~~ Be Ye Therefore Perfect ~~

Matthew 5:50 JST (See footnotes in LDS Edition of the KJV Bible)
Ye are, therefore, commanded to be perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.

That can be overwhelming especially when you think of it as a commandment. So I would have to ask two questions here:

• 1. Do you believe Joseph Smith was inspired when he wrote this?

• 2. Are you living this commandment right now?

Joseph Smith also added and/or translated as it appears in the Inspired Version:

Matthew 5:21 JST Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so to do, he shall in no wise be saved in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach these commandments of the law until it be fulfilled, the same shall be called great and shall be saved in the kingdom of heaven.

In harmony with what we find in the inspired version we can also find this verse in the King James Version:

James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Now I must ask, are you living this commandment, to be perfect? I know it's a lot to bare but there is a way both mortal and eternal perfection can be had today. I know you have heard the phrase that God will not give us a commandment or challenge that he knows we cannot overcome. The perfection that the Savior envisions for us is much more than errorless performance. It is the eternal expectation as expressed by the Lord in his great intercessory prayer to his Father—that we might be made perfect and be able to dwell with them in the eternities ahead.

How can we become perfect now? Let's take a look at Hebrews before we go to much further.

Hebrews 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Notice it is past tense, perfected. If you don't already know you may ask what is that one offering and who are those that are sanctified? The offering of the body of Jesus Christ in our place, and when we accept him as our Lord and Savior, at that very moment we are perfect in God's sight. Then when God looks upon us, he will no longer see the imperfect people we are, but he will see his son's perfect robe of righteousness that now covers us. At that moment we are perfect in God's sight. Sanctified simply means we are now set apart or made holy in God's eyes. We can look within that same chapter of Hebrews and find that answer.

 Hebrews 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified (made holy) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The sacrifice and atonement of Christ fulfilled the long-awaited purpose for which he had come to the earth according to the teachings of the Church. His concluding words upon Calvary’s cross referred to the culmination of his assignment—to atone for all humankind. Then he said, “It is finished.” But is it finished as he said? Eternal perfection is reserved for those who overcome all things and inherit the fullness of the Father in his heavenly mansions. Have you overcome all things? Perfection consists in gaining eternal life—the kind of life that God lives. When you receive a gift from someone at Christmas or on your birthday, is it free or do you have to pay back the person giving the gift?

In the Gospel Principles manual we can find the section called The Atonement in Unit 4: Chapter 12 titled Jesus Christ as our Savior. In this we can read a story or "a parable". It is a story of a person in great debt and they had no way to pay back this debt. Another man stepped in to pay this debt on his behalf in full. Kind of that pay it forward thing. But there is no expectation in the real world for this to be paid back. It was done out of pure kindness and humility in behalf of the man. The story continues, where in Christianity it would stop because the man that stepped in and paid your debt was Jesus. He died with the sins of the world. He was the final lamb to the slaughter. Here is the rest of the story from the LDS publication.

“The mediator turned then to the debtor. ‘If I pay your debt, will you accept me as your creditor?’

“ ‘Oh yes, yes,’ cried the debtor. ‘You saved me from prison and show mercy to me.’

“ ‘Then,’ said the benefactor, ‘you will pay the debt to me and I will set the terms. It will not be easy, but it will be possible. I will provide a way. You need not go to prison.’

“And so it was that the creditor was paid in full. He had been justly dealt with. No contract had been broken.

“The debtor, in turn, had been extended mercy. Both laws stood fulfilled. Because there was a mediator, justice had claimed its full share, and mercy was satisfied” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1977, pp. 79-80; or Ensign, May 1977, pp. 54-55).

Our sins are our spiritual debts. Without Jesus Christ, who is our Savior and Mediator, we would all pay for our sins by suffering spiritual death. But because of him, if we will keep his terms (the teachings and doctrines of Mormonism), which are to repent and keep his commandments (the teaching and doctrines of Mormonism), we may return to live with our Heavenly Father. (bolt text, italics, and words in parentheses added)

It is wonderful that Christ has provided us a way to be healed from our sins. He said:

“Behold, I have come unto the world … to save the world from sin.

“Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved” (3 Nephi 9:21-22).

Now you might say whoa at this point and I understand. But when you look at Ephesians 2:8-9 It clears this up.

Ephesians 2
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Works will not save you! It is complete faith in the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on your behalf by taking upon himself our sin and dying on the cross with it, just as the lambs that were sacrificed in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and in Solomon's Temple.  Our sin was transferred from us to the lamb and then it was slain.

Now you might be concerned with or turn to James Chapter 2 as proof text that Faith without works is dead. Let's dive into that to better understand what is being said there. Context is vitally important. It is very important to look at the passage’s context to properly interpret it. Especially enlightening is verse 18,

(James 2:18)
“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works”.

These words spell out what James is talking about, not how God recognizes who believes and who doesn’t, but how we recognize faith in each other. He talks about how we show or make our faith apparent to others.

In this context, works are important because, unlike God, we can’t see faith. Faith resides in the heart and thus is invisible to humans. All we can see are evidences of faith. That’s the point of James’ illustration, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26).

James compares faith to our spirits because both are invisible. Just like we know the spirit is still in a body if the body shows signs of life, so it is with faith. Faith makes itself visible through signs of life, through works.

What is crucial to remember, however, is that although faith always produces works, and thus faith and works go together. They are two separate things. It’s a matter of cause and effect. Spirit-worked faith in Jesus’ sacrifice for us is the cause of salvation, while works result from being saved. Put another way, faith is the root, and works are the fruit. It’s devastating to mix the two. Paul brought this out when he said, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work” (Romans 11:6).

Mixing works with grace as a cause of salvation does nothing less than destroy salvation.

James does not contradict this. He reinforces it in his example of Abraham. In verses 21-23, he mentions two incidents from Abraham’s life. It is vitally important to see they are not in chronological order. James first talks about Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac – which occurred decades after the event mentioned in verse 23. In verse 23, James quotes Genesis 15:6—the significant verse telling us when God justified Abraham (declared him righteous). By quoting Genesis 15:6, James emphasizes that God had already declared Abraham righteous decades before his sacrifice of Isaac. In other words, God didn’t wait until Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac before he declared him righteous. He justified Abraham when he first believed decades before. Because God can see faith and because faith alone saves, God could do that. But we can’t see faith. Therefore, Abraham’s subsequent sacrifice of Isaac made his faith complete in the sense that now Abraham himself, his contemporaries, and even we today have this wonderful evidence of his faith in God.

A good example is how an apple makes an apple tree complete; how apples make it easy to identify the tree as an apple tree. The apple, however, doesn’t make the tree an apple tree. Likewise, we easily see that Abraham was a believer by his great act of faith, but it didn’t make him a believer. It showed he was already a believer.

The bottom line is that James agrees with the rest of the Bible. God declares us righteous or justifies us based on faith alone. Faith alone saves, but faith is never alone. It always bears fruit. This is the testimony of Paul, James, John, and all the biblical writers.

It may be expecting too much to think everyone will grasp this. Don’t worry about it. But remember the explanation of James 2.

Here is a great video that will help explain it. I just really love the apple tree explanation above.

See also Works or Faith?