2 Corinthians 13:9

CHRISTIAN PERFECTION

‘This we also pray for, even your perfecting.’

2 Corinthians 13:9 (R. V.)

Times of revival are times of spiritual danger. Peril comes from two seemingly opposite quarters. On the one side there is the tendency to exaggerate, on the other to belittle, God’s truth. We suffer from both these tendencies. Thus there are some to-day who, if language means anything, do lay claim to a practically sinless perfection. Such perfection is not our danger, nor does the fact that some think they are perfect seriously menace the life of the Church. Facts are too strong for the theory. Our danger lies in the opposite direction—in an idle acquiescence in imperfection. This is the real peril. Sometimes it springs of personal failure; sometimes of the reaction from perfectionist theories; sometimes from ignorance of God’s demands; sometimes, and most often, from sheer laziness. There are three words whose meaning it is well to grasp if we would understand the scope and limits of Christian perfection.

I. The first of these is ‘teleios.’—Its exact meaning is ‘that which is brought to an end,’ and hence that which is matured and so complete. The Gospel was in this sense perfect as compared with the law (Hebrews 7:19). The Christian is exhorted to be a child in malice, but a man (lit. perfect) in understanding (1 Corinthians 14:20). In Hebrews 6:1 teleios is used with this significance, where the Christian teachers are urged to leave the first principles, the mere rudiments of Christian truth, and to ‘go on unto perfection’ in their teaching. So in another glowing passage (Ephesians 4:13) the whole Church is viewed as coming to ‘a full-grown man,’ of which the ‘full-grown men in Christ’ are at once the elements and the miniatures. In this sense it is that our sinless Saviour is said to have been perfected. As ‘the Captain,’ or Archègos, He took part in that which He established; and Himself ‘became perfect (teleios) through suffering.’ Of this perfection the Resurrection was the visible seal and crown.

II. The second word for perfect is ‘holoklèros.’—The perfection it indicates is one in which no grace of the Christian is lacking, just as in teleios no grace is imperfect or weak. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 the word is translated ‘blameless,’ and in James 1:4, ‘entire.’ In the latter passage it is linked with teleios thus: ‘Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.’ How deficient we are! How many would be the finest Christians in the world but for shortcoming just in one obvious point. To how many might not Christ say, ‘One thing thou lackest’; and how many ‘go away grieved’ whom He loves! Nor is the loss theirs only, for what of His heart?

III. The last of these words for perfection is ‘katartisis,’ and its allied verb. It indicates that which is fitted, restored, adjusted, and so made what it ought to be, viz. perfect. Thus, in St. Matthew 4:21, the fishermen are seen mending their nets; in Hebrews 11:3, the worlds are declared to have been ‘ framed by the Word of God.’ So, too, a fallen Christian is to be restored by those that are spiritual (Galatians 6:1). How deeply suggestive then, is the use of this word in a spiritual application! The great need of many a disappointing Christian life lies in a nutshell; it is spiritual adjustment. Such a life may not be deficient in gifts; you remember that of the Corinthian Church it was written: ‘In everything ye were enriched in Him’; and yet that Church, as a whole, caused grave anxiety to the Apostle. It had gifts abundant; its great need was grace.

If we would know what Christian perfection is, we must go in for it with our whole heart. It is easy to discuss the exact force of words, to point out shades of meaning in the Greek, to argue this or deny that, to know every pitfall on the way to holiness, and yet be unholy still. If our God gives us His supreme command, ‘Be holy,’ let us not forget that His biddings are enablings. But it is only when we are prostrate before Him in willing, joyful obedience that possibilities become certainties.

Rev. Canon Barnes-Lawrence.

Illustration

‘There is a picture by Albert Durer over which the great painter often shed tears. Jesus Christ is seated, while round Him are weeds and stones and thistles, and He weeps over them. There are wound-prints in His side and hands—it is the risen Lord—and His tears are over the failure of His people; those whom He died to save from sin seem not to care for holiness.’