty for my sins, they are not forgiven until I repent for them. The possibility exists that if I sin deliberately or willfully, that I can get to the place where, as the Bible says, “There remains no more sacrifice for sins.” God has not programmed or planned that I commit sin in the future. If we do sin, it is because we chose to do so, or, at least chose to not take the way of escape that is promised in 1 Cor 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.” (NAS)
NUMBER 12: “SUPERIORITY” PERFECTION: “I ain’t PERFECT, but, I’m more PERFECT than you.” This kind of PERFECTion has to do with a sometimes very subtle, “I know better than you.” “I am more spiritual than you.” “I am better than you.” or, even, “I am more humble than you.” Sometimes, just for fun, I will tell a person, “I’ll bet I love you more than you love me.” Sometimes, a close friend or member of my family will respond, “Yes, you are probably right.” Yet, the Bible commands: “Count all others, as better than yourself.” Phil.2:3 How can we do this, especially in situations where the other party is definitely in sin, yet, we are not. How do we consider, esteem or count all others as better, when we DO know more, have more experience, knowledge, intelligence, capabilities, health, education, authority, etc. The answer lies in the fact that we all deserve an eternity in hell, and that any good thing we are and have, is only by the grace and mercy and kindness of God, that anything we do have is not by our doing, apart from God, and these things can be taken away at any time. Also, the Bible declares that “To whom much is given - of him shall much more be required.” Luke 12:48
NUMBER 13: THE “GOD-LOVES-YOU-WHERE-YOU-ARE” PERFECTION: (Yes, potentially.) Take a couple who have a child. He or she is well behaved, sweet, precious and loving. But it may not be potty trained, may not know how to talk or walk, dress itself or tie its shoes. This child is PERFECT in its own state of growth and development. We are not unhappy because the child is immature in these things. Nor is God unhappy with us because we haven’t learned everything there is to know about God yet, or because we haven’t done everything we are going to do. We can waste ourselves worrying about this, instead of simply enjoying Him, enjoying the journey. This does not mean that He is happy with us, if we are sinning. As His Word says, “God is angry with the wicked every day.” Psalm 7:11. Remember: we CAN abide in that state of “having done all - to stand.” Eph.6:13 - “ Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (KJV),
NUMBER 14. “ABIDING IN HIM” PERFECTION: (Yes, potentially.) When all else is said and done, there is no substitute for simply abiding in Him, sitting upon His lap, remaining in His Presence, walking in the Spirit, here, in the Secret Place of the Most High, under the Shadow of the Almighty. Having been born again, Spirit filled, Sanctified, totally committed, King’s Greatest Secret, or even “glorified” - all of these, or any other revelation or experience, can be no substitute for being up-to-date resting, walking, remaining, residing, abiding, in Him in each present moment. The good news is, that we CAN and MUST be led by the Holy Spirit, consistently, or we cannot properly call ourselves “the Sons of God”. This is basic. Here, the Bible says that if we fail to abide in Him we will be cut off, cast out, thrown into the fire and burned. (So much for infernal security.) Let’s abide in Him, consistent!
John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. 5 I am the Vine, ye “ are -” the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.” (KJV)
I Jn 2:6 “The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” (NAS)
RESOURCES
If you are interested in books on the Kingdom of God, or the Great Commission Ministries, you may call us at 715-866-4060, or write to: Great Commission Ministries. The following books or articles are available:
Book on how married people can live happily ever after, is: The Sexual Ministry.
Book on how to raise children, God's way: How To Raise 'Purfect' Kids
Small book on how to be consistently pleasing to God, is:
The King's Greatest Secret!
Book of poetry: Poems, by John Roy Bohlen & John 5:30
Book near completion: The Perfect Church
True Adventure Stories From Africa
Small book on the extent to which God expects us to keep Old Testament Laws: Law, Grace, and Law
Small book on how hot is Hell, and how long does it last:
Hell
Article on Apostles: Who, If, How and Where
If you want to visit our web site for more information, including a copy of our first book on the Kingdom of God:
www.KingdomofGodrules.com
At this web site, the following books are available:
How To Rule The World, or, Seek 1st the Kingdom of God
Also available at this web site is our book on rightly relating, called, The Cult of Cannibals