THAT WE MAY PRESENT EVERY
MAN PERFECT IN CHRIST JESUS
Christian, are you perfect? Today few of us would say we are. Rather we see ourselves saved by grace but still “diamonds” in the “rough”, waiting to be cut and polished. But, oddly, that is not what the Bible teaches.
It suggests that nearly 2,000 years ago the Apostle Paul knew saints who were perfect. He spoke of them in Phil. 3:15:
Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded (I.e. pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in God, vs. 14)…
What’s more in Col. 1:26-28 he states that he preached and taught the “mystery hid from ages and from generations”, “warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom…
… that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus”.
So some were perfect then and, arguably some are perfect still today. Undoubtedly Paul himself was perfect and perfected before the end of his life. He says so in 2 Tim. 4:7-8:
I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day, and not to me only but unto all them that also love his appearing
And right there in that verse we see a condition that must be met if we are to be counted perfect in “that day” i.e. that of his appearing. It is that we should love and “look for” (Titus 2:13) his appearing because that is “our blessed hope”. No, that is not the “second coming”, a phrase not found in scripture.
The appearing is that of Christ Jesus the Lord shining out his glory while seated in heaven to bring in a new world under his government on earth. If it were his actual “coming” to earth then the apostles Peter4, John and Paul would have said so but they did not.
But if we want to be perfect there’s more entailed than looking for his appearing As Timothy was told (1 Tim. 4:13-16) right now we should:
…give attendance to reading, to exhortation to doctrine. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.
Sadly, “doctrine” as Paul cites it is considered a dirty word in many Christian circles; warm fuzzies, belonging to “church”, and pursuit of miracles being preferred in its place. Yet it’s vital to “fully know” (2 Tim. 4:10) not only Paul’s doctrine but also his “manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience ... persecutions, afflictions”.
Why? Because in short that is the “stairway to heaven”, Please note ladies, it is not upmarket shopping as the pop song suggests. No, it is admitting that God sent Paul to proclaim a new way of salvation that provides completion through understanding who He (God) really is and what He has already done for us.
This new revelation is all about godliness and a godliness that is achievable in this life. The proviso is that we must believe this new message from the apostle and be willing to suffer the inevitable consequence of persecution for doing so.
So, do you want to be made perfect? Here are some things Paul recommends you do to achieve that goal:
Follow Paul as he follows Christ. Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ (1 Cor. 11:1).
Forget the things that are behind, i.e. the ways of the world, the former gospel of the kingdom for Israel, repentance and water baptism to be counted part of Israel, self-sanctification and other things Paul himself once taught but now, in the light of the mystery, counts “but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8)
Acknowledge that Christ in heaven sent the Apostle Paul with a new message of salvation, a new dispensation, that of grace (Eph. 3:1-4), a new and better gospel and God’s unveiling of a mystery kept hidden from creation until now. As one commentator rightly said: “Why won’t you listen to him?”
Realise that that this new message found in the prison epistles of Paul proclaims that you are reconciled and thus already perfect because God in Christ has made you so. Thus Col. 1:21-23 proclaims:
And you, who were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of his flesh to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I Paul am made a minister
Now, if you are no longer an enemy but have been reconciled and presented holy and unblameable and unreprovable in the sight of God Himself, Christ Jesus the Lord, how can you or anyone say you are not perfect?
But, you say, I don’t feel holy, still less perfect and I still struggle with sin. Join the club, so do all of us. But you see God doesn’t see us like that. He sees us holy and perfect before Him and since what He sees is the ultimate reality what He sees is really what it is and thus what and I become.
John Dudley Aldworth
Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com
Website: https://www.dayofchristmnistries.com/rss/all.xml