Matthew 5:48

Matthew 5:48
Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father
This perfection is to be restrained to the subject Christ is upon, love to men, and not to be referred to
any, or every other thing; wherefore, in ( Luke 6:36 ) it is, "be ye merciful, as your Father also is
merciful"; and regards not a perfection of degree in that, but objects and quality: that is to say, not
that men may, or can, or ought to be as perfect in love, as to the degree of it, as God is; that is
impossible: the "as" here, is not a note of equality, but of likeness: such, who profess God to be their
Father, ought to imitate him, particularly in their love to men, which ought to be extended to the
same objects, as the divine goodness is; that, as he shows regard in a providential way to all men,
good and bad, just and unjust, and his tender mercies are over all his works; so ought they to love all
men with a natural affection, and hate no man, no, not their enemies: for he that loves only his
friends, and not his enemies, loves imperfectly; he does not take in the whole compass of objects his
love is to extend unto; and as God loves sincerely, and without dissimulation, so should they. To be
"perfect", is to be sincere and upright: in this sense is the word often used, and answers to the
Hebrew word (Mymt) , which signifies the same: see ( Deuteronomy 18:13 ) which is the passage
Christ seems to refer to here; and the sense is, be ye sincere and upright in your love to all men, as
your heavenly Father is hearty and sincere in his affections to them.

◄ Matthew 5:48 ►
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(48) Be ye therefore perfect.—Literally, Ye therefore shall be perfect—the ideal future that
implies an imperative.

Your Father which is in heaven.—The better reading gives, your heavenly Father.The idea of
perfection implied in the word here is that of the attainment of the end or ideal completeness of
our being. In us that attainment implies growth, and the word is used (e.g., in 1Corinthians
2:6; Hebrews 5:14) of men of full age as contrasted with infants. In God the perfection is not
something attained, but exists eternally, but we draw near to it and become partakers of the
divine nature when we love as He loves:

———“Earthly power doth then show likest God’s

When mercy seasons justice.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:43-48 The Jewish teachers by neighbour understood only those who were of their own country,
nation, and religion, whom they were pleased to look upon as their friends. The Lord Jesus
teaches that we must do all the real kindness we can to all, especially to their souls. We must
pray for them. While many will render good for good, we must render good for evil; and this will
speak a nobler principle than most men act by. Others salute their brethren, and embrace those of
their own party, and way, and opinion, but we must not so confine our respect. It is the duty of
Christians to desire, and aim at, and press towards perfection in grace and holiness. And therein
we must study to conform ourselves to the example of our heavenly Father, 1Pe 1:15,16. Surely
more is to be expected from the followers of Christ than from others; surely more will be found
in them than in others. Let us beg of God to enable us to prove ourselves his children.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Be ye therefore perfect ... - The Saviour concludes this part of the discourse by commanding his
disciples to be "perfect." This word commonly means "finished, complete, pure, holy."
Originally, it is applied to a piece of mechanism, as a machine that is complete in its parts.
Applied to people, it refers to completeness of parts, or perfection, where no part is defective or
wanting. Thus, Job JObadiah 1:1 is said to be "perfect;" that is, not holy as God, or "sinless" - for
fault is afterward found with him Job 9:20; Job 42:6; but his piety was "proportionate" - had a
completeness of parts was consistent and regular. He exhibited his religion as a prince, a father,
an individual, a benefactor of the poor. He was not merely a pious man in one place, but
uniformly. He was consistent everywhere. See the notes at that passage. This is the meaning in
Matthew. Be not religious merely in loving your friends and neighbors, but let your piety be
shown in loving your enemies; imitate God; let your piety be "complete, proportionate, regular."
This every Christian may be; this every Christian must be.

Remarks On Matthew 5

1. The gospel pronounces blessings on things far different from what the world has thought to be
a source of happiness. People suppose that happiness is to be found in mirth, in wealth, in honor,
in esteem, in freedom from persecution. Christ says that it is to be sought in the reverse. Often
people are most happy in poverty, in sickness, in persecution, when supported by the presence
and promises of a merciful God. And if God appoints our station there, we should submit to it,
and learn therewith to be content.

2. We may see the evil of anger. It is a species of murder. If secretly cherished, or exhibited by
contempt and injury, it must bring down the displeasure of God. It is a source of misery. True
enjoyment is found in meekness, peace, calmness, and benevolence. In such a firmness, and
steadiness, and dependence on God as to keep the soul unruffled in the midst of provocation, is
happiness. Such was Christ.

