It is my understanding that, according to Catholic belief, we are supposed to be–or strive to be–perfect, or as perfect as possible. First of all, is this correct? Second, how is perfection defined in human context? Third, where does this belief come from: The New Testament, The Hebrew Bible, Jesus’ teachings and life, the Apostles, the Church Fathers, all of the above? Fourth, what are Protestants’ views on this belief? Judaism has a different take on the idea of perfection, which I won’t discuss right now. Any other religious beliefs concerning our striving for perfection? Personal views on the issue?
“Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” Matt 5:48.
You’ll get a variety of understandings I’m sure…from a Weslyan/Holiness perspective, once one experiences the “second work of grace” of “entire sanctification”, one is freed from the “sin nature” or the effects of “original sin”…that quality in humanity that “causes us to sin”…
“Entire Sanctification” or “Christian Perfection” as some call it, doesn’t mean one cannot sin…BUT that one DOES NOT HAVE TO SIN any longer. Through the work of the Holy Spirit one CAN live a holy life in “Christian Perfection”…also a life long process, but instantaineous as the work of God in our life.
One view Friends have held is the “perfectibility of humanity”…One can obey the Light Within and choose to live a life of holiness before God. While not many Friends have ever claimed perfection…if any…Friends do have a view of humanity that we can obey God perfectly because Christ now dwells within us and “recreates” us in His divine image…George Fox wrote of his experience with God…"“I was brought up in the spirit through the flaming sword into the paradise of God” As one author stated in reflection of George’s statement…
“that he had experienced his own nature to be the “flesh and blood” of Christ, not separate or distinct from the substance of God, that “the Light”, the “Seed”, which all humans possessed, was “of God”, that is, the very substance of Christ’s heavenly body. That “the Light” was not just a Teacher or Revealer or Convincer/Convictor, but that it was ‘metaphysical’ in its effect, raising up “the first body”, the paradisiacal body that was before the fall. That this was the nature of salvation in Christ: to shed the inner, ‘carnal’ body that could sin, and to be inhabited instead, body and spirit, by the immaterial, heavenly body of Christ himself, so as to partake of his power and authority and even perfection. That this indeed was the original foundation for Quaker ‘perfectionism’, the belief that one could live without sin.”
It was a lifelong process…but attainable…in contemporary Quakerism it is something to strive for…live honestly…speak honestly…love fully…seek to be at peace with all men and live in holiness…without which no man shall see the Lord.
These views of santification are helf by those of “Arminian” belief…I don’t believe Calvinists share a similar understanding of “Christian Perfection”.
The “metaphysical” change we receive in Christ as “new creations” is where the differing views of 'entire sanctification" stem…“theosis” begins now…in this life…as we “take on the nature of Christ” through a life of service and dedication.
