What does "Be ye therefore perfect,...?

If a man could keep just what Jesus said here, he would truly have a righteousness greater than the scribes and the Pharisees (Matthew 5:20), the very thing we must have to enter into God’s Kingdom. But there is only one man who has lived like this: Jesus Christ. What about the rest of us? Are we left out of the Kingdom of God?

i. We see that in this section Jesus was not primarily seeking to show what God requires of the Christian in his daily life. True, Jesus has revealed God’s ultimate standard, and we must take it to heart. But His primary intent was to say, "If you want to be righteous by the law, you must keep the whole law, internal and external - that is, you must be perfect!"

c. Jesus has demonstrated that we need a righteousness that is apart from the law (Romans 3:21-22). As Paul put it in Romans 3:21-22: But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.

d. What is our current relation to the law, as truly interpreted? We are exposed as guilty sinners who can never make ourselves righteous by our performance of good works - which was exactly the view held by most people in Jesus day - and in our own day.

e. We must remember the fullness of Jesus’ teaching on the law: our command is to love God and our neighbor, and the law will accomplish itself (Matthew 22:37-40).

i. The fullness of the interpretation of the law will be honored by love: Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)

My view:

I would read the whole passage and understand that there is no illusion as far Jesus was concerned and he doesn't view the spiritual as something separate from what people are actually experiencing, because it does deal with very practical issues (and he uses a particular example and to get it it is necessary to understand who the "publicans" were and what was going on at the time and what was about to happen with all the feelings that were around.

And the "publicans" represent the extreme in terms of harm inflicted on everyone else. But they "loved" the Romans and the Romans "loved" them. It means that both of those parties were making as much money as they possibly could and each was dependent for this on the other, whilst the people they were extorting it from were made to suffer astronomically disproportionately. But Jesus fully understood the situation and would fully understand what would happen as a consequence of how the crowd would react because of how they felt about the "publicans". But yet he's about the only one around that doesn't experience it as a problem or have any ill-feelings at all, because he knows the answer and the passage tells others (the crowd, us, everyone) how this can be arrived at. And people don't even have to have any prior belief or notion of a "Father" in "heaven", because the passage tells them how they can find out for themselves what it means.

So it is "Be ye" rather than "Ye be".

The promise of God is that you are His son. Her offspring. Its likeness. His equal. Ah...here is where you get hung up. You can accept “His son,” “offspring,” “likeness,” but you recoil at being called “His equal.” It is too much to accept. Too much bigness, too much wonderment—too much responsibility. For if you are God’s equal, that means nothing is being done to you—and all things are created by you. There can be no more victims and no more villains—only outcomes of your thought about a thing."

"Every Master has likewise had the same message: What I am, you are. What I can do, you can do. These things, and more, shall you also do.

You are goodness and mercy and compassion and understanding. You are peace and joy and light. You are forgiveness and patience, strength and courage, a helper in time of need, a comforter in time of sorrow, a healer in time of injury, a teacher in times of confusion. You are the deepest wisdom and the highest truth; the greatest peace and the grandest love. You are these things. And in moments of your life you have known yourself as these things. Choose now to know yourself as these things always.

I mean you can’t lose in this game. You can’t go wrong. It’s not part of the plan. There’s no way not to get where you are going. There’s no way to miss your destination. If God is your target, you’re in luck, because God is so big, you can’t miss."

I have established Laws in the universe that make it possible for you to have—to create—exactly what you choose. These Laws cannot be violated, nor can they be ignored. You are following these Laws right now, even as you read this. You cannot not follow the Law, for these are the ways things work. You cannot step aside from this; you cannot operate outside of it.

The beginning is God. The end is action. Action is God creating—or God experienced.

You are therefore in the process of experiencing yourself by creating yourself anew in every single moment. As am I. Through you."

"The First thing to understand about the universe is that no condition is “good” or “bad.” It just is. So stop making value judgments. The second thing to know is that all conditions are temporary. Nothing stays the same, nothing remains static. Which way a thing changes depends on you.

The most difficult thing for people to do is hear their own soul. And feelings are the language of the soul"

There are two very gigantic issues with trying to be excellent or sinless. The first obstacle is ambivalence. We need to make sure that looking to do the right factor does no longer conflict with something else we want. A double minded man is unstable in all his approaches, don't let that man think that he shall obtain whatever of the Lord. The second obstacle is obsessing about symptoms as an alternative of focusing in on the foundation concern. It's much like trying to treatment cancer with a bandaid. As soon as our most elementary desires are satisfied, I mean rather satisfied, the power of temptation loses strength and resistance is a piece of cake.

Ratia posted something on one of my questions. I think it's suitable for this question also. (I will site a different version).

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

"If I speak in the tongues of men and angels,

but have not love,

I have become sounding brass or a tinkling symbol.

And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge,

and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains,

but have not love, I am nothing.

And if I dole out all my goods, and

if I deliver my body that I may boast

but have not love, nothing I am profited.

Love is long suffering,

love is kind,

it is not jealous,

love does not boast,

it is not inflated.

It is not discourteous,

it is not selfish,

it is not irritable,

it does not enumerate the evil.

It does not rejoice over the wrong, but rejoices in the truth

It covers all things,

it has faith for all things,

it hopes in all things,

it endures in all things.

Love never falls in ruins;

but whether prophecies, they will be abolished; or

tongues, they will cease; or

knowledge, it will be superseded.

For we know in part and we prophecy in part.

But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will be superseded.

When I was an infant,

I spoke as an infant,

I reckoned as an infant;

when I became [an adult],

I abolished the things of the infant.

For now we see through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know as also I was fully known.

But now remains

faith, hope, love,

these three;

but the greatest of these is love."

----In particular the line "when the perfect comes, the imperfect will be superseded."

Specifically here, is where the meaning of perfect comes alive. I may not be able to word this, but I will dig deep and try. When we shift our perspective, as we light up the not often ignited portions of our humanness....we become more than we were, we see clearly, and realize the majesty of life. It's about the abilities of consciousness, and employing them to their full capacity. It includes the heart centre, and it alters the illusion in degrees that explain the illusion, while being in it.

lol!

Words can't seem to communicate what I'm remembering knowing.

1st Corinthians 12...touches upon spiritual gifts and their application.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Cori...

I found it helpful in understanding the full meaning of 1st Cor 13.

I hope my answer offered something of value.

IT is so perfect that even Imperfection is part of IT

Keep walking towards IT and you would forget even about perfection.

Keep dancing dear Lord !!! I bow to your presence in all the answers here. I bow to your presence dear friend in the question. I bow to your presence beyond the eyes that reads this. I love you madman of the north and the crazy lady of the south lol.

It also says in the Bible that man (humans) is (are) not capable of knowing (conceiving) God, so we cannot understand perfection as it pertains to God. Man thinks as man thinks; how can we presume to think as God thinks? Perfection is not a static state when we think in terms of living as God would have us live, yet man sees perfection as a static state. Since we are only part of the Body of Christ (God), we can only to seek to fulfill the function as Christ has outlined for us, to serve our fellow man. To give food to those who ask for food and clothing for those who ask for clothing. The imperfect is that God created us with freedom of will. God wants us to CHOOSE to do good. If He forced us to do good, His creation would be nothing more than a set of toys.

Maybe we don't understand perfect. If it hurts or is difficult, it may be exactly what is needed at the time, in other words, perfect, but I insist on my right to whine the whole time. After all, it's all part of the perfect.

Boy, are my arms tired!

Perfect chaos

Perfection, the idea of perfection, implies that no further growth is possible, that in itself is impossible.

Growth, expansion, illumination, learning, is never static

The idea of perfection is illusion.