3. We see the evil of indelicacy of feeling and sentiment, and the strictness and severity of the
law respecting the contact of the sexes Matthew 5:28. And yet what law is more frequently
violated? By obscene anecdotes and tales; by songs and gibes; by double meanings and
innuendoes; by looks and gestures; by conversation, and obscene books and pictures, this law of
our Saviour is perpetually violated. If there is any one sentiment of most value for the comfort,
the character, the virtuous sociability of the young - one that will shed the greatest charm over
society, and make it the most pure, it is that which inculcates "perfect delicacy" and "purity" in
the contact of the sexes. Virtue of any kind never blooms where this is not cherished. Modesty
and purity once gone, every flower that would diffuse its fragrance over life withers and dies
with it. There is no one sin that so withers and blights every virtue, none that so enfeebles and
prostrates every ennobling feeling of the soul, as the violation of the seventh commandment in
spirit or in form, in thought or in act. How should purity dwell in the heart, breathe from the lips,
kindle in the eye, live in the imagination, and dwell in the conversation of all the young! An
eternal, avenging God is near to every wanton thought, marks every eye that kindles with impure
desire, rolls the thunder of justice over every polluted soul, and is preparing woe for every
violator of the laws of purity and chastity, Proverbs 7:22-23; Proverbs 5:5; Proverbs 2:18.

4. Revenge is equally forbidden. Persecution, slander, a spirit of litigation, anger, personal abuse,
dueling, suicide, murder, are all violations of the law of God, and all must call down His
vengeance.

5. We are bound to love our enemies. This is a law of Christianity, original and unique. No
system of religion but Christianity has required it, and no act of Christian piety is more difficult.
None shows more the power of the grace of God; none is more ornamental to the character; none
more like God; and none furnishes better evidence of piety. He that can meet a man kindly who
is seeking his hurt; who can speak well of one that is perpetually slandering and cursing him; that
can pray for a man that abuses, injures, and wounds him: and that can seek heaven for him that
wishes his damnation, is in the way to life. This is religion, beautiful as its native skies; pure like
its Source; kind like its Author; fresh like the dews of the morning; clear and diffusive like the
beams of the rising sun; and holy like the feelings and words that come from the bosom of the
Son of God. He that can do this need not doubt that he is a Christian. He has caught the very
spirit of the Saviour, and he must inherit eternal life.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

48. Be ye therefore—rather, "Ye shall therefore be," or "Ye are therefore to be," as My disciples
and in My kingdom.

perfect—or complete. Manifestly, our Lord here speaks, not of degrees of excellence, but of the
kind of excellence which was to distinguish His disciples and characterize His kingdom. When
therefore He adds,

even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect—He refers to that full-orbed glorious
completeness which is in the great Divine Model, "their Father which is in heaven."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Perfect here is not taken in that sense as it is taken in other texts of Scripture, where it signifieth
sincerity and uprightness, as Job 2:3, or where it signifieth a comparative perfection, as Paul
saith he spake to those that were perfect; but for an absolute perfection, such as is in our

Father which is in heaven, and so much is signified by the proposing of our heavenly Father as
our example. Nor will it therefore follow, either that this is a mere counsel, not a precept, or that
an absolute perfection in holiness is a thing in this life attainable. But that it is our duty to labour
for it, forgetting what is behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, pressing
towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, as the apostle
speaks, Philippians 3:13,14. Proverbs perfecto est qui perfecto proximus. God accounts him
perfect who is nearest to perfection.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father,.... This perfection is to be restrained to the subject Christ
is upon, love to men, and not to be referred to any, or every other thing; wherefore, in Luke
6:36 it is, "be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful"; and regards not a perfection of degree
in that, but objects and quality: that is to say, not that men may, or can, or ought to be as perfect
in love, as to the degree of it, as God is; that is impossible: the "as" here, is not a note of equality,
but of likeness: such, who profess God to be their Father, ought to imitate him, particularly in
their love to men, which ought to be extended to the same objects, as the divine goodness is; that,
as he shows regard in a providential way to all men, good and bad, just and unjust, and his tender
mercies are over all his works; so ought they to love all men with a natural affection, and hate no
man, no, not their enemies: for he that loves only his friends, and not his enemies, loves
imperfectly; he does not take in the whole compass of objects his love is to extend unto; and as
God loves sincerely, and without dissimulation, so should they. To be "perfect", is to be sincere
and upright: in this sense is the word often used, and answers to the Hebrew word which
signifies the same: seeDeuteronomy 18:13 which is the passage Christ seems to refer to here; and
the sense is, be ye sincere and upright in your love to all men, as your heavenly Father is hearty
and sincere in his affections to them.
Geneva Study Bible
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Matthew 5:48. Ἔσεσθε] imperatively.

