Matthew 5:48 — Community Reflections

MATTHEW 5:48 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. The summary of the Sermon's demand: you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. The Greek teleios means complete, whole, mature — having reached the intended goal. Leviticus 19:2 says be holy as I am holy; Jesus restates the holiness command as the perfection command. The standard is the character of the Father himself — not a higher tier of Christianity but the whole orientation of the disciple. The perfection is not achieved independently but by being sons and daughters of the Father (verse 45) who participate in his character. 2 Corinthians 7:1 speaks of bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God — the perfection is a direction and a goal, not a current achievement.

Church Fathers on Matthew 5:48

The Lord has taught above that we must not resist one who offers any injury, but must be ready even to suffer more; He now further requires us to shew to them that do us wrong both love and its effects. And as the things that have gone before pertain to the completion of the righteousness of the Law, in like manner this last precept is to be referred to the completion of the law of love, which, according to the Apostle, is the fulfilling of the Law.
Gloss (Glossa Ordinaria) · medieval compilation · non occ.

That by the command, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour,' all mankind were intended, the Lord shewed in the parable of the man who was left half dead, which teaches us that our neighbour is every one who may happen at any time to stand in need of our offices of mercy; and this who does not see must be denied to none, when the Lord says, 'Do good to them that hate you.'
Augustine · 4th century · de Doctr. Christ., i, 30

As that, Thou shalt not lust, was not spoken to the flesh, but to the spirit, so in this the flesh indeed is not able to love its enemy, but the spirit is able; for the love and hate of the flesh is in the sense, but of the spirit is in the understanding. If then we feel hate to one who has wronged us, and yet will not to act upon that feeling, know that our flesh hates our enemy, but our soul loves him.
Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century

Read all 26 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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