(Connecting Advent and Holiness)
In Matthew 5:43-48 Jesus redefines “Be holy for God is Holy”, to “Be perfect as your Father is perfect.” Perfect in the NT means “complete” or “fulfilling intended purpose”. Jesus recapitulates “be holy” to “be perfect” in love; for Him it was the Great Commandment. We are completed in unconditionally loving others the same way the Father’s unconditional love has come to us in “sunshine and rain” for the just and the unjust. The Greek idea of absolute perfection is always out of human reach; the NT idea of perfection or completion in love is well within our reach by the indwelling Holy Spirit who floods our hearts with love (Romans 5:5). At His second advent He will be looking for those who manifested His kind of love (Matthew 25:37-40); this divides sheep from goats.
“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5: 48). Paraphrased it is “You are to love others the same way the Father has loved you.”