οὖν) draws a deduction from Matthew 5:44-47, where the emphatic ὑμεῖςforms the sublime
antithesis to the last-mentioned publicans and heathens. The highest summary of the unending
obligation of Christian love.

τέλειοι] ἐν μηδενὶ λειπόμενοι, Jam 1:4. Euth. Zigabenus well remarks: οἱ μὲν
ἀγαπῶντες τοὺς ἀγαπῶντας αὐτοὺς ἀτελεῖς εἰσιν εἰς ἀλάπην: οἱ δὲ
τοὺς ἐχθροὺς, οὗτοι τέλειοι. Comp. Luther: “after the example of the heavenly Father,
who does not piece nor divide His love,” and already Ignatius, ad Philad., interpol. 3. Thus the
closing admonition stands in close relation to what precedes. Others (Beza, Fritzsche, Kuinoel,
Ewald, who also regards Matthew 7:12 as originally belonging to this passage): integri, sine
vitiis in general, without exclusive reference to the commandment of love. They consider the
verse as the top-stone of the whole discourse, directed from Matthew 5:20 onwards against the
Pharisees. But this anti-Pharisaic tendency is still continued also in ch. 6, and the pointing to the
example of God would at least not be appropriate to Matthew 6:27 ff. and to Matthew 6:31 ff.

ὥσπερ] equality of the moral modality, Matthew 5:45, by which the relation of the
adequate degree is not required, and yet the ideal task, the obligation of which is never exhausted
(Romans 13:8 ff.), is for ever made sure. Observe, moreover, how this ὥσπερ corresponds,
indeed, to the Platonic conception of virtue (ὁμοιοῦσθαι τῷ θεῷ); the latter, however, is
surpassed, on the one side, by the specific requirement of love as similarity to God; and, on the
other, by the idea of God as the heavenly Father.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Matthew 5:48. Concluding exhortation. οὖν, from an ancient form of the participle of the
verb εἶναι (Klotz, Devar.) = “things being so;” either a collective inference from all that goes
before (Matthew 5:21-47) or as a reflection on the immediately preceding argument. Both come
to the same thing. Godlike love is commended in Matthew 5:44-47, but the gist of all the six
illustrations of Christ’s way of thinking is: Love the fulfilling of the law; obviously, except in the
case of oaths, where it is truth that is enjoined. But truth has its source in love; Ephesians
4:15 : ἀληθεύοντες ἐν ἀγάπῃ, “truthing it in love”.—ἔσεσθε, future, “ye shall be” =
BE.—ὑμεῖς, ye, emphatic, in contrast with τελ. and ἐθν., who are content with moral
commonplace and conventional standards.—Τέλειοι: in general, men who have reached the
end, touched the ideal, that at least their purpose, not satisfied with anything short of it.
The τέλειοι are not men with a conceit of perfection, but aspirants—men who seek to attain,
like Paul: διώκω εἰ καὶ καταλάβω, Php 3:12, and like him, single-minded, their
motto: ἓν δέ. Single-mindedness is a marked characteristic of all genuine citizens of the
kingdom (Matthew 6:33), and what the Bible means by perfection. All men who attain have one
great ruling aim. That aim for the disciple, as here set forth, is Godlikeness—ὡς ὁ
πατὴρ … τέλειός ἐστιν. God is what His sons aspire to be; He never sinks below the
ideal: impartial, benignant, gracious love, even to the unworthy; for that, not all conceivable
attributes, is what is in view. ὡς, not in degree, that were a discouraging demand, but in kind.
The kind very necessary to be emphasised in view of current ideas and practice, in which
holiness was dissociated from love. The law “Be holy for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44) was taken
negatively and worked out in separation from the reputedly sinful. Jesus gave it positive
contents, and worked it out in gracious love.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
48. Be ye] Lit. Ye shall be perfect. Either (1) in reference to a future state, “if ye have this true
love or charity ye shall be perfect hereafter;” or (2) the future has an imperative force,
and perfect is limited by the preceding words = perfect in respect of love, i. e. “love your
enemies as well as your neighbours,” because your Father being perfect in respect of love does
this.
Bengel's Gnomen
Matthew 5:48. Ὑμεῖς, you) In honourable contradistinction to them.—τελέιοι, perfect) sc. in
love towards all.[239][240]

[239] See Colossians 3:14.—(I. B.)

