Glenn wrote: > I think I know where we disagree. It's over > the word perfect. I cannot see anyone as > perfect as God the Father in that everyone > has sinned.
The underlying assumption that you make here is that a person's past has merit for judging his present position. I think that assumption is false in light of a gospel that announces how past sins are no longer held against us because of the cross of Christ. Either we really are new creatures in Jesus Christ or we are not. We either are born again, or we are simply reformed. If we were simply reformed, you would have a case, but if we are new creatures, why consider our past sins at all? Glenn wrote: > I see the taming down of the word perfect to > mean less than perfect in order for people > to qualify to be perfect. It seems like you are getting at motives here. The thought has never entered my mind as to how to find a way to be called perfect. Rather, I simply saw that the Bible used the word perfect in reference to Christians, and that Jesus instructed us to be perfect. Because I take the Bible seriously, I felt that I needed to change my language and understanding of terms to line up with the Bible. Glenn wrote: > I don't see any Christian with perfect character > as God the Father. I think it is a prideful heart > to even think one could even compare themseves > in righteousness to God the Father. I can understand that if you think people work out their own righteousness, but when righteousness is imputed to us, and then imparted into us by the Spirit as a gift of God, without works on our part, then how could their possibly be pride? Glenn wrote: > I think to tame down the word perfect to mean > not committing sin, is to compromise on sin. > Sin is much deeper and nastier. > In my mind it is impossible to become more perfect. > It is impossible to grow if you are perfect. > Perfect is perfect as God the Father is perfect. It would be ridiculous for anyone to say that they are as perfect as God the Father in the sense that you use the word here, as being impossible to grow. Please understand that we agree on this point. Nevertheless, the Bible does use the word perfect in a different sense, and so do people today when they talk about how Jesus was perfect. Are you willing to consider ideas along these lines? I think in Phil. 2 is a passage that uses the word "perfect" in both ways and might be a good starting point. Then we can talk about the way in which Jesus Christ is considered perfect. I almost must hear an answer to some questions that I have posted, which are: Was Jesus at the time he said this (Mat. 5:48) as perfect as his heavenly Father? Was Jesus at age 12 as perfect as his heavenly Father? Has Jesus always been as perfect as his heavenly Father? Peace be with you. David Miller. ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
