Be ye perfect...

Ethics, as stated and lived by Jesus is based in one simple thing. It is the basis of everything he taught. Everything He commanded of us and all we are to live our life by is: God’s Perfect Love. We are to love perfectly as God loves perfectly and that is the summation of all the laws and all the commandments.

Mathew 5:48

48"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

The most illuminating word in this verse is not the word “perfect” as you might assume. The most illuminating word in this verse is the word “therefore”. Therefore is the all-important word that refers us to the meaning of verse 48. When Jesus says “therefore” he is telling us to look at the preceding verses to understand the meaning of this verse. Used in the way He uses it here He is saying, “Following my entire line of reasoning thus far you must then conclude you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” So, in order to understand how to be perfect as God is perfect we must look at what he said in the preceding verses.

What does it say right before this passage 48?

Mathew 5:43-48

Love your enemies
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies] and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

(In actuality you could, and probably even should, go back to the beginning of the Beatitudes, Mathew 5:1)

The “perfect” that Jesus demands of us in this verse is the perfection of God’s love. To be perfect is to be totally undiscriminating in our love, as God is. This is not moral perfectionism, and it’s not something we have to build towards over years of “process sanctification”. We only have to realize that it is the way of Jesus, to make no distinction between friend and enemy, neighbor or foriengner, reliable or untrustworthy, victim or persecutor.
Be perfect, therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect… IN LOVE.