Has anyone else ever read this verse and felt the pressure? In modern English, perfect often means “flawless.” As in no mistakes. That’s a daunting standard. No wonder I used to picture God holding His mallet for a cosmic game of whack-a-mole.
Did you know, the Greek word used here is teleios. It doesn’t mean “flawless” in our modern sense. < Insert sigh of relief >
Teleios means:
👉Maturing
👉Complete, with nothing essential missing
👉Fully developed – reaching the intended goal or purpose
The key: Jesus says this after commanding His followers to love even their enemies. The actual “perfection” He’s talking about is reflecting the completeness of God’s love, even to those who oppose (or don’t agree with) us. It’s so easy to read it out of context and think, “Woah – if I have to be perfect here then I gotta be perfect everywhere.”
Yet Jesus is actually calling us into growth towards God’s wholeness and maturity, and not to a life without mistakes. You might even paraphrase it like this: “Grow into the full wholeness and harmony of your Father in heaven.” Sounds less like a crushing demand for being flawless, and more like an invitation to become whole in God.
This includes loving even the ones who placed expectations on me – defining what being a “good Christian woman” should be. I can release them by blessing them, asking God to pour His love in their lives, and pray they will step into the same wholeness and maturity that Christ is growing in me. It also means forgiving myself for the years I misunderstood this verse, carrying expectations God never gave me – whether it was from my own striving or someone else’s voice.
When this truth sank in, the pressure began to lift. I began living differently, free from a crushing weight of meeting everyone’s standards (even my own), and free to grow into becoming whole in God’s love.
What expectations have you been carrying that God never actually gave you?