[240] Bengel, J. A. (1860). Vol. 1: Gnomon of the New Testament (M. E. Bengel & J. C. F.
Steudel, Ed.) (J. Bandinel & A. R. Fausset, Trans.) (138–185). Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 48. - In Luke 6:36, "Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful," we have certainly a
reminiscence of the same saying, and, almost as certainly, from the smoothing away of
difficulties, a less original form of it. Be ye therefore perfect; Revised Version, ye therefore
shall be perfect (ἔσεσθε οϋν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι). The form is based on Deuteronomy 18:13, τέλειος
ἔσῃ. While the introduction of ὑμεῖς emphasizes the contrast between Christ's disciples and those
who followed the usual deduction from the Law, the position of ἔσεσθε (reversing that of
Deuteronomy) shows that still greater emphasis is placed on their "perfection" as something to
be attained. Also, while in the parallel passage of Luke the stress is upon the change that must
take place (γὶνεσθε) - unless, as is possible, it has the simple meaning "show yourselves" (cf. ver.
45, note) - in Matthew the possibility or even the certainty of attaining it is definitely stated. You
shall make this your aim, and shall attain to it. Therefore. A deduction from the principle laid
down in vers. 44-47. From the consideration of the example of your Father, and of the
insufficiency of being like publicans and heathen. Perfect (τέλειοι). In the Gospels here
and Matthew 19:21 only. The word denotes those who have attained the full development of
innate powers, in contrast to those who are still in the undeveloped state - adults in contrast to
children. Thus the thought here is - Ye shall be satisfied with, and shall attain to, no lower state
than that of maturity. But what is it as to which they shall be mature? Surely not the whole Law
as illustrated by all the examples since ver. 21; for vers. 31, 32 are excluded by the comparison
with God immediately following. It must be the subject with which the sentence is closely
connected, vers. 44-47 (cf. Meyer); love to others even though they have done you wrong. In this
respect, viz. love to others, you shall admit, says our Lord, no lower ideal than that of' maturity,
even such maturity as is found in him who sends sun and rain on all alike. Some (Augustine,
Trench) have seen in this a merely relative maturity, itself capable of further development; but
the subject rather demands absolute and final maturity. This does not imply that man will ever
have such fulness of love as the Father has, but that he will fully and completely attain to that
measure of love to which he as a created being was intended to attain. It may, however, be in
accordance with true exegesis to see, with Weiss, for such apparently is his meaning, also an
indication of further teaching - the nature of the revelation made known by Christ. For whereas
"the fundamental commandment" of the Old Testament, "Ye shall be holy; for I am holy"
(Leviticus 11:44, 45), was the more negative thought of God's exaltation above the impurity of
created beings, our Lord now puts forth "the positive conception of the Divine perfection, whose
nature is all-embracing, self-sacrificing love. And in place of the God, for ever separated from
his polluted people by his holiness, to whom they can only render themselves worthy of
approach through the most anxious abstinence from all impurity, and by means of the statutes for
purification contained in the Law, there is on the ground of this new revelation the Father in
heaven, who stoops to his children in love, and so operates that they must and can be like him"
(Weiss, 'Life,' 2:156). The simple and straightforward meaning of the verse, however, is this -
You shall take no lower standard in love to enemies than God shows to those who ill treat him,
and you shall, in fact, attain to this standard. Upon this (for the limitation of the meaning to one
point makes no real difference) there arises the question which has been of so much importance
in all ages of the Church - What is the measure of attainment that is really possible for Christ's
disciples upon earth? ought they not to expect to live perfect lives? But the text gives no warrant
for such an assertion. No doubt it says that attainment to maturity - to perfection according to
creaturely limits - is eventually possible. That is implied in ἔσεσθε (vide supra). But when this
attainment can be made is not stated. Many will, indeed, affirm that, as our Lord is giving
directions to his disciples concerning things in this life, the attainment also is affirmed to be
possible in this life. But this by no means follows. Christ gives the command, and by the form of
it implies that it shall be carried out to the full. But this is quite consistent with the conception of
a gradually increasing development of love which, in fact will attain maturity, a state in which
God's love has ever been; but not immediately and not before the final completion of all Christ's
work in us. The words form, indeed, a promise as well as a command, but the absence of a
statement of time forbids us to claim the verse as a warrant for asserting that
the τελειότης referred to can be attained in this life. Trench ('Syr.,' § 22.) explains the passage by
saying that the adjective is used the first time in a relative, and the second time in an absolute,
sense. But this does not seem as probable as the interpretation given above, according to which
the adjective is in both cases used absolutely. His following words, however, deserve careful
attention. "The Christian shall be ' perfect,' yet not in the sense in which some of the sects preach
the doctrine of perfection, who, so soon as their words are looked into, are found either to mean
nothing which they could not have expressed by a word less liable to misunderstanding; or to
mean something which no man in this life shall attain, and which he who affirms he has attained
is deceiving himself, or others, or both." Even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect; Revised Version, as your heavenly Father is perfect; so the manuscripts. The epithet, ὁ
οὐράνιος, is wanting in Luke, but Matthew wishes to lay stress on their Father's character and
methods being different from those of an earthly father. Observe again not "the Father" but your
Father; nerving them to fulfil the summons to likeness to him (cf. ver. 16).

