“BE PERFECT”
By Ethelbert W. Bullinger
[Selected Writings II. Holiness: God’s Way
Better Than Man’s. 1999, Invictus
for “Truth For Today Bible Fellowship.
The command of the Lord Jesus in John 5:36,
that we should “Search the Scriptures” can be
obeyed with great profit and blessing in connection with these words. There are
strong grammatical reasons for taking this word “search”
as imperative, for the indicative
mood rarely, if ever, stands at the beginning of a sentence without the pronoun
or some other word to indicate it. Further, the word “search”
here means to trace or track out, as a dog or a lion traces out
its prey by following the scent. So here it tells us that we are to trace out this word “be perfect,” and
follow it up and track it out and thus learn its lessons from the use which the
Holy Spirit has made of it.
The word rendered be perfect here (2 Cor.
1. Matt. 4:21
“And going on from thence, he saw other two
brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his
brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, MENDING
their nets.”
Here the word is rendered mending; and hence, we
are taught that, to
be perfect, we are to get mended as to our walk, our works, and our ways. The verb in 2 Cor. 13:11 is in
the passive voice, and means to get
mended, not merely to mend,
as though the action were our own – for we are like the nets, in Matt. 4:21,
and we need
another hand, yea, a Divine hand, to be put forth upon us. He alone can see the
rents and the defects, He alone can see the danger arising to ourselves, from
our habits of thought, our modes of speech, our methods of work; and He alone can
repair what is broken and supply what is lacking, so that we may be fitted for
the use to which He would put us, and for the service in which He would employ
us. Thus mended we shall
“be perfect” in the sense in which the precept is given in 2 Cor. 13:11.
2. Rom.
“the vessels of wrath FITTED to (or for) destruction.”
Destruction is all that these vessels are fitted
for, and all that they are fit for.
Hence, in the opposite direction, to be fitted for the work for which God has,
in infinite grace, chosen us, is to be perfect according to 2 Cor. 13:11. This is the prayer
on our behalf, that by the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit we may bear
faithful testimony and render faithful service for Christ the Lord. The end of all testimony is the glory of God in Christ,
and if we are fitted for this by “the
Spirit of truth” then we are perfect in the sense of 2 Cor. 13:11.
Do we ask how may we be thus fitted?
The answer is, only by fellowship with Christ the Living Word: only by diligent
study of the Scriptures – the written Word: only by making them the one object
of our lives, and having the word of Christ dwelling richly within us. Thus and
thus alone shall we be fitted for His
service.
3. 1 Cor.
1:10
“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that… there be no divisions among you; but that ye BE-PERFECTELY-JOINED-TOGETHER
in the same judgment.”
Here, the meaning receives further light. To be perfect
means not to be divided, but united. This we shall be if our one object be
Christ and our desire that of Paul when he said, “that I may know Him”
(Phi.
4. Gal. 6:1
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye
who are spiritual, RESTORE such an one in the spirit of meekness;
considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
This tells us that though
we are perfect as to our standing in
Christ, it is far otherwise with us as to our walk on earth. Hence this
gracious provision for our deepest need: - “He restoreth
my soul” (Psalm 23:3). This is the special work of the great Shepherd Himself,
and those who are “spiritual” are graciously permitted, yea, are exhorted, to
walk in His steps in this matter. He restores us – considering ourselves. The
spiritual are to restore us, considering themselves!
How vast the difference.
Alas! Alas! Where are the “spiritual”? Where
are we to look for them? Where do we see their spiritual efforts in obeying
this precious word? Alas! We say again, they seem to read this verse as though
it were written “If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye who are righteous judge
such an one; spread abroad the sad news; each one tell the other ‘not to say
anything,’ and above all ‘do not say that I told you’; follow up ‘such an one,’
injure him (not in the spirit of meekness) all you can; don’t restore him, but
cast him out; not considering yourselves.”
This is how Christians, to-day, try to “be
perfect,” and it is about the only thing in which they do actually reach
“perfection” in the flesh. Yes, it is indeed “in the flesh” and of the flesh.
For it is not the work of “ye who are spiritual.”
Restoration, then, is one of the shades of
meaning which this word has, and a comparison of this with the other passages
will help to complete the picture. God grant that some “spiritual” may be found
among us; and if
any of us shall be tried, and be betrayed into some error in doctrine, or some
evil in practice, oh! that some gentle hand may be found to so minister the
precious word of God in the spirit of meekness, that we may be restored.
But when we reflect on and
contrast the perfectness of the Great Shepherd we
would fain exclaim with David “Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord: for
very great are His mercies: and let me
not fall into the hand of man” (1 Chron.
5. Heb. 10:5
“A body hast thou PREPARED me” (lit., didst thou
prepare me).
The human body of the Lord Jesus
was, while perfectely human, specially prepared by
the Holy Ghost: as is
plainly stated in Luke
Acceptable
sacrifice and service can be rendered to God only by the preparation power of
the Holy Spirit. Only those works are “good works” which “God hath prepared for us to walk in” (Eph.
“The preparations of the heart in man… is from
the LORD” (Prov. 16:1), and he who is thus prepared by the Holy Spirit is perfect in the sense of 2 Cor.
6. Heb. 11:3. We read:
“By faith we understand that the worlds were FRAMED by the word of god”
Framed, i.e.,
were prepared or constituted. We learn “by faith,” that the ages and dispensations were before-ordained and prepared
and perfectly-joined-together by the
word of God. We also learn that the things
which are seen have their being, not out of things which do appear. As to the
things which are seen, they came into being not through any theories of
evolution, not through any conjectures of geology. And as to the things that
are not seen, through faith in the Divine testimony we understand and apprehend
that all the ages and dispensations and times and seasons were all prepared and ordained by God; and made
by Him. Neither were prepared by the blind laws of Nature or the vagaries of
chance, but by the will and mandate of Jehovah who “spake
and it was done.”
What we learn from this is that, if our faculties
of soul and body are to be brought into order it must be by the same Divine
Mandate. If our times and seasons and comings and goings are to be reduced to
order it must be by the will and word of Jehovah.
If our
ways and works are to be controlled, not by any natural laws in the spiritual
world, but by spiritual laws in the natural world; not by the opinion of men,
but by the word of God, then we are “perfect” in the sense of 2 Cor.
13:11.
May we, ourselves and our readers be thus
perfected: i.e., may our walk be constantly REPAIRED.
May we be FITTED for all our duties
by the Holy Spirit.
May we be PERFECTLY-JOINED-TOGETHER
in Christ and in His truth.
May we be ever RESTORED
by the Great Shepherd who seeks and finds his wandering sheep.
May we be PREPARED for all
emergencies, and endued to meet them with “power from on high.”
This is our desire and this is our
prayer. This, too, is the teaching of the Holy Spirit as to our perfection. Never once does He use the word, either in
the original or in the English, to imply any change of the flesh unto spirit,
or of the old nature unto the new, or of any change of heart. Never does He
contemplate us as being in any condition which does not need repairing, restoring, fitting, or preparing, and we may bless His holy
name that these are the very needs for which He has so amply provided.
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