Replies

I’ve heard some Christian teachers say that the Greek word there “just means ‘complete’.” I think there’s a lot of truth to that, but on the other hand that Jesus also wants to disturb our natural, prideful and sin-defective thinking and humble us by saying we should be like the Father. Perfect as completeness is more realistic for us, but we still don’t have the Father’s completeness.

And just a little further on, at Matthew 7:11, is where Jesus says, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

And then there’s how he said that to His disciples too, in Luke 11:

“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

Of course Jesus also said Simon Peter was blessed just before addressing him as Satan.

And amazingly it’s all not contradictory in the slightest, but truly just complex.

“Bible > Strong’s > Greek > 5046
◄ 5046. teleios ►
Strong’s Concordance
teleios: having reached its end, i.e. complete, by ext. perfect
Original Word: τέλειος, α, ον
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: teleios
Phonetic Spelling: (tel’-i-os)
Definition: having reached its end, complete, perfect
Usage: perfect, (a) complete in all its parts, (b) full grown, of full age, (c) specially of the completeness of Christian character.”

https://biblehub.com/greek/5046.htm