Christian Perfection

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48 

Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Hebrews 6:1

Christian Perfection may be the most misunderstood term in our Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. “Perfection” is a biblical word, but the Greek term translated “perfect”—teleios—does not convey the usual meaning our English word conveys. Teleios means something has achieved its purpose, or has attained maturity, completeness, wholeness. The chair I’m sitting in is perfect – it carries my weight and is comfortable, despite showing some signs of wear. It is perfect/teleios because it achieves the purpose for which it was designed and made. An apple is perfect, not because it has no blemish, but because it is ripe and sweet. Apple, chair, person—each can be called teleios when they achieve the purpose for which they were created.

And what is our purpose?  The Westminster Catechism famously states, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” John Wesley, who thought so much of the term Christian Perfection that one of his books carries the phrase in the title, sees our purpose differently. Wesley understands of our chief end to be “to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourself.”  Wesley writes, “Pure love, reigning alone in heart and life—this is the whole of Scriptural Perfection.” 

The term can be problematic. If not carefully explained, it can create the misunderstanding that Christians are to be without faults or flaws. By perfection, we do not mean “without mistake” or “needing no improvement.” 

Wesley is careful to describe what Christian Perfection is not – it is not absolute perfection, perfect wisdom, perfect judgement, infallibility, or a lack of errors, mistakes, imperfections, or infirmities. Nor is it immunity from temptation. As Diane Leclerc writes, “We never become more than human. We become more human through sanctification.”

Christian Perfection is the lifestyle of entire sanctification – the life of loving God and neighbor. Christian Perfection is to have holy intentions, and a single-hearted desire to live life in a way that pleases and honors God.  It is to have a pure heart.

Though filled with flaws and foibles, we become perfect when we realize the purpose for which God called us into His kingdom, and give ourselves completely to it.   

Finish then Thy new creation; Pure and spotless let us be. Let us see Thy great salvation, Perfectly restored in Thee. -       Charles Wesley