[betty boop]

Thank you so much for the scriptural passages on perfection, Alamo-Girl. I think what they make clear is that Christ, as divine mediator, is necessary to the perfection of the soul. Perfection isn't given by anything in the natural world, nor can we achieve perfection by means of our own unaided efforts. I don't know whether it is something that can be accomplished while we are in an "incarnated state" -- though perhaps certain saints accomplished it "in this life," by the grace of God. What do you think?

[unspun]

Yes, how we will be granted {complete livability with God}* is a mystery for us indeed, in our present state.
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* I suppose we tend to call that "perfection," which is yet another imperfect and somewhat unfortunate term, since it would misreport itself as something "standalone" and easily seen wrongly, from an egocentric attitude.

[unspun]

And even then, I'd prefer to call it, complete relatability.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so very much for sharing your views!

I don't know whether [perfection] is something that can be accomplished while we are in an "incarnated state" -- though perhaps certain saints accomplished it "in this life," by the grace of God. What do you think?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ commands us to be perfect:

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. – Matthew 5:48

He didn’t say to do perfect things or to say perfect things or to think perfect things. That would not even be possible: As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. – Romans 3:10-11

I therefore conclude that being perfect, as Christ commands, is something that man cannot do. It is however something that God is, i.e. God is perfect.

Therefore, I conclude that a man can only be perfect by abiding in Him.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. – John 15:4

This brings us back to the debate about willfulness (and is why I pinged unspun.) IMHO, a person cannot abide in Christ without surrendering self-will to His will.