An English word sometimes used to translate Hebrew and Greek words with a range of meaning (“completeness,” “wholeness,” “blamelessness,” “maturity”); above all, however, “perfection” describes a characteristic of God that humans are to emulate. In the OT, God is described as perfect in knowledge, justice, fidelity, and promise keeping (Job 37:16; Deut 32:4; 2Sam 22:31; Ps 18:30); God’s law is also perfect (Ps 19:7). Human beings are sometimes described as (or urged to become) perfect with regard to observance of the law (Ps 119:1) or upright and blameless behavior (Gen 6:9; Deut 18:13; Prov 2:21), which does not imply that they would be “perfect” in other aspects (i.e., they might be “godly” in behavior without becoming gods). In (Matt 5:48), Jesus commands his followers to “be perfect,” indicating that their goal should be the attainment of righteousness equal to that of God. Jesus is not concerned here with the question of whether such a goal is existentially attainable; it remains a worthy goal nevertheless. Elsewhere, Paul says that he has not yet attained perfection (Phil 3:12), but that he strives toward that which might be realized only in the life to come (Phil 3:8-21). The Letter to the Hebrews indicates that Christ became perfect through his sufferings (Heb 2:10; Heb 5:9; Heb 7:28), and that perfection is a gift bestowed by Christ (Heb 10:14).
