Gospel of Matthew Chapter 5 Vs. 48

 Love Your Enemies

Matthew 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

ye therefore perfect... Greek: teleios, complete in conformity to God’s laws.

What a Christian Must Be:

1. Broken in spirit, burdened for others, meek, humble, hungry for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, wise, patient, loving, joyful, and gracious (Mat. 5:3-12)

2. Salt to preserve and a light to shine (Mat. 5:13-16)

3. A teacher and keeper of the truth (Mat. 5:17-19)

4. Free from hypocrisy, selfishness, and grudges (Mat. 5:20-24)

5. A peacemaker (Mat. 5:9, 5:25-26)

6. Free from lusts (Mat. 5:27-30)

7. A family man (Mat. 5:31-32)

8. Truthful (Mat. 5:31-37)

9. Nonresistant to mistreatment (Mat. 5:38-41)

10. Charitable, neighborly, and God-like in society (Mat. 5:38-47)

All This Is Possible Through:

1. The new birth (2Cor. 5:17; 1Jhn. 2:29; 3:5-10; 5:1-4, 5:18)

2. Walking and living in the Spirit (Rom. 8:1-13; Gal. 5:16-26)

3. Proper use of Christian weapons (2Cor. 10:5-7; Eph. 6:10-18; Col. 2:6-10; 3:3-10; 2Tim. 2:21)

Christ sets an unattainable standard. This sums up what the law itself demanded (Jas. 2:10). Though this standard is impossible to meet, God could not lower it without compromising His own perfection.

He who is perfect could not set an imperfect standard of righteousness. The marvelous truth of the gospel is that Christ has met this standard on our behalf.

This section of the Sermon on the Mount is summarized with the statement Be ye therefore perfect. Since the New Testament is clear that even the believer is capable of sin, the term perfect is not to be taken as sinless perfection. Perfect here means complete, that is, possessing a complete love that, like God’s (verse 45), embraces those who love you as well as those who do not.

Try to be as near like Jesus as is humanly possible. Jesus is our example. We must try every day to be a little more like Him.

He did not lower His standard to accommodate humans; instead He set forth His absolute holiness as the standard. Though this standard can never be perfectly met by man himself, a person who by faith trusts in God enjoys His righteousness being reproduced in his life.