Jesus’ words are often hard to digest, especially since they cut at the very core of humanity’s desire for autonomy and self-justification. In speaking with his disciples and a large crowd about the ethics of God’s Kingdom, Jesus reminded them that the Father’s standard for humanity was perfection: "Be perfect as our Father which in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).
As he unwrapped the core teaching of the Ten Commandments in the Sermon on the Mount, he emphasized that God requires much more than the external obedience being practiced by the Scribes and Pharisees – and instead demands an obedience that flows from a regenerate heart and trust. Rather than lowering the bar for righteousness, he surprisingly raised it to the highest level. Not only was it sin to murder and commit adultery, but Jesus warned them if they even hated someone or looked at someone lustfully they had broken God’s commands and were guilty. He went on to tell them they must love their enemies, not trumpet their good works or store up treasures for themselves on earth – but to be rich toward God. These standards of perfection certainly brought the most self-righteous in the crowd to despair. After all, who besides God could achieve this kind of holiness? And wasn’t Jesus telling them they must somehow attain it themselves?
Since the Bible makes it clear that no one is righteous and that anyone claiming to be without sin is a liar (Romans 3:10-12; 1 John 1:10), we know Jesus was in no way contradicting the Word by requiring that humanity somehow pursue sinless perfection on their own (Numbers 23:19). Instead, his purpose in making this statement was to show them the utter impossibility of achieving this kind of perfect righteousness in their strength and their need for his redeeming work, which would not be fully revealed until the cross and resurrection. Jesus was directing their gaze away from themselves and their helpless attempts at self-righteousness and pointing them to their need for a Savior – one who had perfect, trusting obedience to the law and the authority to gift them with his perfect righteousness.
The book of Hebrews speaks of this exact same transaction in Christ, but in different terms. Paul writes in Hebrews 10:14, “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” In other words, Jesus’ finished work on the cross on our behalf has made us “perfect” in God’s sight, who has forever cancelled the debt of sin we owed and imputed to our account perfect righteousness in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). In addition to this miraculous work, we are “being made holy” by his indwelling Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ teaching on God’s standard for perfect righteousness in the Sermon on the Mount reminds us that he never minimizes his standards to accommodate our fleshly nature. Instead, he achieves perfection in us through his gifted righteousness and then works holiness in us through his Spirit, who enables to fulfill the ethics of the Kingdom of God (Romans 8:4; Hebrews 10:14-17; Philippians 2:12-13, 3:9). For this reason, we need to be wary of theology that either demands human perfection or denies God’s righteous standard for it. The reality is that we must be holy as he is holy -- but this holiness can only be given by Christ and sustained as we abide in him (1 Peter 1:16).
“…and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (Philippians 3:9)
