God's Standard

2 Cor. 13:11 – “Be perfect”

Gen. 17:1 – “Be thou perfect”

Matt. 5:48 – “Be ye therefore perfect”

Deut. 18:13 – “Thou shalt be perfect”

John 17:23 – “… may be perfect in one.”

2 Cor. 13:9 – “… and this also we wish, even your perfection.”

Heb. 6:1 – “Let us go unto perfection…”

Heb. 13:20, 21 – “Now the God of peace… make you perfect…”

Col. 1:28 – “That we may pressed every man perfect in Christ.”

Col. 4:12 – “That ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”

God calls upon us to reach the standard of perfection and places before us the example of Christ's character. In His humanity, perfected by a life of constant resistance of evil, the Saviour showed that through co-operation with Divinity, human beings may in this life attain to perfection of character. This is God's assurance to us that we, too, may obtain complete victory. {AA 531.2}  

God's ideal for His children is higher than the highest human thought can reach. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." This command is a promise. The plan of redemption contemplates our complete recovery from the power of Satan. Christ always separates the contrite soul from sin. He came to destroy the works of the devil, and He has made provision that the Holy Spirit shall be imparted to every repentant soul, to keep him from sinning.  {DA 311.2}  

He holds up before us the highest ideal, even perfection. He asks us to be absolutely and completely for Him in this world as He is for us in the presence of God.  {AA 566.1}

The ideal of Christian character is Christlikeness. As the Son of man was perfect in His life, so His followers are to be perfect in their life… "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." 2 Corinthians 6:16.  {DA 311.4}  

Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God's ideal for His children. Godliness--godlikeness--is the goal to be reached. {Ed 18.3}  

… He has given to the world a representation of the character of God and the character of a perfect man. He shows us what God is, and what man may become--godlike in character.  {GCB, October 1, 1899 par. 20}  

Christ's life represents a perfect manhood. Just that which you may be, He was in human nature. He took our infirmities. He was not only made flesh, but He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. His divine attributes were withheld from relieving His soul anguish or His bodily pains (Letter 106, 1896).  {5BC 1124.2}  

The Lord requires perfection from His redeemed family. He expects from us the perfection which Christ revealed in His humanity. Fathers and mothers especially need to understand the best methods of training children that they may co-operate with God.  {CG 477.1}  

What Christ was in His perfect humanity, we must be; for we must form characters for eternity. {TM 173.2}

Moral and spiritual perfection, through the grace and power of Christ, is promised to all. Jesus is the source of power, the fountain of life. He brings us to His word, and from the tree of life presents to us leaves for the healing of sin-sick souls. He leads us to the throne of God, and puts into our mouth a prayer through which we are brought into close contact with Himself. In our behalf He sets in operation the all-powerful agencies of heaven. At every step we touch His living power.  {AA 478.2}  

And while we cannot claim perfection of the flesh, we may have Christian perfection of the soul. Through the sacrifice made in our behalf, sins may be perfectly forgiven. Our dependence is not in what man can do; it is in what God can do for man through Christ. When we surrender ourselves wholly to God, and fully believe, the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. {2SM 32.3}  

We may talk of the blessings of the Holy Spirit, but unless we prepare ourselves for its reception, of what avail are our works? Are we striving with all our power to attain to the stature of men and women in Christ? Are we seeking for His fullness, ever pressing toward the mark set before us--the perfection of His character? When the Lord's people reach this mark, they will be sealed in their foreheads. Filled with the Spirit, they will be complete in Christ, and the recording angel will declare, "It is finished."  {OHC 150.6}  

Holiness of heart and purity of life was the great subject of the teachings of Christ. In His Sermon on the Mount, after specifying what must be done in order to be blessed, and what must not be done, He says: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."  {2T 444.2}