At the end of chapter 5 of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives these shocking words:
Greek: ἔσεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι ὡς ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τέλειός ἐστιν.
Transliteration: esesthe oun humeis teleioi hos ho pater humon ho ouranios teleios estin
My Translation: Therefore, you shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
In this verse, Jesus emphasizes the listener by literally saying, “You shall be therefore, you, perfect…” (ἔσεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι)
The first word, esesthe, is in the future tense. I have seen some make the grave error of interpreting this passage as a future predictive (i.e. – something that will come to pass): “You will be perfect,” interpreting this in an eschatological understanding (we will be perfect when we are glorified), thus, undercutting the Law’s demand for perfection to attain righteousness: “Do this and live.”
To interpret this verse in such a way is wrong for the following reasons:
1) The future tense is used elsewhere in chapter 5, and if we were to follow the same pattern, we would end up with some strange results:
Matt. 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You will not murder…’”
Matt. 5:27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You will not commit adultery.’”
Matt. 5:33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You will not swear falsely, but will perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’”
Matt. 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You will love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’”
If we took the future tense as a predictive, then it appears that all of these verses are predicting that I will not do these things in the future!
2) Not only do we see the grammatical fallacy of interpreting v. 48 as a predictive rather than imperative (a command), the context supports an imperative understanding. For, what has Jesus already said?
Matt. 5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
If Jesus has been intensifying, widening, and deepening the scope of the law, it would seem very strange that suddenly Jesus would say, “You will be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” instead of following the flow of thought of law keeping.
Here is why this verse is so shocking.
First, we see that Jesus emphasizes the listeners: You shall be perfect…
Not only do we have the listener being emphasized, but the future tense, when used as an imperative (command), gives the sense of an emphatic, solemn, universal imperative (Daniel Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, 570).
So, we see that this statement is doubly emphatic and doubly damning! You shall (!!!) be perfect…
The people of that day thought the law merely addressed external matters, but Jesus is driving the hammer of the law at the hearts of the people. For, everything begins in and with the heart.
If we think we can keep the law perfectly in order that we might stand before God, we are terribly mistaken! For the Lord searches out our hearts and knows our motives and ways. The only way to stand before God is to trust in the One who kept the Law perfectly.