Does Matthew 5:48 Require

Sinless Perfection?
by Phil Gons on February 21, 2013 in Exegesis, Theology

Image courtesy of the Faithlife Study Bible

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father
is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
This is often interpreted as a call to sinless perfection, something that Christians cannot
attain prior to glorification. As such it’s used as a hermeneutical key to understanding
the Sermon on the Mount as a whole. In this view, Jesus is not laying out the way of life
for his followers. Instead, he is setting the bar so far out of their reach that they must
turn to him for mercy and find acceptance in his righteousness.

I fully embrace the theological conclusions of this position: Christians cannot live
sinlessly in this life and can only be accepted by God on the basis of the imputed
righteousness of Jesus. However, I don’t think this text teaches that.
There are three reasons for understanding this verse as something that every Christian
should and can obey.

First, the word perfect (τέλειος) often has a different meaning than we commonly have
in mind when we talk about perfection in theological contexts. It
means mature or complete (e.g., 1 Cor 2:6, Phil 3:15, Heb 5:14). It doesn’t necessarily
mean without sin.
Second, the context makes it clear what Jesus meant by this call to perfection.
You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell
you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be
children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,
and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you,
what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet
only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do
that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Jesus is discussing our responsibility to love not only our neighbors, but also our
enemies and those who do us harm. The reason is that God is kind to all his creatures.
Loving only your neighbors or those who love us back is incomplete love. Instead, our
love should be complete, just like the Father’s love is complete. Jesus’ main point here
is that we are to treat others with the same kind or quality of love as God does, not that
we quantitatively do so to the same degree of sinless perfection.

Finally, the parallel passage in Luke 6:26 reads, “Be merciful, just as your Father is
merciful.” Here’s the full context:
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who
love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what
credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love
your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything
back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because
he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
This parallel passage makes the same point as Matthew’s Gospel. The concluding
statement sheds light on the meaning of Matthew 5:48. What Matthew is getting at by
taking about being perfect is equivalent to what Luke means when he talks of being
merciful. To be like our Father, we need to be merciful and love with a mature, complete
kind of love that doesn’t restrict itself to those who love us back.
Herman Ridderbos articulates this point well in When the Time Had Fully Come: Studies
in New Testament Theology, 30–31 (Jordan Station, ON: Paideia, 1982):
[A]s for Matthew 5:48, Jesus does not, in any universal sense, demand of man moral
equality with God. The word “perfect” as used here denotes quite a different meaning. It
concerns the “perfectness,” the consistency of love. Man is bound not only to love his
neighbor but also his enemies. It is in this sense that the heavenly Father, too, is
perfect. “For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the
just and the unjust” (Matt. 5:45). There is no room in His love for half measures.
Hence perfect love is also demanded from His children, not partial, not only
towards friends, but enemies as well. Hence also Luke can add in the corresponding
passage in his Gospel: “Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).
“Even as” means “equally perfect,” “equally consistent.” Therefore, it is not possible to
appeal to this to contend the positive tenor of the law in the Sermon on the Mount. It
belongs to the essential quality, I might well say to the logic of the Kingdom of the
Heavens, that a disciple of Jesus does not content himself with love merely towards his
fellows. There is no question of straining the moral demands ad absurdum.
In The Coming of the Kingdom, ed. Raymond O. Zorn, trans. H. de Jongste, 246n86
(Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1962), he makes the same point more
concisely:
[I]n [Matthew] 5:48 teleioi must be taken in a formal sense, viz., as perfect, consistent,
not giving up when only half finished. For the subject here is love which must not be
restricted to those alone who are of the same mind. This is why in Luke 6:36 this
meaning can be rendered by the words, “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father is also
merciful.”